Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Christie's International sold $395 million of Impressionist and modern artworks last night in New York, easing concerns about a reversal in the robust art market.

The auction's total, at the low end of the $349 million-$487 million presale estimate range, was still the second-highest ever, behind Christie's $491.5 million New York sale a year ago. The top lot was Henri Matisse's 1937 ``L'Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue,'' showing a curvy young woman in green pantaloons, which sold for a record $33.6 million.

``I thought it was strong, given what's been going on in the markets,'' said Christopher Eykyn, a private dealer. ``Expectations were somewhat dampened.'' Seventeen of the 91 lots failed to sell.

Last night's buyer of the Matisse was an unidentified telephone bidder, who outbid New York private dealer Franck Giraud. Matisse's previous auction record of $21.7 million was set in June at Sotheby's in London.

Records tumbled for other European painters, including Paul Cezanne, Camille Pissarro and Paul Signac. Americans dominated the buying, taking home half of the lots, with Europeans buying a quarter and the rest going to other bidders, according to Christie's. Russian collectors accounted for just 1.5 percent, and Asian buyers 3 percent.

Last night's sale was the first of four major evening auctions to be held at Christie's and Sotheby's over the next two weeks. The total of the four, plus daytime sales, may be the largest ever and could top $2 billion. New York's May auction season rang up a record $1.4 billion.

Wall Street Worries

Results may help ease concern that the art market will be dragged down by Wall Street's woes.

In the past week, the chief executives of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Citigroup Inc. resigned under pressure as the world's biggest banks and securities firms announced about $40 billion in writedowns on subprime mortgages and other related securities.

``I don't know why people aren't more anxious, but they evidently aren't,'' New York dealer David Nash of Mitchell-Innes & Nash said after the auction.

New York dealer Larry Gagosian paid $16.8 million for Pablo Picasso's 1968 ``Homme a la Pipe,'' painted five years before the artist's death. The work carried a presale high estimate of $16 million. The sale extended a spate of strong prices for the artist's later works.

Prices include a buyer's premium, or commission, of 25 percent of the hammer price up to $20,000, 20 percent of the price from $20,000 to $500,000 and 12 percent above $500,000.

Pricey Gauguin

Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art sale is tonight. A sun-dappled 1892 Tahitian Paul Gauguin painting of a squatting woman is tagged at as much as $60 million.

This season's sales are larger than ever, even though they lack the desirable estate material that comes to auction when a major collector dies. Instead, the catalogs are stocked with artworks from discretionary sellers, including money manager Donald B. Marron and cell phone billionaire George Lindemann.

``People are unsure how long this will last,'' New York private dealer Andrea Crane said. ``There's a feeling this is an opportunity that they may not see again.''

Marron, chief executive officer of Lightyear Capital LLC and a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, sold three Cezanne watercolors. Last May, a Cezanne watercolor of a ripe melon soared over its $18 million high estimate to fetch a record $25.5 million at Sotheby's in New York.

Cezanne's Gardener

Marron's timing was impeccable. Cezanne's sensitive portrait of the artist's bearded gardener in about 1905, ``Portrait de Vallier,'' fetched $17.4 million, above the $15 million low estimate. He bought it in 2000 from Lucille Ellis Simon, who received the Cezannes when she divorced California collector Norton Simon. Marron, who wore a tuxedo and poker face as he watched his Cezannes sell, was identified as the seller by two dealers.

Amedeo Modigliani's blue 1916 painting of a fellow Montparnasse artist, ``Portrait du Sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff,'' drew fierce bidding and fetched $30.8 million. It topped the $25 million high estimate and was just below the artist's $31.4 million auction record set in 2004 at Sotheby's New York. The Miestchaninoff portrait sold for $9.5 million at Christie's in New York in 1995, illustrating the recent run-up in Modigliani's prices.

The strong market brought out several artworks that until recently were on loan to museums. A yellow and blue Signac pointillist landscape, ``Cassis. Cap Canaille,'' loaned to London's National Gallery since 2003, fetched $14 million. That topped the $12 million high estimate and surpassed the $11.7 million record set in May at Christie's in New York.

Museum Works

Museums also tried to join in, though most of their works went for near the low estimates. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art sold Claude Monet's 1884 pastel-hued French Rivera landscape ``Vallee de Sasso,'' for $2.51 million, with funds allocated for the purchase of other artworks. The painting had been given to the museum in 1955 by San Francisco industrialist James Zellerbach. Lesser works by Picasso, Chagall, Derain and Matisse will be sold today at Christie's.

The St. Louis Art Museum, also raising acquisition funds, sold Matisse's red and yellow 1919 ``Nu Accoude'' for $1.61 million, originally given to the museum in 1957 by Wilbur D. May of the May department store family.

Christie's had several pricey Picassos, including a 1955 painting of his exotically garbed mistress, ``Femme Accroupie au Costume Turc (Jacqueline),'' which went for $30 million, surpassing the unpublished $25 million estimate. The seller had purchased the canvas featuring the artist's cross-legged mistress for $2.6 million in 1995 at Sotheby's in New York.

Walk in the Woods

Last night's sale included a group of German and Austrian paintings, reflecting the heightened demand for names including Lyonel Feininger, Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Many of them sold, though a 3-foot-square 1912 painting by August Macke, ``Paar im Wald (Couple Walking in the Woods),'' was too pricey at over $15 million, particularly for an artist who had never surpassed $4.3 million at auction.

Twenty lots before the end of the sale, bald men in blue blazers and coiffed ladies in fur and leather started heading for the doors. It was time for dinner. At 91 lots, the sale induced a bit of auction fatigue.

``It was too long,'' dealer John Good of New York's Gagosian Gallery said as he headed for windy 49th Street. ``A little more selectivity would be good for everybody.''

(Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff write on the arts for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are their own.)

To contact the writers of this story: Lindsay Pollock in New York at lindsaypollock@yahoo.com; Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2007 01:31 EST