Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A slashed canvas by Lucio Fontana, whose art is on show at New York's Guggenheim Museum, sold for 2.1 million pounds ($3.9 million), a record, at a Christie's International auction in London last night.

``Concetto Spaziale, Attese'' (1963) by the Argentine- Italian artist (1899-1968) has 10 vertical slashes in a white rectangular canvas, meaning each cut is valued at almost $400,000. The winning bidder, a tall, fair-haired man in a suit and pink shirt, declined to give his name.

Auction houses may raise more than $150 million by tonight from a series of sales targeting Frieze Art Fair visitors. New buyers were present at all the sales, helping to push up prices. Fontana's canvas sold for 44 percent more than the artist's previous record, set in May.

At Sotheby's, former chairman Alfred Taubman bid on a Renato Guttoso work yesterday, then dropped out as a competitor drove the price higher.

His rival was a small lean man with dark hair, often talking on his cell phone, who won bids for six or more high- priced lots at Sotheby's and Christie's. He wouldn't give his name, which wasn't known to dealers, though one said he was eastern European.

Confused Bids

At Christie's, his bidding style caused confusion. Auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen knocked down a Fontana work to him at 220,000 pounds ($410,839), below the low estimate. Pylkkanen then said that the work hadn't sold, as the man, with a paddle number 426, denied he made a bid.

Three lots later, he wrested a Fontana canvas, with a single slash, from a rival by making a 720,000 pound bid. Earlier, the same buyer paid a hammer price of 800,000 pounds for a Giorgio de Chirico painting, below the low estimate, putting two of the top 10 lots in his hands. Christie's identified him as a private buyer, though dealers said he might have been acting as an agent for someone else.

Fontana's previous record of $2.7 million was struck for a gold canvas at Christie's in New York, said Olivier Camu, head of Christie's Italian auction.

Christie's, which sells more art this afternoon, said yesterday's sale raised almost 15.7 million pounds, including commissions, or about 23 percent more than last year's 12.8 million pounds. Christie's total for the Frieze week may exceed 42 million pounds.

Sotheby's Italian sale took in 11.5 million pounds, up from 9.7 million pounds a year ago and beating its top estimate of 9.3 million pounds. In all, Sotheby's raised 31.4 million pounds from four Frieze-week sales, beating its top estimate of 28.8 million pounds. Phillips de Pury & Co. raised about 8.5 million pounds from a contemporary sale on Saturday night.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 17, 2006 09:32 EDT