Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Christie’s International held its smallest evening Impressionist and modern art auction in New York since May 2004, as the top lot, a Picasso, failed to sell.

The sale totaled $65.7 million, below the $68.7 million-to- $97.2 million presale estimate. The 40 lots were half the number that the privately held auctioneer offered a year ago, in the thick of the global financial crisis. Two weeks of sales at Christie’s and publicly traded Sotheby’s this season are projected to total as much as $607 million.

Bidding for Picasso’s 1943 blood-red wartime “Tete de Femme” (Head of Woman) petered out at $6.4 million, below the estimate of $7 million to $10 million. Owned by the anonymous seller since 1999, it depicts Picasso’s muse Dora Maar, fragmented and wearing a hat.

Estimates do not include commissions.

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

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 20:55 EST