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Art as commodity - Fall 2006 NYC Contemporary Art Auctions: The New York City auction house Christie's Fall sale of Contemporary Art included works by Andy Warhol (Mao and Sixteen Jackies) and Willem De Kooning's abstract 'Untitled XXV' which at $27.1 million brought the highest price ever offered for a postwar painting at auction. Another record was set by Clifford Still's '1947-R-No.1' which went for $21.2 million (second from right.) At right is Zhang Xiaogang's 'A Big Family Series No. 16.' The international art market is experiencing a staggering growth period: the combined sales of Christie's and Sotheby's in New York of contemporary, impressionist and modern art totaled around $1.3 billion, surpassing records set during the early 1990ies before the the art market crashed. New York City, November 15, 2006. (KEYSTONE/CAVAN IMAGES/Katja Heinemann)