NYC art auction season to kick off, break a taboo

New York

THE spring art auction season kicks off on Sunday in New York with paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cy Twombly and a taboo-smashing statue of Hitler.

Some 1,500 artworks are to go under the gavel over the course of five days of auctions expected to fetch more than a billion dollars.

The most important ones will be held in the evening, three hosted by Christie's and two by Sotheby's.

First comes the Christie's thematic evening "Bound to Fail", with a selection of 39 works of Modern and Contemporary art exploring the idea of commercial failure, and that of taking risks to expand the boundaries of art.

The most troublin…