«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Barbara Piasecka Johnson, the Johnson & Johnson heiress, is selling 200 paintings and works of art this week in the latest test of demand for Old Masters as the market adjusts to the financial crisis.Auction houses and dealers are joining forces to mount the U.K. capital’s first “Master Paintings Week” and offering a combined 83.5 million pounds ($136.3 million) of art.Johnson’s works may make at least 5.7 million pounds of the total as dealers said quality works have maintained their value. Old Master prices have not fluctuated as much as those for contemporary art in recent years, where the average auction price has fallen 76.2 percent since May 2008, London-based ArtTactic said in a report published in May.