White-Line Fever

At the Soviet Union’s first international art auction just held in Moscow, Alexander Rodchenko’s painting, entitled “Line” (consisting of three white lines cutting a zigzag across a black background), brought the top price of $567,600.

That comes out to $189,200 per white line--which is probably a record for a white line in the history of art.

That’s more money, I would guess, than it costs to put a white line down the middle of Highway 40 from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

HARRY CIMRING

Los Angeles