HUDSON, N.Y. — The top lot of Stair Galleries’ December 4–5 two-session auction was not surprisingly a Twentieth Century artwork, which continues to lead the art world of late.

Midway through Saturday’s session came “Time Step,” an oil on aluminum with wood by Yaacov Agam (b 1928) that handily outperformed its $20/40,000 estimate to attain $91,500, including the buyer’s premium. The painting’s owners commissioned Agam to make this work in 1971 and it is among the artist’s “metapolymorphic” works, meaning that it has the ability to exist in more than one way for the viewer. This philosophical approach to creating art was borne from Agam’s religious upbringing and is central to his work, which succeeded in moving beyond the constraints of traditional two- or three-dimensional art.

A complete report on the auction will appear in a future edition.