Yusaku Maezawa, the 40-year-old founder of online clothing retailer Zozotown, continued his art shopping spree on Wednesday, helping Sotheby's reach $242.2 million in sales at its contemporary art auction even as the art market continues to contract. Maezawa said he is building a private museum outside Tokyo.

Sotheby's evening sale in New York was within the target range of $201.4 million to $257.5 million. The result represented a 36 percent decline from a similar event a year ago. But it was an improvement over the auction house's Impressionist and modern art sale on May 9, when a third of the lots went unsold. Of the 44 lots offered on Wednesday, only two failed to sell.

The auction showed that, while many sellers have decided to wait out the economic volatility, plenty of buyers jumped in. In addition to Maezawa, Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad snapped up Sam Francis' colorful abstract "Summer #1" for $11.8 million, a record for the artist at auction. The price was slightly below its high estimate of $12 million.