NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Southwest Museum Painting Fails to Sell

Alfred Bierstadt’s dramatic landscape painting, “Mount Hood in Oregon,” which was put up for auction in New York in hopes of bringing in much-needed funds to the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, failed to sell, officials said. Bids on the 1864 oil painting did not reach the low reserve set by the museum, said Gloria Harris, Christie’s spokeswoman. The 6-by-10-foot painting was expected to sell for between $1.5 million and $2 million. The Southwest Museum had consigned the painting for auction in hopes of alleviating a $200,000 budget deficit.