Warhol returns to China
A quarter of a century after his death, the pop art icon's star is riding high in global auctions and exhibitions of his works are heading our way
Andy Warhol, the top artist by auction revenue last year, will take on China next month.
The auctioneers are promoting works on paper as well as suitable subjects: drawings and photos from Warhol's trips to Asia and images of creatures revered in Chinese culture.
A folding screen depicting butterflies done in ink and watercolours is among the pieces included in Sotheby's "From Warhol, With Love" exhibition.
A ballpoint pen drawing called , shows a bustling shopping street. A drawing of a shoe is made with gold leaf.
The exhibition of some 40 works, with prices ranging from US$15,000 to US$1 million, will be on view at Sotheby's S/2 contemporary art gallery in Hong Kong from September 12-24.
Earlier this year, London-based Christie's was granted a 30-year licence to operate independently in China.
Its Warhol exhibition will run from September 24-26 in Shanghai, with 45 pieces consigned by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Prices range from US$8,000 to US$56,000. A The preview exhibition, which highlights some of the major pieces heading to Shanghai, opened in New York yesterday.
Warhol, who died in 1987, first visited the mainland in 1982.
"In our first online Warhol sale in February, 8 per cent of bidders were Chinese, a higher percentage than we have previously seen," said Amelia Manderscheid, Christie's associate specialist on e-commerce for Warhol.
One of the highlights is a 1986 Komodo dragon, its head highlighted with green, against a red background. There is also a black-and-white 1982 photograph of two Chinese phone booths.
Meanwhile, the first major car auction in New York in more than a decade will take place on November 21 and feature cars valued at more than US$50 million. It is organised by Sotheby's and RM Auctions, which is based in Blenheim, Ontario, and sold US$360 million of collectible cars last year.
"We are going to be looking at 25 to 30 cars. They exemplify the finest designs of their time," said Ian Kelleher, RM Auctions' car specialist.
Before the sale, the cars will be displayed on the 10th floor at Sotheby's York Avenue headquarters.
One of the highlights is a 1956 Aston Martin "Supersonic," expected to bring US$1.5 million to US$2 million. It was driven by American grand prix racer Harry Schell and owned by Gail Whitney Vanderbilt and her husband Richard Cowell, a record-setting water skier.
A futuristic, orange Lincoln made by Italian coach-builder Felice Mario Boano with 1955 chassis has an estimated sale price of US$1.5 million to US$2 million.
A cream-coloured 1938 Talbot-Lago cabriolet made by French coach-builders Figoni et Falaschi is estimated at US$7 million to US$8.5 million.
At the other end of the price range, Philadelphia resident Norma Ifill paid US$15 for a striking brass necklace at a flea market eight years ago; she had no idea it was by Alexander Calder.
"This guy had it in a box on the ground," Ifill said. "I thought it looked so tribal. I wore it about four-five times max and every time I wore it, people always admired it. I can't believe I had a Calder necklace all this time and had no idea."
In 2008, Ifill saw a similar piece in a free local newspaper, announcing the Philadelphia Art Museum's "Calder Jewellery" exhibition. She contacted Elisabeth Agro, the show's curator, who encouraged the woman to show it to the Calder Foundation in New York.
The foundation discovered that the necklace was in a Calder exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, said Saara Pritchard, head of Christie's First Open sale, where the work will be offered with US$200,000 to US$300,000 estimate.
"I've had good buys, but nothing like this," Ifill said.
First Open will also include works by hot young artists Oscar Murillo and Tauba Auerbach.
London-based Colombian Murillo will be represented by a 2.45-metre canvas made last year with spray paint and dirt and estimated at US$50,000 to US$70,000. The 27-year-old's last sale at Christie's, in June, resulted in a US$389,199 auction record, almost 10 times the presale estimate.
Auerbach's small trompe l'oeil (2010) is estimated at US$250,000 to US$350,000; a Mark Rothko 1944-45 ink and gouache on paper carries the same estimate. Another Auerbach painting from 2010 fetched US$775,525 in June, a record for the artist, who was born in 1981.
The First Open auction will take place on September 26 in New York.
