A story emerged from last night’s $300 million sale of contemporary art at Christie’s that every museum fundraiser and gala attendee is going to love.
Lot 21 was a 1964 drawing by Roy Lichtenstein called Drawing for Kiss V , with a presale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million.
It was acquired by the seller at a benefit in 1965 — for $10!
As Christie’s tells the tale,
The present owner acquired the work as part of an event organized by the Artists’ Key Club – a group formed by the artist Arman to fight against the art world’s increasing commercialization….The event invite asked participants to go to the Hotel Chelsea in New York and hand over $10 in return for a key to one of the lockers at Penn Station. Inside each of these lockers was a work that a fellow artist had donated, including Roy Lichtenstein, Arman, Christo, Niki de Saint-Phalle and Andy Warhol. No one knew which locker they would be allocated, or what it contained….
This drawing’s current owner worked as a typist at the art publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc. and was invited to attend the event with a girlfriend. She paid her $10 and duly went up to Penn Station with her key and upon opening the locker was rewarded with this exquisite drawing, which has remained in her private collection ever since.
You can read more details, including a brief play-by-play of the event by art historian Barbara Moore, here.
And now the seller is much richer: The drawing sold for $2,098,500, including fees. And everyone can cite this example at silent auctions.
I wonder, though, where that Andy Warhol is — and what it is. Two self-portraits in last night’s sale fetched a total of $66 million.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Christie’s