Warhol's self-portrait could sell for $40 million

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Andy Warhol's 1986 'Self-Portrait'.

Credit: Reuters/Christie's

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:03pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Andy Warhol self-portrait completed shortly before his death is expected to sell for as much as $40 million at auction next month, Christie's said on Wednesday.

"Self-Portrait," a large haunting depiction of Warhol rendered in deep red and black, was done in 1986 and displayed in a widely praised gallery show in London just months before he died after routine surgery in New York.

"It is a rare event that a work of this grandeur and stature comes to market," said Amy Cappellazzo, Christie's international co-head and deputy chairman of post-war and contemporary art.

"With all the other examples in museums, it will be the last chance that buyers will have to bid on a work that shifted art history," she added about the sale on May 11.

The record price for a Warhol self-portrait is $32.6 million set last May at Sotheby's in New York. "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)," which Christie's sold for a whopping $71.7 million in 2007, is the record for any Warhol sold at auction.

Two weeks ago Christie's announced it would sell the pop artist's very first self portrait, a 1963 four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting him in a trench coat and sunglasses being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron, who commissioned it for $1,600. It is expected to fetch $30 million or more.

At the time of the 1986 exhibition, art historian Robert Rosenblum observed that Warhol was addressing one of art's great themes of an aging master looking at himself with "melancholy introspection," not unlike the self-portraits of Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Of the large self-portraits Warhol painted in 1986, the other six are all in museums, including the New York's Guggenheim and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, or in foundation collections.

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Andy Warhol's 1986 'Self-Portrait'.

Credit: Reuters/Christie's

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:03pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Andy Warhol self-portrait completed shortly before his death is expected to sell for as much as $40 million at auction next month, Christie's said on Wednesday.

"Self-Portrait," a large haunting depiction of Warhol rendered in deep red and black, was done in 1986 and displayed in a widely praised gallery show in London just months before he died after routine surgery in New York.

"It is a rare event that a work of this grandeur and stature comes to market," said Amy Cappellazzo, Christie's international co-head and deputy chairman of post-war and contemporary art.

"With all the other examples in museums, it will be the last chance that buyers will have to bid on a work that shifted art history," she added about the sale on May 11.

The record price for a Warhol self-portrait is $32.6 million set last May at Sotheby's in New York. "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)," which Christie's sold for a whopping $71.7 million in 2007, is the record for any Warhol sold at auction.

Two weeks ago Christie's announced it would sell the pop artist's very first self portrait, a 1963 four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting him in a trench coat and sunglasses being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron, who commissioned it for $1,600. It is expected to fetch $30 million or more.

At the time of the 1986 exhibition, art historian Robert Rosenblum observed that Warhol was addressing one of art's great themes of an aging master looking at himself with "melancholy introspection," not unlike the self-portraits of Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Of the large self-portraits Warhol painted in 1986, the other six are all in museums, including the New York's Guggenheim and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, or in foundation collections.

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Warhol bought for $1,600 could fetch $30 million

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A portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol is seen at the Phillips de Pury gallery in New York, March 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Fri Apr 8, 2011 1:57pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Andy Warhol self-portrait purchased in 1963 for $1,600 on an installment plan is poised to fetch $30 million or more when it hits the auction block at Christie's in May.

"Self-Portrait," a four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting the pop artist wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, is being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron.

Barron first commissioned Warhol to paint her portrait, but changed her mind and suggested the young artist depict himself, telling him, "Nobody knows me ... They want to see you."

The result was Warhol's first self portrait, four images taken in a coin-operated photo booth rendered in hues of blue.

"My mother didn't look at collecting in terms of 'is this important or not important,'" Guy Barron told Reuters.

"She looked at it from the standpoint of what resonated with her, and of 'I want to live with it.' It was not done as some people do today, as wall power."

The portrait graced the living room wall of the family home in Detroit. It also went on public display, serving as the cover image for catalogs from major Warhol exhibitions and retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

Brett Gorvy, Christie's international co-head and deputy chairman for post-war and contemporary art, said the work marked the beginning of Warhol's own stardom.

"With dark sunglasses an oblivious gaze, Warhol was ahead of his time in creating a new archetype of glamour," Gorvy said.

"The painting is remarkable not only for its visual impact and the introduction of the photo booth genre, but for marking a key moment in the history of art, when Warhol takes his place in the pantheon of celebrity alongside Marilyn, Elizabeth and Elvis."

Barron, whose family includes two married sons and several grandchildren, said they were auctioning the work because "dividing is not possible, so selling makes the most sense."

"I feel that Andy Warhol himself would appreciate this, because he always talked about everyone in their lifetime having their turn in the spotlight for 15 minutes. Who'd have thought that his self-portrait would play such a role in our lives?"

The record for a Warhol self-portrait is $32.6 million set last May at Sotheby's in New York. The record price for any Warhol sold at auction is "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)," which Christie's sold for a whopping $71.7 million in 2007.

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A portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol is seen at the Phillips de Pury gallery in New York, March 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Fri Apr 8, 2011 1:57pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Andy Warhol self-portrait purchased in 1963 for $1,600 on an installment plan is poised to fetch $30 million or more when it hits the auction block at Christie's in May.

"Self-Portrait," a four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting the pop artist wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, is being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron.

Barron first commissioned Warhol to paint her portrait, but changed her mind and suggested the young artist depict himself, telling him, "Nobody knows me ... They want to see you."

The result was Warhol's first self portrait, four images taken in a coin-operated photo booth rendered in hues of blue.

"My mother didn't look at collecting in terms of 'is this important or not important,'" Guy Barron told Reuters.

"She looked at it from the standpoint of what resonated with her, and of 'I want to live with it.' It was not done as some people do today, as wall power."

The portrait graced the living room wall of the family home in Detroit. It also went on public display, serving as the cover image for catalogs from major Warhol exhibitions and retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

Brett Gorvy, Christie's international co-head and deputy chairman for post-war and contemporary art, said the work marked the beginning of Warhol's own stardom.

"With dark sunglasses an oblivious gaze, Warhol was ahead of his time in creating a new archetype of glamour," Gorvy said.

"The painting is remarkable not only for its visual impact and the introduction of the photo booth genre, but for marking a key moment in the history of art, when Warhol takes his place in the pantheon of celebrity alongside Marilyn, Elizabeth and Elvis."

Barron, whose family includes two married sons and several grandchildren, said they were auctioning the work because "dividing is not possible, so selling makes the most sense."

"I feel that Andy Warhol himself would appreciate this, because he always talked about everyone in their lifetime having their turn in the spotlight for 15 minutes. Who'd have thought that his self-portrait would play such a role in our lives?"

The record for a Warhol self-portrait is $32.6 million set last May at Sotheby's in New York. The record price for any Warhol sold at auction is "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)," which Christie's sold for a whopping $71.7 million in 2007.

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Italy's Santa Croce restoration offers rare close up view

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Combination picture of tiny faces that can be found on the 600-year-old Capella Maggiore frescoes at Florence's Santa Croce Basilica, April 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi

By Philip Pullella

FLORENCE, Italy | Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:07pm EDT

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - For lovers of Italian art, it's as close as you can come to ascending a stairway to heaven and looking angels in the eye.

For the first time after a major restoration, the scaffolding that has shrouded the 850 sq m (9,150 sq ft) of frescoes of the Capella Maggiore in Florence's famed Santa Croce Basilica will not be dismantled immediately.

Instead, for about a year, a small number of visitors will be able to don hard hats and clamber up the clanking steps to admire the 600-year-old frescos of Agnolo Gaddi, the last major "descendant" of the Giotto school, from close up.

"Climbing up the scaffolding and standing in precisely the same spot where the artist stood is a bit like traveling in a time machine," said Alberto Felici, one of the team that spent five years restoring the frescoes.

"You can re-live the emotions and the atmosphere that the painter experienced 600 years ago," he said, speaking some 30 m (90 ft) above the basilica's ground floor.

Since the next restoration may not take place for centuries, it is the chance of a lifetime to get within inches of a masterpiece that helped pave the way for the Renaissance.

In E.M. Forster's novel "A Room With a View," the young Lucy Honeychurch "wandered not unpleasantly about Santa Croce, which, though it is like a barn, has harvested many beautiful things inside its walls."

The rich harvest that Lucy Honeychurch and millions of real visitors could not see as they craned their necks is the wealth of details, some only a few centimeters (inches) large, that the $3.5 million restoration brought to light.

"There are things here like a fish in a stream or a bird that the artist knew would never be visible from the ground but that he put there anyway either out of a sense of perfection or personal amusement," said Felici.

LAST DESCENDENT OF GIOTTO

Gaddi, who lived from 1350 to 1396 and painted the Capella Maggiore in the 1380s, had good genes. His father was Taddeo Gaddi, the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto, whose work also adorns the walls of Santa Croce.

Agnolo Gaddi was Giotto's last stylistic descendant.

So it is with awe and reverence that restorers who worked on the project speak of the master, whose spirit seems to be at once before their eyes and looking over their shoulders.

"After 600 hundred years I approach the wall and still see things," said chief restorer Mariarosa Lanfranchi. "I see where he made an incision to make a halo, I see a color that he later corrected, I see a point of light," she said, speaking of Gaddi with the ease with which one talks of a neighbor.

"It still speaks to us and that is truly emotional."

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Combination picture of tiny faces that can be found on the 600-year-old Capella Maggiore frescoes at Florence's Santa Croce Basilica, April 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi

By Philip Pullella

FLORENCE, Italy | Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:07pm EDT

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - For lovers of Italian art, it's as close as you can come to ascending a stairway to heaven and looking angels in the eye.

For the first time after a major restoration, the scaffolding that has shrouded the 850 sq m (9,150 sq ft) of frescoes of the Capella Maggiore in Florence's famed Santa Croce Basilica will not be dismantled immediately.

Instead, for about a year, a small number of visitors will be able to don hard hats and clamber up the clanking steps to admire the 600-year-old frescos of Agnolo Gaddi, the last major "descendant" of the Giotto school, from close up.

"Climbing up the scaffolding and standing in precisely the same spot where the artist stood is a bit like traveling in a time machine," said Alberto Felici, one of the team that spent five years restoring the frescoes.

"You can re-live the emotions and the atmosphere that the painter experienced 600 years ago," he said, speaking some 30 m (90 ft) above the basilica's ground floor.

Since the next restoration may not take place for centuries, it is the chance of a lifetime to get within inches of a masterpiece that helped pave the way for the Renaissance.

In E.M. Forster's novel "A Room With a View," the young Lucy Honeychurch "wandered not unpleasantly about Santa Croce, which, though it is like a barn, has harvested many beautiful things inside its walls."

The rich harvest that Lucy Honeychurch and millions of real visitors could not see as they craned their necks is the wealth of details, some only a few centimeters (inches) large, that the $3.5 million restoration brought to light.

"There are things here like a fish in a stream or a bird that the artist knew would never be visible from the ground but that he put there anyway either out of a sense of perfection or personal amusement," said Felici.

LAST DESCENDENT OF GIOTTO

Gaddi, who lived from 1350 to 1396 and painted the Capella Maggiore in the 1380s, had good genes. His father was Taddeo Gaddi, the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto, whose work also adorns the walls of Santa Croce.

Agnolo Gaddi was Giotto's last stylistic descendant.

So it is with awe and reverence that restorers who worked on the project speak of the master, whose spirit seems to be at once before their eyes and looking over their shoulders.

"After 600 hundred years I approach the wall and still see things," said chief restorer Mariarosa Lanfranchi. "I see where he made an incision to make a halo, I see a color that he later corrected, I see a point of light," she said, speaking of Gaddi with the ease with which one talks of a neighbor.

"It still speaks to us and that is truly emotional."

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Playwright Edward Albee to receive MacDowell medal

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Edward Albee arrives on the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 5, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

LOS ANGELES | Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:45am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Playwright Edward Albee, the author of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?," will receive the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement, the organization behind the award said on Tuesday.

Albee will become only the third playwright to receive the annual award since it was first handed out in 1960. The medal will be presented to him on August 14.

"Edward Albee was chosen for a clear and obvious reason: he is a towering presence in American theater," Andre Bishop, chairman of this year's MacDowell medalist selection committee, said in a statement.

Albee has long been considered one of the United States' greatest playwrights, alongside such giants as Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.

His works deal with disillusionment, loneliness and unseen agony in a sometimes scathing manner. His most famous play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?," opened in 1962 and was seen as a brutal examination of middle-class American life.

Albee, 83, has written 30 plays and won three Pulitzer Prizes and three Tony Awards. His other notable works include his first play "The Zoo Story," which he wrote at age 30, "A Delicate Balance," "Seascape," and "Three Tall Women."

The New Hampshire-based MacDowell Colony, the organization behind the medal, is an artist residency program that has provided fellowships to more than 6,500 artists since its founding in 1907.

Past winners of the MacDowell Medal include painter Georgia O'Keeffe, composer Leonard Bernstein and architect I.M. Pei. The other two playwrights who received the medal were Thornton Wilder and Lillian Hellman.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Peter Bohan)

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Edward Albee arrives on the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 5, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

LOS ANGELES | Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:45am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Playwright Edward Albee, the author of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?," will receive the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement, the organization behind the award said on Tuesday.

Albee will become only the third playwright to receive the annual award since it was first handed out in 1960. The medal will be presented to him on August 14.

"Edward Albee was chosen for a clear and obvious reason: he is a towering presence in American theater," Andre Bishop, chairman of this year's MacDowell medalist selection committee, said in a statement.

Albee has long been considered one of the United States' greatest playwrights, alongside such giants as Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.

His works deal with disillusionment, loneliness and unseen agony in a sometimes scathing manner. His most famous play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?," opened in 1962 and was seen as a brutal examination of middle-class American life.

Albee, 83, has written 30 plays and won three Pulitzer Prizes and three Tony Awards. His other notable works include his first play "The Zoo Story," which he wrote at age 30, "A Delicate Balance," "Seascape," and "Three Tall Women."

The New Hampshire-based MacDowell Colony, the organization behind the medal, is an artist residency program that has provided fellowships to more than 6,500 artists since its founding in 1907.

Past winners of the MacDowell Medal include painter Georgia O'Keeffe, composer Leonard Bernstein and architect I.M. Pei. The other two playwrights who received the medal were Thornton Wilder and Lillian Hellman.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Peter Bohan)

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Free Chinese artist, says bold sign at UK gallery

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A sign along the top of the Tate Modern art gallery reads '''Release Ai Weiwei'' in London April 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Luke MacGregor

LONDON | Fri Apr 8, 2011 4:34pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A "Release Ai WeiWei" sign went up at the top of London's prominent Tate Modern art gallery on Friday in support of the detained Chinese artist and activist.

The gallery put the words in large capital letters on the lightbox capping the former power station which is situated on the bank of the River Thames.

The Chinese government said Thursday Ai was being investigated for "suspected economic crimes," while his family said he was the innocent victim of a political witchhunt.

His secretive detention has caused an international uproar.

Burly, bearded Ai had a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has juggled a prominent international art career with colorful campaigns against government censorship and political restrictions, often using the Internet.

The artist filled the Tate Modern's cavernous Turbine Hall with over 100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds for an installment in 2010.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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A sign along the top of the Tate Modern art gallery reads '''Release Ai Weiwei'' in London April 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Luke MacGregor

LONDON | Fri Apr 8, 2011 4:34pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A "Release Ai WeiWei" sign went up at the top of London's prominent Tate Modern art gallery on Friday in support of the detained Chinese artist and activist.

The gallery put the words in large capital letters on the lightbox capping the former power station which is situated on the bank of the River Thames.

The Chinese government said Thursday Ai was being investigated for "suspected economic crimes," while his family said he was the innocent victim of a political witchhunt.

His secretive detention has caused an international uproar.

Burly, bearded Ai had a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has juggled a prominent international art career with colorful campaigns against government censorship and political restrictions, often using the Internet.

The artist filled the Tate Modern's cavernous Turbine Hall with over 100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds for an installment in 2010.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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"Red" author to publish new thriller novel

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NEW YORK | Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:44pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British author Warren Ellis, whose comic series "Red" was adapted into a hit film last year, is writing two new novels, the first of which will be released next year, publisher Little, Brown and Company said on Monday.

The 43-year-old author is writing a new thriller, called "Gun Machine," described in a news release as about "a beleaguered New York City detective who stumbles upon a cache of hundreds of guns that each trace back to a wide array of seemingly unrelated unsolved murders."

A second as yet untitled novel has also been planned for the Little, Brown and Company's suspense fiction imprint Mulholland Books.

Ellis's graphic novel, "Red," was transferred to the big screen last year in a blockbuster action film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren that earned $186 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

His comics, which have included the "Transmetropolitan" and "Planetary" series, sell in excess of 100,000 copies a month in the United States alone, according to Little, Brown.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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NEW YORK | Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:44pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British author Warren Ellis, whose comic series "Red" was adapted into a hit film last year, is writing two new novels, the first of which will be released next year, publisher Little, Brown and Company said on Monday.

The 43-year-old author is writing a new thriller, called "Gun Machine," described in a news release as about "a beleaguered New York City detective who stumbles upon a cache of hundreds of guns that each trace back to a wide array of seemingly unrelated unsolved murders."

A second as yet untitled novel has also been planned for the Little, Brown and Company's suspense fiction imprint Mulholland Books.

Ellis's graphic novel, "Red," was transferred to the big screen last year in a blockbuster action film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren that earned $186 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

His comics, which have included the "Transmetropolitan" and "Planetary" series, sell in excess of 100,000 copies a month in the United States alone, according to Little, Brown.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Three debut novelists contest female Orange prize

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LONDON | Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:15pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Three first-time novelists and three veterans have been chosen to contest this year's Orange Prize for Fiction, which honors women writers.

First-time novelists Serbian/American Tea Obreht ("The Tiger's Wife"), Canadian Kathleen Winter ("Annabel") and Briton Emma Henderson ("Grace Williams Says it Loud") will be in the running for the 30,000 pound ($49,100) prize to be awarded on June 8, organizers said on Tuesday.

The more experienced members of the short-list are American Nicole Krauss with her third novel "Great House," British/Sierra Leonean novelist Aminatta Foma with her second novel "The Memory of Love", and veteran Irish writer Emma Donoghue on her seventh novel "Room."

"The number of first-time novelists is an indicator of the rude health of women's writing," said prize panel chair Bettany Hughes. "The verve and scope of storylines pays compliment to the female imagination."

Hughes said the judging meeting "fizzed" for hours with conversations about the originality, excellence and readability of the books.

"Even though the stories in our final choices range from kidnapping to colonialism, from the persistence of love to Balkan folk-memory, from hermaphroditism to abuse in care, the books are written with such a skillful lightness of touch, humor, sympathy and passion, they all make for an exhilarating and uplifting read," she said.

The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible and is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Steve Addison)

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LONDON | Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:15pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Three first-time novelists and three veterans have been chosen to contest this year's Orange Prize for Fiction, which honors women writers.

First-time novelists Serbian/American Tea Obreht ("The Tiger's Wife"), Canadian Kathleen Winter ("Annabel") and Briton Emma Henderson ("Grace Williams Says it Loud") will be in the running for the 30,000 pound ($49,100) prize to be awarded on June 8, organizers said on Tuesday.

The more experienced members of the short-list are American Nicole Krauss with her third novel "Great House," British/Sierra Leonean novelist Aminatta Foma with her second novel "The Memory of Love", and veteran Irish writer Emma Donoghue on her seventh novel "Room."

"The number of first-time novelists is an indicator of the rude health of women's writing," said prize panel chair Bettany Hughes. "The verve and scope of storylines pays compliment to the female imagination."

Hughes said the judging meeting "fizzed" for hours with conversations about the originality, excellence and readability of the books.

"Even though the stories in our final choices range from kidnapping to colonialism, from the persistence of love to Balkan folk-memory, from hermaphroditism to abuse in care, the books are written with such a skillful lightness of touch, humor, sympathy and passion, they all make for an exhilarating and uplifting read," she said.

The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible and is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Steve Addison)

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