Today at Bloomsbury Auctions: Quirky, intruiging celebrity self-portraiture for sale

23 September 2009
Robert Motherwell self-portrait at Bloomsbury Auctions

click to enlarge

Robert Motherwell self-portrait at Bloomsbury Auctions

NEW YORK—A self-portrait collection assembled without spending a single dollar will be sold off at Bloomsbury Auctions on Sept. 24. The house estimates that the sale — which includes pieces by artists Jamie Wyeth, David Hockney, and Robert Motherwell as well as names like Maya Angelou, Muhammed Ali, and Gloria Steinem — could bring in a total of $500,000. The sketches belong to Burt Britton, a former bartender at downtown jazz club the Village Vanguard, who invited visiting literary and artistic personalities to draw a quick self-portrait...



Categories: contemporary art

More News Feed Headlines
  • Elizabeth Taylor
    Seven world records were set at the jewel auction of Hollywood screen legend, and ardent jewelry lover, Elizabeth Taylor, that took place at Christie’s New York this week. On Tuesday, ...
  • Henry Koerner (American, 1915-1991) Under the Overpass, 1949.  Oil on masonite, 30 x 38 inches.  Courtesy of Jonathan Boos.
    The fourth incarnation of The American Art Fair triumphed at a dazzling new venue from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2011. Held for the first time at the Bohemian National Hall, a Renaissance Revival style building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the focused fair featured 17 leading gallery exhibitors offering prime examples of historic American art.
  • Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American.  Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.
    A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.
  • 'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.
    A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.

Enter e-mail address to receive art news daily.
Subscribe

ArtfixDaily Blogs