Page History

Erica Gilbert-Levin  

Kimberly Ann Phoenix  

At the latest Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale 61 lots sold for a total of $301,663,000.  Among the lots were 43 painting, 13 sculptures, 3 photographs and 2 drawings & watercolors representing Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, and Sam Francis to name only a few.  After scanning the list, Sam Francis's reef a predominantly blue painting jumped out of the list. Like the suggestion in the reading the litmus test is alive and well, bright colors attacked interest. (Thornton 24)  Each of the lots is accompanied by an audio description along with a written narrative as well. Other information provided is lot description which gives the artist name, name of the painting, medium used, size, and when the painting was done.  The list of who has owned the work of art is also displayed.  This particular painting was first owned by the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York.  This gallery was started in 1952 and closed in 1969, 1969 was the first time this painting changed hands.  The Martha Jackson Gallery was run by Jackson who was created with being a shrewd business woman and committed to her artist working to promote and educate people about the art and artist.  Reef   was then purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Miller form there it was acquired by Galerie Beyeler.  At some point the painting was acquired by a private collector from Japan, the interesting thing is that Reef was purchased again by the Galerie Beyeler.  This is similar to David Nahmad buying back something the family owner before (Thorton 22), there is no way for find out why the gallery did this but it could have been to protect the value of their other holdings. In the end this painting sold for 3,666,500 including buyer premium.       Image Removed

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=5437827&sid=078a642e-111c-4b8f-9356-e34fb2106de7

http://www.ubartgalleries.org/?gallery=anderson&select=page&page=martha_jackson_archives