Mapplethorpe Prices Rising

Above: Self-portrait in drag, approx $52,000. USD


Robert Mapplethorpe – Beauty and the devil are one and the same [Jun 07]

The work of Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) has something of a scandalous reputation, the photographer shocking puritanic Americans by putting sexuality at the heart of his artistic universe. He became a photographer in the 1970s, an era of sexual liberation soon to be brought to a halt by the rise of the AIDS epidemic. Mapplethorpe never ceased extolling the human body in meticulous compositions often evoking the cool and strict aesthetic of neoclassical painting.


Above: Another Self-portrait by Mapplethorpe

In addition to his photographs celebrating nudity, he took portraits of individuals in his circle, some of them anonymous and some celebrities (Andy Warhol, Richard Gere, Grace Jones, Patti Smith, etc), self portraits and photographs of flowers which assume an erotic dimension under his lens. The subject is often crude but the setting always ‘clean’, head-on, refined, even sterile. The artist favoured black and white and an aesthetic close to fashion photography, which is proving increasingly popular with collectors.


Above: Self-portrait with knife


Above: Mapplethorpe's portrait of Lisa Lyon with Snake

After a moribund period, Robert Mapplethorpe’s prices have risen by more than 102% since 2004, the year in which he achieved, for the first time, a price at auction in excess of $100,000. The work in question? A photograph of a Zantedeschia or arum lily measuring 61 x 50.8 cm, unique in this format, sold for $210,000 by Christie’s NY (title: Calla Lily, 15 Oct. 2004), making this flower portrait one of the most sought-after of the artist’s subjects. Sought after to the point that a Calla Lily print of a series of ten, made more attractive by the Margaret W. Weston provenance, exploded its estimated range of $40,000 - 60,000, selling for $140,000 on 25 April (1988, 48.7 x 49.1 cm, Sotheby’s NY)!


Above: One of Mapplethorpe's Most Famous Subjects; The Calla Lily


Above: Mapplethorpe's portrait of Warhol which sold at Christie's for $643,200.00 USD


This 2004 result was to be the first of a successful series: since then his photographs have seen 8 sales in excess of $100,000, including an outright record of more than $500,000 for a portrait of Andy Warhol! The auction of this monumental portrait of the King of Pop Art for $560,000 (106.7 x 106.7 cm, Christie’s NY) in October 2006 has contributed to firmer Mapplethorpe’s prices. Five months earlier in the same auction house, a large Warhol portrait in a 10-print series changed hands for only a tenth of this amount at $50,000 (103.5 x 103.5 cm).



Above chart from Art Price

The price of a work on the same subject varies according to the type of print (gelatin silver, dye-transfer, photo-engraving, etc), the date it was printed, its quality and size. Generally a work is printed in various numbered formats and the shorter the print series, the more auction prices are likely to rise given the rarity value. Certain formats are limited to one print and are thus all the more sought after. For example, the Leaf photograph, a very pure work, achieved its highest price at auction with a unique, large format print (94x78.5 cm) selling for $35,000 (€28,900) on 10 October 2005 at Christie's NY. During the same auction, the same subject in a smaller format, one of a 7-print series, sold for $5,000 less than its larger-scale version.


Above: One of Mapplethorpe's polaroids of Paul Mogensen

For a budget below $10,000, the market offers a wide range of works: nearly 70% of lots do not exceed this threshold. Numerous Polaroids and gelatin silver prints (more modestly priced than the Dye-transfers) are affordable at around $1,000 to $10,000. The Polaroids mark the origins of the Mapplethorpe photographic adventure before the acquisition of his first wide-angle camera during the 1970s. Despite the small dimensions (approximately 9.5 x 7 cm in most cases) the Polaroid has one quality which is sought after by collectors: it is a unique work. Mapplethorpe took numerous Polaroid self portraits during the 1970s for which you'll need between $2,000 and $4,000 on average such as the one sold on 8 September last at Christie’s NY for $2,800. As for larger-sized prints priced at less than $10,000, we could mention, for example, the Poppy photograph taken in 1982 (38.5 x 38.5 cm, Gelatin silver print) on which the hammer came down at £4,000 (under $8,000) on 31 May last at the Christie’s London auction. Another possible acquisition, the rare portfolios: on 26 April last, Season in Hell comprising 8 test-prints (each edited as a series of 40 prints) was sold for $6,500, an average acquisition cost of $812.5 per photograph (26 April 2007, Sotheby’s NY).

Can't afford a Mapplethorpe print? Perhaps some of the newer items on the market with his images will appeal to you.

Below: These limited edition plates & cups are available right now at Colette.





You can read more and see more Robert Mapplethorpe by clicking here.

Graffiti Art Becoming Hot Property

Graffiti art- From the street to the museum [May 07]

This article has been reprinted from artprice.com, the leader in the art market:

Historically, graffiti was a underground movement, born to the Hip-Hop rhythm in the American ‘hoods of the 1970s. It is people’s art, rough and ephemeral. Rough because it was created illegally in public spaces. Ephemeral because its lifespan, subject to external constraints, is necessarily limited. The prohibitions which hit this urban art right from its beginnings in Europe could not stop its expansion during the 1980s. At the end of the decade it had become a veritable fashion phenomenon, in the press and on museum walls. Aside from urban buildings, street furniture and public transport, the graffiti artists created works on canvas, paper or street hoardings which are now prized by a growing number of collectors.

The pioneers

above: A Basquiat serigraph

The unquestioned star of the genre is Jean-Michel BASQUIAT who is racking up million-ticket sales (more than forty). On 15 May last, a mixed-medium 1981 work smashed the artist's record in crossing the 10 million dollar mark! Initially estimated at between 6 million and 8 million dollars, the hammer went down on the lot at 13 million dollars (more than 9.6 million euros, Sotheby’s NY). Warhol’s friend with the fleeting destiny (he died at 27 years) signed his first works in the street under the pseudonym Samo. Today a small pencil or graphite drawing changes hands for between 10,000 and 20,000 euros on average and you'll need between 50,000 and 100,000 euros for a paper-based work in crayon. Prices are higher still for large formats in ink or oil pastel.

above: A Keith Haring silkscreen

Another Warhol accolyte, Keith HARING, is also a key graffiti name. He doesn’t reach the heights of Basquiat but has shown steady growth over the last four years. On 8 February last, you'd have needed not less than £56,000 to secure a small 1984 acrylic (50x50 cm) at Sotheby’s London. The same day, Sotheby’s competitor set a new record of £440,000 for a 1983 canvas (Christie’s London).

The more affordable FUTURA 2000 is one of the pioneers of urban painting which he created instinctively on the walls of Brooklyn as of the 1970s. Only 3 works from the graffiti artist have been put up for auction in ten years! The latest, an untitled acrylic and aerosol painting on a plank of wood, found a buyer for 4,000 euros in October at Artcurial who will auction a spray-painted graffiti canvas entitled Bar code (1983, 137 x 181 cm) for an estimate of between 4,000 and 5,000 euros.

above: A 1963 John Perello acrylic painting, All Are One

Graffiti art becomes sought after in France

The auction house Artcurial will auction around twenty works by American and French graffiti artists on 6 June. The sale catalogue lists the works together in a section called ‘Graffiti and post-graffiti art’: never before has a French auction house given the genre so much credit! The sale’s headline piece is the large-scale Match Point, Ephemeral Hospital, 1993 (214.5 x 190 cm) by John PERELLO, aka Jonone estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000 euros. Highly vibrant and colourful, this work takes liberties with the masters of abstract art such as Kandinsky, Pollock and de Kooning.

With these twenty lots going for estimates averaging between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, the art lover can set his or her heart on the large canvases with cartoon references signed John Matos CRASH or ASH II. There is a wide choice of works for between 1,000 and 5,000 euros: a Jonone sized at close to a metre, the abstract graffitis by SHARP, Chris Ellis DAZE, KOOR or a surreal graphic canvas by Alex/Mac-Crew. For less than 1,000 euros, one might hope to secure the spray-painted canvases by Sonic or Hondo and for a low-end estimate of 100 euros an untitled work combining several media on a plywood panel signed Thierry CHEVERNEY.

In two years, graffiti artists have seen their prices double: is the street phenomenon moving to the auction room?