David Bowie's art collection hits the auction block
Highlights from the contemporary art collection of music legend David Bowie began the final American leg of its world tour on Monday (September 26th), before its auction in November.
Sotheby's previewed the pieces at their New York headquarters.
"Overall, we will be selling over 350 items. The low estimate is £10-£15 million ($13-$19 million). We divided it into three sales: two sales of modern and contemporary art and then a whole sale of post-modern Italian design," explained Simon Hucker, a Senior Specialist in Modern and Post-War British Art at Sotheby's, about the auction on November 10th and 11th in London.
Over an almost 50-year career, Bowie, who passed away aged 69 in January, amassed a huge collection of art for which he was well known.
"I think it's more to do with his wider interest in creativity, in the way that artists work, in the artistic process. He refers to one of the paintings in the sale, the 'Head of Gerda Boehm' by Frank Auerbach, that he'd look at it in the morning and it would affect his mood and also that he'd be inspired to try and make sounds that reflected the way that that painting made him feel," explained Hucker about music legend's attraction to art.
Bowie was deeply engaged in the world of art, especially in Modern and Contemporary British art, as an artist, critic, patron, publisher, and even magazine editor. He joined the editorial team of 'Modern Painter' magazine where he interviewed artists such as Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
As an actor, Bowie even played Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel's 1996 biopic 'Basquiat' with Jeffrey Wright, Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper.
Among the top lots in the sale is a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece "Air Power", estimated at $3.3-$4.6 million.
The highlights will move to Sotheby's in Hong Kong next month, before the entire private collection of Bowie is put on public display in London in November in the week leading up to the auction.
