Analysis
Three Iconic Warhol Portraits Coming to Auction at Bonhams
Cait Munro
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Three of Andy Warhol‘s most iconic portraits from the 1980s will go to auction at Bonhams in London on February 12 at the Post-War & Contemporary Art sale. Each depicts a person that was a close friend of the artist as well as an important figure of the decade: socialite Marjorie Copley, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Portrait of Marjorie Copley (1980), an icy, demure departure from the bright Pop colors that largely dominated Warhol’s work during this period, has been given an estimate of £180,000–£250,000 ($271,743–$377,421).
Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe (1983)
Photo: artnet
Robert Mapplethorpe, who in turn produced several photographs of Warhol, shared his interest in portraiture, but was ultimately less focused on celebrity and glamour. Warhol’s 1983 screenprint Robert Mapplethorpe has an estimate of £50,000– £70,000 ($75,461–$105,646).
A 1982 Polaroid print of Jean-Michel Basquiat, for whom Warhol was a kind of mentor, shows the prolific artist as a fresh-faced young man, his hair in trademark bunches, staring straight into the camera. It is estimated between £12,000–£18,000 ($18,113–$27,169).
For more on Warhol’s booming market, see Buy, Sell, Hold: Andy Warhol. If you can’t afford an original but still crave a piece of the Pop art pie, check out Converse x Andy Warhol Coming in February.
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