An image called 'Triple Elvis', which was previously estimated to be sold at $60 million, fetches $82 million at the auction held by Christie's.
- November 13, 2014
AceShowbiz -
Two Andy Warhol images of Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando fetched in $151.5 Million at a Christie's auction on Wednesday, November 12 in Manhattan. Warhol's work of the "My Way" singer, called "Triple Elvis", shows the singer posing with a gun. The 1963 image was previously estimated to fetch $60 million, but it eventually went to a buyer at $82 million.
The Brando painting, called "Four Marlons", shows four identical images of the actor. The image was inspired by a publicity still for a 1960 Don Siegel-directed movie "Western Flaming Star". The work created in 1966 was sold at $69.6 million, crashing the estimated sale at $60 million. Both works, which previously were displayed at a German casino company, went to anonymous phone bidders.
The auction house raked in $852.9 million in total sales that night. "It's our highest total ever," Brett Gorvy, Christie's worldwide chairman of postwar and contemporary art, told The New York Times. "We saw a lot of new bidders tonight from the Middle East and Asia, but the biggest and most powerful buyers were still from America."
The Wednesday night event also featured works from Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly and Ed Ruscha. Some notable collectors such as Michael Ovitz, a former Hollywood agent; J. Tomilson Hill, the vice chairman of Blackstone Group; Andrew Saul, a New York businessman; and Stefan Edlis from Chicago attended the auction.
