Friday, November 03, 2006

A "JACKSON POLLOCK" SETS A NEW RECORD

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) working in his studio in 1950.

Los Angeles music and movie mogul David Geffen has sold one of Jackson Pollock's most-admired "drip paintings" for $140 million, a deal that appears to end the brief reign of Gustav Klimt's golden Adele Bloch-Bauer portrait as the painting sold for the highest-known price in history. The painting, which measures 4 by 8 feet, was completed eight years before Pollock's death, about a year after the New York artist began "drip painting," dribbling and flinging paint onto canvases (and fiberboard) with an abandon that appalled traditionalists and excited his fellow Abstract Expressionists.

Here's an example (NOT the painting sold) of Jackson Pollock's work: "Full Fathom Five" completed in 1947 (210 Kb); Oil on canvas with nails, tacks, buttons, coins, cigarettes, etc, 129 x 76.5 cm (50 7/8 x 30 1/8 in)

The sale comes on the heels of the bizarre nonsale of casino billionaire Steve Wynn's Picasso painting "Le RĂªve." That painting was to be sold for $139 million to art collector Steven Cohen, but Wynn, whose sight is impaired, accidentally puts his elbow through the canvas last month, voiding the deal.

(Excerpts from an article by Christopher Reynolds)

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