Paintings by Chimpanzee Outsell Warhol
Lorenzo L. Love
Paintings by Chimpanzee Outsell Warhol
Jun 20, 4:47 PM (ET)
LONDON (AP) - Monkey business proved to be lucrative Monday when
paintings by Congo the chimpanzee sold at auction for more than $25,000.
The three abstract, tempera paintings were auctioned at Bonhams in
London alongside works by impressionist master Renoir and pop art
provocateur Andy Warhol.
But while Warhol's and Renoir's work didn't sell, bidders lavished
attention on Congo's paintings.
An American bidder named Howard Hong, who described himself as an
"enthusiast of modern and contemporary painting," purchased the lot of
paintings for $26,352, including a buyer's premium.
The sale price surpassed predictions that priced the paintings between
$1,000-$1,500.
"We had no idea what these things were worth," said Howard Rutkowski,
director of modern and contemporary art at Bonhams. "We just put them in
for our own amusement."
Congo, born in 1954, produced about 400 drawings and paintings between
ages 2 and 4. He died in 1964 of tuberculosis.
His artwork provoked reactions ranging from scorn to skepticism among
critics of the time, but Pablo Picasso is reported to have hung a Congo
painting on his studio wall after receiving it as a gift.
"There's no precedent for things like this having been sold before,"
Rutkowski said.
Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove
"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that
anybody could ever want to own."
Andy Warhol