Last month, Christie's announced that they would be opening a sale of rare Jean-Michel Basquiat works from the personal collection of his ex-girlfriend and roommate Alexis Adler. On March 1, the online sale went live, and fans of the artist's work were pleased to view and bid on the pieces that Adler has kept to herself for the past 34 years.
The full auction and exhibition at Christie's includes approximately 50 works, 39 of which are currently being sold exclusively through the Christie's website. Among them are quite a few undated handwritten notes on yellow notebook and graph paper. There is a set of letters written on Rockefeller University stationery that the artist signed "SAMO" that are predicted to sell for somewhere between $18,000 and $25,000, and various painted sweatshirts with abstract designs and the words "MAN MADE" on the back that are expected to fetch five figures, each.
Check out a few of the auction pieces above and head to Christie's to spend that bread if you got it.
UPDATE MARCH 5, 2014: Two of Basquait's sisters are suing Christie's for $1 million because they claim that the auction house and Adler are attempting to sell fake pieces that were not made by the late artist. Their lawyer, James Cinque, said in the suit that six of the items were authenticated by the estate in 2007 but one was considered not to be a work of art. "Christie’s attempts to deceive and mislead the public into believing that the Estate authorized the reproduction of the artwork in the Catalog and that therefore the Catalog Items are authentic."
The auction house has not commented on the lawsuit and the auction has not been ended ahead of schedule.
RELATED: Christie's To Present Early Basquiat Works from His Ex-Girlfriend Alexis Adler's Personal Collection
[via Christie's]
