Polaroid once handed out cameras and equipment to leading artists. They got them, by the thousands. Now a court has ordered Polaroid to sell.The prints came from the likes of Warhol, Adams, Hockney, Rauschenberg, Mapplethorpe and others captivated by the “instant thrill” of 1-minute prints. They were urged to experiment.  Polaroid just wanted some prints in return. Now a bankruptcy court has ordered Polaroid to put 1200 of those prints up for auction in June.
Read more at The New York Times.
With metronomic regularity, works of Contemporary Art soared to dizzying prices at Christie’s last night in New York, as the auction house achieved a record $496m, the highest ever in the history of art auctions. Most works exceeded their high estimates, and 15 new artist records were set, including the $58.4m that a buyer paid for Jackson Pollock’s “Number 19, 1948,” which turned out to be the star of the evening.
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A bizarre topless photo of Angelina Jolie called “Horseplay” sold at Christie’s London auction last night for $45,500. The “Wild Side of Photography” sale was scheduled well before Jolie’s double mastectomy announcement. Taken when she was 25, the photo also prominently displays a “Billy Bob” tattoo, referring to former husband Thornton who has since been removed from her shoulder and her life.
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Last week in New York, as major auction houses took in more than $473m, the spotlight was on Impressionist & Modern Art. This week, the focus shifts to the more uncertain field of Contemporary Art, with several hundred works coming up for sale. The action starts tomorrow at Sotheby’s, where a blue abstract by Barnett Newman, “Onement VI,” owned by Microsoft founder Paul Allen, is expected to sell for $30m-$40m.
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