Basquiat's work may break Christie's auction record
(Reuters) - One of Jean-Michel Basquiat's early works could break the artist's record price in November, Christie's auction house said on Tuesday.
The untitled work of 1981 has been in a private collection for two decades and is often shown in large Basquiat retrospectives. It shows a fisherman displaying fish hanging from the hook.
Christie's estimates the work will be priced at about $ 20 million, which, along with the commissions, will raise the price above Basquiat's previous record of $ 20.1 million, which was auctioned in June in London.
"Great works by Basquiat have become almost impossible to find in recent years, " said Loic Gouzer, a contemporary art expert at Christie's. "The market has long been waiting for a work of this caliber and freshness. Basquiat is increasingly recognized as a great master of postwar art, along with De Kooning, Warhol and Pollock."
Basquiat, a Haitian artist who made a career in the USA, died in 1988 at the age of 27.
(Report by Chris Michaud)
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