Francis Bacon news stories on Newser

Warhol's Double Elvis Sells for $37M

John Johnson — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:30:06 CDT

Another strong day for Sotheby's, though maybe not on the scale of the The Scream : Andy Warhol's silkscreen Double Elvis sold for $37 million. One of 22 made by Warhol, it's based on a movie still and shows Elvis as a gun-toting cowboy, notes the Guardian . Roy Lichtenstein's Sleeping Girl...

Francis Bacon's Work Relied on 'Gimmick'

Harry Kimball — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:37:37 CDT

Francis Bacon’s paintings still have the ability to shock, but beneath that initial thrill lies a consistent, even amateur, formula that “had grown stagnant by 1965,” Jerry Saltz writes in New York in previewing a retrospective opening today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The calculated pictorial repetitiousness and lack...

Strapped Art Market Preps for Auctions

Matt Cantor — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:21:01 CDT

After a 7-year boom, art auction houses are struggling as collectors hit hard by the recession close their wallets. Sotheby’s predicts it will pull in $179 million to $256 million at spring sales, compared to $742 million a year ago. As the spring events approach, auctioneers are employing an array...

Major Works Fail to Sell at Christie's

Jason Farago — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:16:25 CST

The art world bust continued last night at the Christie's contemporary auction in New York, where almost a third of the 75 works on the block went unsold. Not a single collector bid for the highlight of the sale, a self-portrait by Francis Bacon estimated to sell for around $40...

Painting Price Spells Gloom for Economy

Laurel Jorgensen — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:14:35 CDT

A Lucian Freud painting expected to sell for more than $12 million at Christie’s today went for only $9.4 million, a sign that even super-rich buyers of contemporary art are cutting back in the financial crisis, the Daily Telegraph reports. The art world anxiously awaited the sale of Freud’s...

Bacon Breaks Record as Art Market Sizzles

Rob Quinn — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:30:19 CDT

A 1976 triptych painting by Francis Bacon became the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold when it went for $86.2 million at auction last night, Reuters reports. Seventeen other artists also set records at the sale, boosting Sotheby's to the best night in its 300-year history and...

Contemporary Art Scores for Auction Houses

Wesley Oliver — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:39:46 CST

Contemporary art has been very good to Sotheby’s, fueling a 46% boost in sales for the world’s second-largest auctioneer this year over last, Bloomberg says. A crop of new collectors from the US, Russia and Asia brought new records for artists like Francis Bacon and Jeff Koons, for a total...

London Art Sales Soar

Caroline Miller — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:45:52 CDT

Francis Bacon took top honors and Damien Hirst became the highest-priced living artist—beating out Jasper Johns—at Sotheby's contemporary auctions in London last week. A 1971 Bacon self-portrait went for $43.2 million, and the Hirst pill cabinet called "Lullaby Spring" for $19.4 million. "Hirst is the Google...