Basquiat, Jewish Bible, and Bourgeois Spider: Highlights of New York’s May Auctions

New York, May 8 (EFE).- A painting by Basquiat on the history of black civilization, the oldest and most complete Jewish Bible on record, and one of the monumental spiders by sculptress Louise Bourgeois headline the season of May auctions in New York, which begins this Thursday.

The auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s accompanied EFE on a tour this Monday of the most outstanding works that they will sell in the coming days, many from famous collections such as those of businessman Paul Allen, media mogul SI Newhouse or the executive of Mo Ostin music.

Although the economic situation has worsened compared to last year and some experts anticipate that buyers will be more prudent, representatives of both houses agreed today that the demand for art continues to be strong, especially when it is endorsed by well-known collectors.

This is the case of “The Big Show (The Nile)” (1983), a canvas in which a young Jean Michel Basquiat alludes to migration in Africa, the slave trade or the fight for civil rights, which belonged to the designer Italian Valentino Garavani and part with a price of 45 million dollars at Christie’s (May 15).

“It is a monumental painting because of its scale and impact. We have seen incredible works on the market that have set records, especially their figures, such as masks, but this one is different because it tells a story”, explained Emily Kaplan, one of the managers of the important 20th century art auction.

It is followed by an unusual manuscript, the Codex Sassoon, a Jewish bible from about 1,100 years ago from Israel or Syria, which fascinates experts for its survival to the present day and which Sotheby’s estimates between 30 and 50 million dollars, considering it a “ witness of history” (May 17).

And for its spectacular nature, one of Bourgeois’ spiders (“Spider”, 1966), 3 meters high and with which the artist evoked childhood memories and admiration for her mother, valued between 30 and 50 million dollars for that institution and that she could achieve a record for any female artist (May 18).

Among the dozens of works up for auction, as always, modern and contemporary masters such as Gustav Klimt (“Insel im Attersee”, $45 million); René Magritte (“L’empire des lumières”, 35-55 million, Henri Rousseau (“Les Flamants”, 20-30 million) or Pablo Picasso, with several portraits between 15 and 40 million.

Christie’s, which smashed records last year with the pop portrait “Sage Shot Blue Marilyn” by Andy Warhol for 195 million and with the sale of the Paul Allen collection for 1,600 million, will offer another installment of this latest collection (May 11), which includes pieces by David Hockney, Georgia O’Keefe and Edward Hopper.

But apart from all these infallible names, and also as has been seen in recent seasons, there is an increasing supply and demand for works by women and black artists, such as those that make up the collection of real estate businessman Gerald Fineberg (17 May), said those responsible.

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