It is reported that Christie's "would kick off the sale by offering roughly 350 Warhol works on Nov. 12 in its New York auction room, followed by a series of online-only sales of lower-priced pieces next February and for years beyond".
The WSJ reports
Source: The Wall Street Journal
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts said Wednesday that it has enlisted Christie's to help sell off its remaining inventory of silk-screen paintings, drawings, prints, collages, photographs and archival materials because it no longer wants to broker occasional sales of these objects on its own.
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Christies Images Ltd.
Highlights of the trove include Warhol's 'Self-Portrait in Fright Wig,' a 1970s Polaroid print, which Christie's expects to fetch at least $15,000.
Chairman Michael Straus said the foundation aims to use the proceeds to increase its $225 million endowment and expand the scope of its art-related grant programs. "We're converting art into money," Mr. Straus said.
Warhol is one of the art market's top commodities, and this selloff could significantly recalibrate his prices because the foundation is putting so many pieces into broader circulation for the first time. These include at least 350 paintings and 1,000 prints, plus thousands of drawings and unique photographs the artist took during his four-decade career.
Alberto Mugrabi, a New York dealer whose family owns at least 800 Warhols, said the estate has hinted for over a year that it might want to close up shop, and Mr. Mugrabi said he and a few other dealers offered to buy it, but the foundation declined. Now, he said, he worries the foundation will "dilute" the Warhol brand by flooding the market with too material at once. "It's ridiculous—they have a great product, and they're pushing it out into the market like cattle," he added.
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