OVERVIEW: Art in Embassies Program Gave Podestas, Jeff Koons, Rockefellers, Clintons, Marina Abramovic, Rothschilds even Alefantis access to a private shipping channel that could bypass airport security credit: @Swordfish69
Jeff Koons ‘Rabbit’ Sets Auction Record for Most Expensive Work by Living Artist
Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, made the winning bid for Mr. Koons’s 1986 “Rabbit” from an aisle seat near the front of the salesroom. He was seated near Peter Brant, the collector and private museum-owner, and Jeffrey Deitch, the dealer.
It was the ultimate prize among six works offered at Christie’s from the collection of the magazine publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr., who died in 2017. Estimated to raise at least $50 million, this sculpture, made in an edition of three and one artist’s proof, was the last example left in private hands, according to Christie’s.
The price, surpassing the $90.2 million with fees achieved, again at Christie’s, for Mr. Hockney’s 1972 painting, “Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures),” confirmed how Mr. Koons’s metal sculptures have become the ultimate billionaire trophies produced during the contemporary art boom of the 1980s and ’90s. The Hockney milestone came at the expense of Mr. Koons, the previous record-holder, whose “Balloon Dog (Orange)” sold at auction for $58.4 million in November 2013.
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Blacksmith21 ago
That is insane - American artists like O'Keefe, Klee, Pollack, etc. don't even command prices like that. This reeks of a money laundering operation.
What really throws me is Mnuchin being involved. But art is art, regardless of who or what created it. I love art, but the industry is filled with freaks and creeps.
Nice find.
TheMystic ago
Caught this on the news tonight. I remember reading on this board awhile ago about Koons and possible money laundering through artwork.
When I heard the amount, the name Koons and that it was a damn rabbit, I knew you guys would be on top of it!
I am also scratching my head over the Mnuchin connection. Then I read this article and this part stood out. The sculpture was projected to sell for $70 million but exceeded expectations when Robert Mnuchin outbid several Asian investors.
Could the Asian investors be from China? Right now they are probably freaking out about what a Trump reelection could do to their economy. Could they have been trying to launder money into our country to financially help the cause of outing Trump? I wonder if Koons will ever get that 91 million or just a big middle finger when it comes time to pay up? Was Robert Mnuchin prepared to outbid them whatever the cost in order stop the transaction? Who knows but something is up, this is really weird.
Mrs_Ogynist01 ago
Hmmm... interesting thought.