It may look little more than blackboard scrawls to the untrained eye, but a Cy Twombly work fetched $70.53 million in New York on Wednesday, setting a new auction record for the painter.
It may look little more than blackboard scrawls to the untrained eye, but a Cy Twombly work fetched $70.53 million in New York on Wednesday, setting a new auction record for the painter. A smattering of applause broke out in the room after bidding concluded for the star lot of Sotheby’s main evening post-war and contemporary art auction of the season.
“Untitled was produced by the US artist as part of his acclaimed Blackboard series in 1968, using oil-based house paint, wax crayon and pencil on canvas. The former Army cryptographer painted six bands of repeated loopy lines on a gray background, which was sold by a prominent US collector to benefit a reform temple in Los Angeles. Sotheby’s said the price set a new record at auction for the artist, just edging out the previous record of $69.6 million. It marked a phenomenal investment for a picture that British collector Charles Saatchi sold for $3.7 million in 1990.
