A vibrantly painted Andy Warhol portrait of a young, bearded O.J. Simpson staring blankly forward, long before his murder trial eclipsed his athletic achievements, is set to go to auction in New York next month.
The 40 inch-by-40 inch silkscreen ink artwork, coated with acrylic paint and signed by Warhol and Simpson, is part of the enigmatic artist’s so-called Athlete Series, a commissioned set of more than 200 portraits he made in 1977, a decade before his death.
Weilding a Polaroid, Warhol photographed Simpson at a Buffalo motel on Oct. 19, 1977, when the football star was 30 years old and playing for the Buffalo Bills. Warhol took 46 pictures of Simpson, and used them to produce 11 portraits, according to the Phillips auction house.
“To my eye, this is the best O.J. painting of that series because of the crispness of the screen and that glorious bright color — a beautiful deep, rich blue and orange,” said Robert Manley, deputy chairman at Phillips.
The portrait, previously housed at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, will be on public display from May 6 until May 16 at Phillips’ gallery at 432 Park Ave. in Midtown Manhattan, according to the London-based auction house.
The work is set to land on the auction block on May 16. Phillips estimated its value is between $300,000 and $500,000.
Artwork by Warhol, a prolific avant-garde artist who dominated the American Pop Art sphere in the 20th century, is particularly hot at the moment, perhaps in part due to a revival of interest in his challenging and mysterious personal life.
On Broadway this winter, a play called “The Collaboration” explored Warhol’s close relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat, another influential New York painter. And last year, a Netflix docuseries exploring Warhol’s life, “The Andy Warhol Diaries,” captivated the art world.
“He’s like the patron saint of artists,” said Richard Polsky, a Warhol expert who runs an art authentication service, adding that…
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