When US entrepreneur Barney Ebsworth died in April this year, he left behind a ton of fortune, pieces of which have now been put under hammer. One such art work from his legendary collection includes a painting by famed US artist – Edward Hopper that showcases two women in conversation at a Chinese restaurant. While the American Urban art might sound ordinary, it has recently garnered a bank-breaking price of $92 m on auction.
Titled ‘Chop Suep’, the 1921 painting forms part of a 91-artwork ensemble that was recently auctioned by Christie’s as the ‘Ebsworth Collection’. While the total proceeds amounted to a whopping $258.3 million, the sale of the aforementioned piece was the most attention grabbing, for obvious reasons. Selling for a record price of the $92 m, the painting is now touted as the most expensive of Hopper’s work ever to be bought at auction. It has also set a new auction record for the Dutch-born abstract expressionist, surpassing his 1977 Untitled XXV which sold for $66.3m in 2016.
As reported by Christie, several big collector’s bid fiercely for Ebsworth’s iconic pieces. As stated by ArtNet, “The fact that specialists from the contemporary art realm and the American art ream went head to head is a sign of the work’s broad appeal.” Apart from the sale of the ‘Chop Suey’, other pieces from the Ebsworth Collection include Willem de Kooning’s 1955 Woman as Landscape which was sold at the same Christie’s auction for $68.9m.
[Via:Marketwatch]
