Sotheby’s has released the four Clyfford Still paintings being sold by the City of Denver to fund the Still museum there. The estimates exceed the guaranteed $25m for all the paintings. The question remains whether the rarity of Still paintings on the market will work in favor of the lots or against them. The vast majority of Still’s artistic output will be housed in this one museum. Though scarcity creates value, the current market era prizes works that widely disseminated and represented in important collections and institutions. Still’s work is not.
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