$80m Lichtenstein In Christie’s Muse Sale

Robin Pogrebin reveals on the big lots for Christie’s Monday night sale this November, a Roy Lichtenstein that was once part of Leon Kraushar’s famous collection of Pop beauties which included the Orange Marilyn now owned by SI Newhouse, a Green Liz and a Red Jackie from before Warhol turned her into an icon of loss.

This Lichtenstein Nurse was owned by a series of noted collectors culminating in Peter Brant who was the penultimate owner before the consignor. A lot of work has gone into resetting the Lichtenstein market over the past few years. This sale could easily capitalize on all of that … and more:

“Nurse” is part of the artist’s popular “girl paintings,” based on comic-book images. Perhaps because most of those paintings from the 1960s are in museums and hard to come by, and because Lichtenstein created very few at this scale — 48 x 48 inches — Christie’s low estimate for the bottle blonde with troubled blue eyes and parted red lips will be a hefty $80 million. The work also has a guarantee, an undisclosed sum promised to sellers regardless of the auction’s outcome.

Jeffrey Deitch and Larry Gagosian to Collaborate in Miami (The New York Times)