«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

NEW YORK (AP) — Arts patron Betty Freeman was anything but a Beverly Hills housewife. An early financial backer of composers like John Adams and Phillip Glass, she also collected the works of artists including David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Dan Flavin and Andy Warhol. Four months after her death at age 87, Freeman's estate is selling 19 of the contemporary paintings in her collection. They will be auctioned at Christie's on May 13, after going on display at the auction house's Rockefeller Center galleries starting Friday. The star of the collection is Hockney's painting, "Beverly Hills Housewife," which depicts a 1960s-era housewife — Freeman herself — in a pink dress on the patio of her home. Measuring 12 feet long and 6 feet high, it is estimated to bring between $7 million and $10 million. Christie's predicts it could break the world auction record for a work by Hockney. The current Hockney record is $5.4 million for "The Splash" sold at Sotheby's in 2006.
All 19 lots could bring a total of $26 million to $40 million.

April 4 2009