Andy Warhol, notoriously obsessed by money, once famously said, ‘Making money is art. And working is art. And good business is the best art.’ In a show that epitomises this brash statement, London auction house Sotheby’s has, in ‘The Art of Making Money’, gathered a never-seen-before museum-quality collection of 21 artworks that celebrate the power and symbolism of the US dollar.
Unveiled to the public for the first time and estimated at a value of around £50 million, the haul includes the most important collection of Warhol ‘dollar’ paintings in private hands – the artist’s seminal One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate) is among them, with an estimated value of £13–18 million alone.
Other highlights include Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s $, 2001, a glitzy dollar sign studded with shimmering white lights; and in Keith Haring’s Untitled from 1982, the dollar symbol – turned into an icon of pop art by Warhol – is layered with new meaning and complexities by his socialist protégé, who, unlike Warhol, felt uneasy about the relationship between art and business.
Due to go under the hammer on 1 and 2 July 2015, the collection also includes pieces by Joseph Beuys, Arman, Scott Campbell, Francesco Clemente, Robert Silvers, Cildo Meireles, Ronnie Cutrone, Jin Wang, Liu Zheng and Gustave Buchet, who, just like Warhol, have all been seduced and inspired by the dollar and its mesmerising power.
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