Jeff Koons, Art Collector

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Mar 1st 2008 at 9:02AM

I've talked a lot about Jeff Koons as an artist but what about Jeff Koons, art collector. The artist, whose monumental work, Hanging Heart, brought in $23.4 million at auction last fall, is also an avid collector and his taste might surprise you. The baby-faced artist, who traffics in large works of kitschy pop, puts some of his earnings back into the art market spending big on the traditional masters. The Art Newspaper reports that Koons paid $6.3 million at Sotheby's in New York for a the work shown at right, a large limewood carving of St Catherine, dating from around 1505, by German 16th-century sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider. He is also said to be the lender of an 1866 Gustave Courbet nude to the Metropolitan Museum's current exhibition on the French artist. He bought that painting last June at Sotheby's for around $3.2 million. It's sort of comforting to know that while Koons is benefiting from the booming art market he's also having to pay the same exorbitant prices that everyone else is facing right now.

Tags: art, art market, auctions, jeff koons, sculpture

Filed under: Auctions, Art

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Liz Weber Mar 5th 2008 11:36PM

If you want to meet Jeff Koons and get a private tour of his studio, led by the man himself, you can bid on the chance at www.charitybuzz.com. Ask him about his art collection. The auction ends on March 6, 2008.

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