Playboy Art Sale Brings In $2.9 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 9th 2010 at 7:01PM

The sale of part of Playboy's substantial art archive took place Wednesday night at Christie's New York on December 8 in an auction titled "The Year of the Rabbit." The 125-piece offering including Dali watercolor of a reclining nude that hung in Hugh Hefner's bedroom as well as 80 photographs, many of which appeared in the magazine and more than a dozen contemporary works and 24 cartoons.

The expected top lot was an oil painting of of a scarlet-lipstick mouth by pop artist Tom Wesselmann. "Mouth No. 8" sold for nearly $1.9 million against estimates of $2 million to $3 million. The Dali watercolor sold for more than $266,000 beating estimates of $100,000 to $150,000. The sale brought in a total of $2,903,437 (including buyer's premium). Herb Ritts photographs of Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford and Elle MacPherson also sold well. A Herb Davidson portrait of Hef himself sold for $6,000 against the estimate of $5,000 - $7,000.

This is the second time Christie's has sold items from Playboy. Playboy celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003 with an auction of memorabilia and ephemera from Playboy's collection. The art represents just a small amount of the Playboy Art Collection which has an archive of 5,000 contemporary artworks and more than 20 million photographs.

Tags: herb ritts, hugh hefner playboy activist and rebel, playboy, Playboy Magazine, playboy mansion, Salvador Dal, tom wesselmann

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Deidre at Steuben Dec 10th 2010 1:57PM

Was Hefner selling part of his art collection to help pay off Playboy debts, or was there an alternative motive? I hope everything works out for the company financially.

I am really excited, however, about his efforts to save the Hollywood sign. It's such a staple of pop culture. Hefner should really be commended for his efforts.

CLARABOO2 Dec 16th 2010 11:10AM

I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO MR HEFNER !
FOR KEEPING PLAYBOY ALIVE !!
HOPE THAT HIS KIDS UNDERSTAND THE VELUE OF IT...
AND WILL FOLLOW IN IS FOOT STEPS..
THAT PLAYBOY SHOULD GO ON FOR EVER AND EVER ... ...!!!!!!
KEEP GOING HU.....CLARA
FROM YOUR HOME TOWN