This is the world's most expensive sculpture

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 05/09/2002 | Will Bennett

[dighton]

A WORLD record auction price for a sculpture has been set with the sale of an 11-inch-tall bronze head for £12.3 million.

A fierce bidding battle broke out in Christie's New York saleroom when Constantin Brancusi's Danaide went under the hammer.

The sculpture was the only one of seven casts of the Romanian artist's work still in private hands. The other six are all in museums such as the Tate Gallery in London, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

It had been estimated that the sculpture would fetch between £5.5 million and £7 million. It was eventually sold to an anonymous telephone bidder, believed to be a private collector.

The price comfortably outstripped the previous sculpture record of £10 million paid for a work by Alberto Giacometti at Christie's in 2000 and was more than double the previous highest sum paid for a Brancusi.

The bronze had not been on the open market since before the First World War. It was cast by Brancusi, a Romanian-born artist who lived in Paris for most of his life, in about 1913.

[dighton]

[mdittmar]

I wouldn't even have that in my house as a doorstop.

[mel]

Did you see that the "Fountain" is up for auction. It is a glazed cast ceramic urinal from 1917 signed by the artist Duchamp. It is supposed to see for between 1.5-2.5 million dollars. I may be low brow, but I wouldn't pay $20 for it. I bet he was laughing all the way to the bank. What a joke. Kind of reminds me of the emperor's new clothes.

[jigsaw]

Looks more like Hillary's chest (I presume.)

[Charles Henrickson]

"All your base are belong to us."

[Michael_S]

Theres a sucker born every minute.

[another cricket]

It looks like a fancy doorknob. Guess dear ol' PT was right.

a.cricket

[apochromat]

I knew that had to mean something. Thanks for figuring it out.

[tututango]

It may not be art to you, mel, but Duchamp's urinal is an important piece of sculpture in the development of western art in the 20th centry. I would LOVE to own it. If you're interested in why it's so important, let me know.

[shaggy eel]

,,, looks great but I think the actual art lies in making prospective buyers believe it's "worth" what they're saying it is. Presently, where I am there's a Henry Moore exhibition running thru to next month. That's worth seeing, if sculpture's your thing.

[NapaCA]

Well, the price is obviously outrageous, but the piece is rather pleasing to my eye... and hey, we're freepers, right? If someone wants to spend millions of their own dollars for it, peace be with them...

[July 4th]

It may be the world's most expensive recorded sculpture sale, but off-hand I can think of about 20 things in the Louvre that would go for a lot more.

[Ditter]

I am an artist & a art lover & the article really had me looking forward to seeing the sculpture. But, in the words of Rozanne Rozanadana, .......... "never mind".

[mel]

okay explain it to me, i showed the picture to some friends and they all thought somebody famous and really important must have taken a whiz in it. And then I heard about the japanese taking a whiz in it at a art gallery something about turning art back to its correct form and they thought that was art. i am sorry it is kind of funny to me i guess my proletariat background is showing thru. But perhaps it is art because since i saw the picture of it, it has intrigued me. I have carried the picture around showing it to different people. i don't mean to sound dumb but it is kind of funny to me

[steve-b]

Did you see that the "Fountain" is up for auction. It is a glazed cast ceramic urinal from 1917 signed by the artist Duchamp. It is supposed to see for between 1.5-2.5 million dollars. I may be low brow, but I wouldn't pay $20 for it.

I'd pay that much to engrave Billzebubba's picture in every urinal in the country. Now that would be artistic!

[balrog666]

A WORLD record auction price for a sculpture has been set with the sale of an 11-inch-tall bronze head for £12.3 million.

What a dumbass to buy a copy. The buyer might as well have had 50 duplicates made for $100,000.

[tututango]

Believe it or not, by exhibiting a urinal as "ready made" sculpture, Marcel Duchamp changed art forever. His influence is seen everywhere today.

I guess the most basic explanation of his importance is that he made the absurd artistic, giving rise to the dada movement as the springboard for most visual art today -- including broadcast images.

I recently read a good book about the dada artists, I think it's called "Dada-Art and Anti-art." It absolutely fascinates me how much the dada and post-modern artists have influenced the visual and spoken medium since the early 1920's.

You're not the only one to be taken by Duchamp's sculpture. I think about it often, and what it represents from the period. It was so simple, yet innovative, for Duchamp to display a commercially manufactured urinal as art. Most imagery today can be traced back to the dadaists -- one good modern example is the use of absurd metaphors and imagery in advertising.

[Thinkin' Gal]

[apochromat]

That's actually tasty stuff. At one time they'd put all sorts of toys with them. Anyone would probably get sued for putting a tiny plastic toy in a candy box now.

[apochromat]

Perfect gift for someone who has everything. Unlikely to cause a negligence lawsuit, and of little use in gathering DNA evidence.