All shook up: Elvis Presley helps Christie's art sale to £536m record

 
Record books: Four Marlons sold for £43.9 million while Triple Elvis in the foreground sold for £51.6 million

A triple image of Elvis Presley by Andy Warhol has sold for £51.6 million at Christie’s New York in a sale which made nearly £536 million — the highest total for any sale in auction history.

It beat Christie’s own record of £435.7 million set at the post-war and contemporary art sale in America last November.

The Triple Elvis, taken from a publicity shot for his 1960 movie Flaming Star, was followed by equally feverish bidding for Warhol’s Four Marlons. The multiple image of Marlon Brando on a motorbike in a leather jacket as The Wild One made £43.9 million.

The Warhols, which had been hanging in a casino in Aachen, Germany, since the Seventies, were the highlight of a sale which saw bidders from 43 countries help set 11 new world auctions records for artists including Ed Ruscha and Cy Twombly.

Stick ’em up: Andy Warhol’s Triple Elvis, above, sells for £51.6 million at Christie’s New York (Picture: AP)

Twombly’s Untitled canvas from 1970, sold by his former assistant Nicola del Roscio, was the third work to fetch more than $50 million when it matched Four Marlons at £43.9 million ($69.6 million).

Steven Murphy, Christie’s chief executive officer, hailed the sale as “truly a moment in art history”. Brett Gorvy, international head of post-war and contemporary art, said it had been a sale of “extraordinary quality and range” with every major contemporary artist, including Francis Bacon, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning and Jeff Koons, represented by at least one masterwork.

“The landmark sale result achieved tonight is a reflection of both growing global enthusiasm and demand in this category and a virtuous cycle of confidence in the art market that brings a fresh supply of exciting, high-quality works into the market with each new season,” he said.

Most of the works on offer had been previously seen in at least one museum exhibition and almost half had never been sold at auction before. A total of 69 made more than $1 million (£630,000). Major collectors in the room included Michael Ovitz, a former Hollywood agent, and J Tomilson Hill, the vice chairman of Blackstone Group.

The art market has been bolstered in recent years by new buyers from Asia, Russia and the Middle East.

This week has already seen Sotheby’s New York take £216.9 million at its contemporary sale, with a £28.4 million painting by Mark Rothko from a private collection which had not been seen in public since 1970.

Last week the same auction house notched up £263.9 million in a sale led by the 1950 sculpture Chariot by Albert Giacometti, which went for $101 million (£63.1 million).

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