Auction catalogues are like proper books: full of essays and other useful information for collectors and wannabe-collectors alike. Our favourite lot for instance, ROY LICHTENSTEIN’s Sailboats III, 1974, which is to be sold at SOTHEBY’S this evening for something along the lines of $6-8 million USD, is one in a series of three paintings of sailboats. We learn that despite a general dislike for the Cubist artist LYONEL FEININGER, LICHTENSTEIN “clearly looked towards his many Cubist representations of sailboats” such as Yachts, 1929. We also find out fun facts like the provenance of the work: it was sold by LEO CASTELLI GALLERY in 1974 to collector CARTER BURDEN who auctioned it at SOTHEBY’S in 1988, where it was bought by a private collector who sold it at CHRISTIE’S in 1998 to THEODORE J. FORSTMAN, whose estate is now selling it once again at SOTHEBY’s. Great!
















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