Thursday, June 21, 2007

Best-selling living artists revealed

David Hockney has sold work valued at more than £23mAmerican artist Jasper Johns is the biggest-selling living artist, according to a survey.
Johns' artworks have sold for more than £92m over the last three decades, the survey by magazine Artreview showed.
British artist David Hockney was ninth in the top 10 list, with sales of £23.7m, from 1,005 separate works.
Hockney is ninth in the list, which also includes German Gerhard Richter, at number two, and American Cy Twombly at number three.
Top five best-selling living artists
1 Jasper Johns - £92.8m
2 Gerhard Richter - £80.9m
3 Cy Twombly - £54.5m
4 Robert Rauschenberg - £36.5m
5 Fernando Botero - £35.7m
Source: Artreview magazine "Hockney is the Bradford boy who arrived wide-eyed in Los Angeles and sold the 60s American dream of pools and sun back to the natives," said the survey, which was released on Tuesday.
"He may be accused of a career spoiled by distractions - notable photography and theatre design - but his subtle portraits have made $2m (£1.25m)."
'Never a distraction'
Hockney, who is internationally known for his vividly-coloured paintings and portraits, was not impressed with his inclusion in the list, according to Tuesday's Daily Telegraph.
"I would want to know how they collated this. Is this just some little conspiracies in the newspapers?" he told the Telegraph.
Jasper Johns, the 73-year-old American artist heading the list, is best-known for a series of paintings of the Stars and Stripes.
One of his paintings, Two Flags, sold for £4.4m at a Christie's sale in 1999.
He was one of the key figures in the Pop Art movement of the 1950s.

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