New York, 11 November 2014
During Sotheby’s New York’s Tuesday evening sale on 11 November, an African statue originating from either the Ivory Coast or Burkina Faso reached $12 million (premium included).
The piece comes from the collection of the late businessman Myron Kunin whose fortune was built on his hair salon chain. Prior to Kunin, the statue had passed through the hands of collectors including sculptor Arman, psychologist Werner Muensterberger and curator William Rubin and has also been exhibited at MoMA New York and at the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland. The Sikasso-style piece’s Modernist qualities have been compared to the work of Alberto Giacometti, the early 20th-century Swiss sculptor.
French newspaper Le Figaro reports a fierce bidding war between French dealer Bernard Dulon, who dropped out at $8.8 million, and a telephone bidder who took the piece, possibly for the collection of a prestigious North American Museum, according to Bernard de Grunne who initially sold the piece for $1 million in 1989 or for the collection of the future Louvre Abu Dhabi.