Sunday, August 14, 2011

$1k to $50m


50 years ago LA art dealer Irving Blum, a former furniture salesman who bought a stake in Ferus gallery, persuaded Andy Warhol to mount his first solo show there. He also had the foresight to buy Campbell's Soup Cans for $1,000. The work which eventually sold for $15 million has returned to LA MOCA for a tribute exhibition to the gallery and Blum as one of its directors who also championed Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha and Frank Stella early in their careers.
Image: Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962