Keith Haring returns to the center of the market with a rare selection from the private collection of his friend Kermit Oswald.
Why is this auction important?
In May, Sotheby’s will offer for sale a core of works that provides an intimate reading of the artist. The group comes from Oswald’s private collection, a long-time friend of Haring. Many works have not been visible for decades.
The collection, formed between 1977 and 1989, spans a wide part of the artist’s production. It includes various media and testifies to the direct relationship between the two, also through personal gifts that remained in the family for almost forty years.
The most anticipated lots of the auction of Keith Haring’s private collection
Among the main pieces is one of the only six self-portraits on canvas ever made by Haring, with an estimate of 3-5 million dollars. The catalog also includes wood-carved sculptures and painted objects, such as a cradle and a dresser gifted for Kermit’s first child, both estimated at 250,000-350,000 dollars.
Additionally, the offer includes the entire set of 17 screenprints titled The Blueprint Drawings. There are also works on paper from the early phases, useful for understanding Haring’s initial experiments with image and material, bold signs, and found materials.
Documents, photos, and letters add context
The catalog is accompanied by photographs of Haring and personal letters written to Oswald. In the shots, the artist smiles next to Kermit’s son and works on wooden sculptures in his studio.
The letters provide insight into various themes, from art to technology. Inside, there are clippings, reviews, exhibition invitations, and graphic experiments with words cut out and recomposed on the page. However, a letter from April 1981 also recalls a conversation in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art about computers and evolution.
Overall, the May sale at Sotheby’s offers an uncommon portrait of Keith Haring: that of an artist close to the daily life of friends, as well as to the history of the market and his more well-known production.
For further references on the auction and market context, you can consult Sotheby’s, Museum of Modern Art, and Keith Haring Foundation.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
