Clive Davis’s Warhol, Hockney Paintings Head to Christie’s During Marquee New York Sales

Eight paintings from the collection of Clive Davis, the famed record producer who died this past June, will head to Christie’s during the November sales in New York. They are some of the first major consignments to those sales, and they are worth a total of more than $35 million. (Christie’s has not yet released individual estimates for each work.)

Those eight works include a ca. 1986 painting of Andy Warhol painting of Aretha Franklin, the singer whom Davis befriended and supported professionally; a 2009 landscape by David Hockney, who once painted Davis’s portrait; and a 1992 abstraction by Joan Mitchell. There are also works by Frank Stella, George Condo, and Robert Motherwell.

“Clive Davis had the unique ability to recognize and cultivate great talent in its most nascent phase,” Sara Friedlander, Christie’s chairman of postwar and contemporary art, said in a statement. “Through the generational musical voices that he nurtured, he created the soundtrack to all our lives, his legacy has been with us at all our greatest moments.”

Davis, who worked with musicians ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Alicia Keys, was not previously known as a major art collector. However, Christie’s release about the works consigned from Davis’s collection appeared to suggest he had had a longtime interest in art.

The release included a statement attributed to Davis: “I am extraordinarily passionate about art, and I am always learning about it. I spend hours going through auction house catalogs, reading about the artists and their work. I’m guided by what moves me, what I find beautiful, what I find exciting. The process of discovering something new always excites me.”