[ed.: This was back in Oct, just now cleaning up and posting even though I never really finished my thoughts.]
A month or so back I found a painting of Barbarella that Jean-Claude Forest created at Cinecittà Studios during filming of the Jane Fonda movie. It is one of only two that he painted there and one of them was up for auction at Heritage Auctions. According to the site, the painting/s were missing for almost 60 years. I could only imagine what it will sell for. Well, I guess I don’t have to imagine because I’m sitting in on the auction right now (12 Oct) just to find out (and because art auctions are kinda fun). Let’s go…
2024 October 12 – 13 International Comic Art Signature® Auction #7381
The live auctioneer is truly entertaining, commenting on his impressions of the works–all comic art–and vague and specific facts he’s reading blindly from the catalog in front of him. Regarding the splash page from Clowes’ Lloyd Llewellen #3: “looks very Twilight Zone, what do you think? [silence from the bidders] … well whatever”. And in an absolutely Twilight Zone coincidence, that very comic was lying on the bookshelves to the right of my desk. The original art eventually went for around $9,000. (The prices you see on the site include a 25% fee. So be Fucking. Careful. when you bid.)
The two other auctions I’d previously sat in on at HA, instead of a Real Live auctioneer, had the stock photo of an auctioneer wielding a gavel, paired with a sampled voice throughout that announced the current bid and when it was the “last chance”. The auction for Lucky Starr which I won back in May 2020 was this way, as was the one in Jun 2020 which I lost. For today’s auction and for the one at Interencheres a few months back where I won the Forest portfolio there were live auctioneers and, it’s obvious to say, they were more entertaining than a machine. Duh. Eventually a woman took over from the first auctioneer and she was just as enjoyable, poking fun at some people who were obviously frequent bidders (“girrrrrl I’m gonna pick on you”) and laughing at herself for slipping into a “southern drawl”.
My morning was disjointed and I almost forgot about the auction but luckily came in around 30 lots before the Barbarella. These things can take some time and it was maybe an hour before The Most Important Painting in the World came up. When I originally discovered it was being auctioned it was at $2k and I expected it to eventually go for $10k. Right now it’s at $7,250.
Here are the first few lots when I joined
A Chaykin American Flagg inked cover [ Chaykin | American Flagg! | HA lot ] went for $11k.
The Clowes Lloyd Llewellen [ Clowes | Lloyd Llewellen | HA lot ] for $9k
A Richard Corben [ Richard Corben | HA lot ] for $13k:
There were many pieces by French artist Guido Crepax.
I learned of Crepax when I got into the world of Barbarella. He was–this sounds more dismissive than it is–the Italian Jean-Claude Forest. More fairly: he was the Italian manifestation creating the sexy/powerful/exploited comic character. Second Wave Feminism (1960s) addressed equality in the workplace (oversimplifying) and Third Wave Feminism addressed sex positive feminism ((also way-oversimplifying)). Barbarella exists within that dichotomy of exploitation in one era and liberation in another and so everyone is unsettled by it, not knowing in this era how to approach it.
Camille Paglia would have an opinion.
The Crepax art was tempting because the works opened much lower than expected (even though they eventually hit what was expected though still low (from $3k to $5k)). That being said, I’m a little bit baffled by the prices of Crepax’s works compared to Forest’s in that every auction I’d participated in, even if tangentially, Forest’s work was sold with very little “bidding combat” and ultimately went for less that I’d imagined. Even within a Franco-saturated bidding environment. Crepax is more valued, if only by collectors and not artists culturally or visually, than Forest. Damn those wonderful Italians.
Long story whatever: Forest should be sold for more that Crepax. Debate me.
And let’s face it, Valentina is sooooo Italian.
So let’s compare Creapax’s absolutely stylish ink work to what went for the highest prices for American art. I don’t want to diminish Robert Crumb’s style and significance, but ultimately the value discrepancy feels Europe-dismissive as much as my judgement feels New World-dismissive. Created at around the same time, R. Crumb’s high-school-notebook-cover stylings were as much of the time as were Crepax’s. But that really doesn’t speak to what we’re looking at: price difference.
Oh America, you never fail to meet expectations.
(These auctions have tainted me in a way because even though I dismiss their Everything-is-a-Commodity capitalism, I join in the fun under the assumption that valued aesthetics will be revealed. I’m stupid.)
Items:
Several Robert Crumbs–one never published–were auctioned. Most went for more than $10k each.
Around 10 lots away from the Barbarella painting and after seeing what everything else goes for and how much they increase, I’m upping my estimate to $15k. This is an aggressive crowd.
…time passes…
Wow. Only $8.5k. This is kindof like when I was bidding for the set of Barbarella prints and braced for a battle but then quickly won it for a steal. [ed.: I found this recently and really suspect it’s the second of the two paintings Forest created at Cinecitta:]
Hanging out for a little while to see what a famous Moebius goes for and saw the French cover of Watchmen #6 go for $35k. I’m not an athlete, but I enjoy watching sports.
