The Daily Telegraph‘s Colin Gleadell reports that last week the orange pharmaceutical billionaire Stewart Rahr, who made a splash at the Christie’s Leonardo DiCaprio auction, went home with a Mark Bradford painting from a smaller Christie’s sale in London. The felt tip pen piece, Curtis (2007), went for $2.3 million, double the artist’s previous record.
It seems as though he’s putting together quite the collection! From the DiCaprio auction, Mr. Rahr (a k a “Stewie Rah Rah”) already has a piece by Robert Longo, which he bought for $1.6 million, another by Rob Pruitt that went for $315,000 and a third by Elizabeth Peyton, which cost him $1.1 million. According to Page Six, he also has a lifetime ban from Nobu for calling a waitress a cunt.
Mr. Bradford recently left his longtime gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. He was reportedly in talks to join Hauser & Wirth, though if he ultimately did no announcement was ever made.
Thanks to Art Market Monitor for pointing us to this story.
