A Look At The Art From Christie's Auction That Raised Nearly $14 Million For Haiti.

A record-breaking charity art auction was held Thursday, September 22nd at the David Zwirner Gallery and organized with actor Ben Stiller's Stiller foundation. The Christie's fundraising auction featured works by such well-known contemporary artists as Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, James Rosenquist, Cindy Sherman, Elizabeth Peyton and Chuck Close to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti.


above: actor Ben Stiller and gallerist David Zwirner with children from Haiti

The Christie's auction raised $13.7 million (their highest ever for a charity) and set records for works by Raymond Pettibon, Glenn Ligon, Adel Abdessemed and Nate Lowman (whose pieces are all shown in this post). Many of the pieces were created for the auction, but not all.


above: Raymond Pettibon's No Title (but the sand...)

The top selling painting was Marlene Dumas’ 2010 “My mother before she became my mother” which went for $2 million:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting

"Deal - No Deal" by Luc Tuymans, 2011, fetched $1.15 million:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting

Actress Jennifer Aniston plopped down $450,000 for this painting, Glen Ligon's Stranger #44 valued at just $150,000 to $200,000- making it a generous donation and a record breaking sale for the artist:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting

Nate Lowman's Birthday cake painting #2 (a record-breaking sale for the artist):


Jasper Johns, Untitled, 2009:


Jeff Koons, Bikini (Desert), 2001-2011:

above top: full painting; below left: detail of painting; below right: in situ

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 2007:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting

Urs Fischer, Tomorrow, 2010:

above left: full artwork; above right, detail of artwork

Ed Ruscha, Pick, Pan, Shovel #7, 1979:


Elizabeth Peyton's Jay-Z, Glastonbury, 2008:

above left: full drawing; above right, framed and in situ

Adel Abdessemed's Mappemonde-Olive, 2011:

above left: full artwork; above right, detail of artwork

James Rosenquist's The Richest Person Gazing at the Universe Through a Hubcap, 2011:


Neo Rauch, Chor, 2011:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting

Cindy Sherman, Untitled:

above left: full photograph; above right, detail of photograph

Rudolph Stingel, Untitled, 2008:

above left: full painting; above right, detail of painting



above: the auction catalog cover

Christie's said the sale was its highest total for a charity auction. Art dealer David Zwirner, who curated the sale, described it as "an amazing evening." He said of the result, "We are overwhelmed by the support."

Images of some of the works as displayed in the gallery:





The Artists include:
Adel Abdessemed, Francis Alÿs, Mamma Andersson, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Chuck Close, Marlene Dumas, Urs Fischer, Dan Flavin, Jasper Johns, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Paul McCarthy, Chris Ofili, Raymond Pettibon, Elizabeth Peyton, Neo Rauch, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Rudolf Stingel, Luc Tuymans, Kelley Walker,and Zhang Huan.

To see all of the pieces in the auction, visit Artists For Haiti


Artists for Haiti, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, joins in the much needed humanitarian effort to raise significant funds for children’s education and health programs. 100% of the proceeds from this sale will go directly to support nonprofits and NGOs that are already performing extraordinary work on the ground in Haiti, including: Architecture for Humanity, Artists for Peace and Justice, Ciné Institute, Grameen Creative Lab, J/P HRO, Partners In Health, and The Stiller Foundation, among others.

images courtesy of Christie's, Artists for Haiti and Artnet