OUCS106 - Essay Question

Chosen Question;

"Could it be argued that fine art ought to be assigned more "value" than graphic design?"

For this essay question I decided to look at how is it that art can be worth so much in terms of money although it isn't in the public eye or accessible to masses yet graphic design which dominates society and is widely available to everyone yet isn't technically worth anything.

List of highest prices paid at auctions or private sales (inflation adjusted)

This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value^[4] (in bold) in millions of September 2010 United States dollars. Where necessary, the price is first converted to dollars using the exchange rate at the time the painting was sold. The inflation adjustment may change as recent inflation rates are often revised. A list in another currency may be in a slightly different order due to exchange rate fluctuations. Paintings are only listed once, i.e. for the highest price sold.

Adjusted price (in millions)	Original price (in millions)	Painting	Artist	Year	Date of sale	Rank at sale	Seller	Buyer	Auction house
$151.8	$140	No. 5, 1948	Jackson Pollock	1948	2006-11-02	1	David Geffen		Private sale via Sotheby's [5]
$149.1	$137.5	Woman III	Willem de Kooning	1953	2006-11-18	2	David Geffen	Steven A. Cohen	Private sale via Larry Gagosian[6]
$145.3	$135	Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I	Gustav Klimt	1907	2006-06-18	1	Maria Altmann	Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie	Private sale via Christie's [7]
$139.5	$82.5	Portrait of Dr. Gachet	Vincent van Gogh	1890	1990-05-15	1	Siegfried Kramarskyfamily	Ryoei Saito [8]	Christie's, New York
$132.0	$78.1	Bal du moulin de la Galette[9]	Pierre-Auguste Renoir	1876	1990-05-17	2	Betsey Whitney	Ryoei Saito [10]	Sotheby's, New York
$120.3	$104.2	Garçon à la pipe	Pablo Picasso	1905	2004-05-04	3	Greentree foundation(Whitney family)	Guido Barilla? [11]	Sotheby's, New York [12]
$106.6	$106.5	Nude, Green Leaves and Bust	Pablo Picasso	1932	2010-05-04	7	Frances Lasker Brodyestate		Christie's, New York [13]
$101.7 ++	$58 plus exchange of works[14]	Portrait of Joseph Roulin	Vincent van Gogh	1889	1989-08-01	1	Private collection, Zürich	Museum of Modern Art New York	Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich[15]
$102.7	$95.2	Dora Maar au Chat	Pablo Picasso	1941	2006-05-03	4	Gidwitz family	Boris Ivanishvili [16]	Sotheby's, New York [17]
$102.0	$53.9	Irises	Vincent van Gogh	1889	1987-11-11	1	son of Joan Whitney Payson	Alan Bond [18]	Sotheby's, New York
$100.9	$100.0	Eight Elvises	Andy Warhol	1963	2008-10	10	Annibale Berlingieri		Private sale via Philippe Ségalot[19]
$95.3	$71.5	Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe	Vincent van Gogh	1889	1998-11-19	5	Heirs of Jacques Koerfer		Christie's, New York
$95.2	$87.9	Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II	Gustav Klimt	1912	2006-11-02	9	Maria Altmann		Christie's, New York
$93.0	$76.7 (£49.5)	Massacre of the Innocents	Peter Paul Rubens	1611	2002-07-10	6	an Austrian family	Kenneth Thomson [20]	Sotheby's, London
$87.0	$86.3	Triptych, 1976	Francis Bacon	1976	2008-05-14	13	Moueix Family,Château Pétrus [21]	Roman Abramovich [7]	Sotheby's, New York [22]
$86.6	$80.0	False Start [23]	Jasper Johns	1959	2006-10-12	10	David Geffen	Kenneth C. Griffin	Private sale via Richard Gray
$86.3	$57	A Wheatfield with Cypresses	Vincent van Gogh	1889	1993-05	5	son of Emil Georg Bührle	Walter H. Annenberg [24]	Private sale via Steven Mazoh
$85.6	$49.3 (F300)	Les Noces de Pierrette	Pablo Picasso	1905	1989-11-30	3	Fredrik Roos	Tomonori Tsurumaki	Binoche et Godeau Paris
$84.4	$47.85	Yo, Picasso	Pablo Picasso	1901	1989-05-09	2	Wendell Cherry	Stavros Niarchos	Sotheby's, New York
$84.0	$80.0	Turquoise Marilyn	Andy Warhol	1964	2007-05-20	17	Stefan Edlis	Steven A. Cohen	Private sale via Larry Gagosian[25]
$80.4	$80.5 (£40.9)	Le Bassin aux Nymphéas	Claude Monet	1919	2008-06-24	19	J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller		Christie's, London [26]
$79.5	$60.5	Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier [27]	Paul Cézanne	1894	1999-05-10	9	Whitney Family		Sotheby's, New York
$77.3	$39.7 (£24.75)	Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers	Vincent van Gogh	1888	1987-03-30	1	daughter-in-law ofChester Beatty	Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp.	Christie's, London
$76.5	$72.8	White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)	Mark Rothko	1950	2007-05-15	20	David Rockefeller, Sr.	Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani[28]	Sotheby's, New York [29]
$75.3	$71.7	Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)	Andy Warhol	1963	2007-05-16	21	Private collection, Zürich	Philip Niarchos	Christie's, New York [30]
$72.7	$70.6 (£50)	Diana and Actaeon	Titian	1556–1559	2009-02-01	25	Duke of Sutherland	National Galleries of Scotland &National Gallery, London	Private sale [8] [9] [10]
$71.9	$68	The Gross Clinic	Thomas Eakins	1875	2007-04-12	20	Thomas Jefferson University	Philadelphia Museum of Art	Private sale.[31]
$70.6	$40.7	Au Lapin Agile	Pablo Picasso	1904	1989-11-27	5	daughter of Joan Whitney Payson	Walter H. Annenberg	Sotheby's, New York
$70.0	$38.5 (£20.9)	Acrobate et jeune Arlequin[32]	Pablo Picasso	1905	1988-11-28	3	heir of Roger Janssen?	Mitsukoshi	Christie's, London
$69.0	$55.0	Femme aux Bras Croisés	Pablo Picasso	1902	2000-11-08	13	McCormick family, Chicago		Christie's, New York [33]
$69.0	$69.0	Nude Sitting on a Divan ("La Belle Romaine")	Amadeo Modigliani	1917	2010-11-09	31	Halit Cingillioğlu [34]		Sotheby's, New York [35]
$68.7	$63.5	Police Gazette	Willem de Kooning	1955	2006-10-12	19	David Geffen	Steven A. Cohen	Private sale via Richard Gray Gallery
$65.5	$48.4	Le Rêve [36]	Pablo Picasso	1932	1997-11-10	11	Ganz family [11]	Wolfgang Flöttl [12]	Christie's, New York.
$64.6	$47.5	Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat	Vincent van Gogh	1890	1997	11		Stephen Wynn [37]	Private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York [38]
$64.4	$49.6	Femme assise dans un jardin	Pablo Picasso	1938	1999-11-10	15	Robert Saidenberg		Sotheby's, New York
$63.4	$63.4	Men in Her Life	Andy Warhol	1962	2010-11-08	35	Jose Mugrabi		Phillips de Pury & Company[39]
$62.1	$35.2	Portrait of a Halberdier	Pontormo	1537	1989-05-31	5	Chauncey Devereaux Stillman	Getty Museum	Christie's, New York
$61.7	$60.0	Suprematist Composition	Kazimir Malevich	1916	2008-11-03	34	Heirs of Kazimir Malevich		Sotheby's, New York [40]

One of the paintings I have decided to look at is No.5 by Jackson Pollock;

 

A classic "drip" picture by Jackson Pollock is believed to have become the world's most expensive painting after it was sold in America by the Hollywood entertainment mogul David Geffen for $140 million (£75 million).

Pollock work 'earns record price'

Pollock's nickname was "Jack the Dripper". Enlarge Image

A work by Jackson Pollock has become the most expensive painting sold, at a price of about $140m (£73m), according to the New York Times. Unnamed art experts said that US media magnate David Geffen had sold the 4ft by 8ft work, No 5, 1948, to Mexican financier David Martinez.

The reported price exceeds the $135m (£71m) paid in June for a 1907 portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.

The Pollock work features the US artist's famous drip-and-pour style.

The deal is said to have been brokered by Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer.

Jackson Pollock's work had a major influence on art in the latter half of the 20th Century, sparking the emergence of abstract expressionism.

But the artist battled alcoholism and depression and is generally regarded as a self-destructive, tortured genius. He died in a car crash in 1956, aged 44.

********************

­

Lewison, J. (1991) Interpreting Pollock. London, Tate Publishing
Hyland, A, Bell, R (2003) Hand to Eye contemporary illustration, London, Laurence King Publishing
Muller, J, (1994) Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design, Switzerland, Lars Muller Publishers
Barnard, M (2005) Graphic Design as Communication, London, Routeledge

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1533200/Pollock-worlds-most-expensive-painting.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock
http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Paintings
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070506170001AATTfdi
http://most-expensive.net/gustav-klimt-adele-bloch-bauer
http://www.ourfutureplanet.org/news/350
http://discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock