Christie’s has announced that it will hold an online charity auction in collaboration with the Warhol Foundation entitled "Andy Warhol: Better Days". The proceeds from the online auction will go to artists residing in the United States. The initiative joins a series of projects promoted by Christie's aimed at donating $ 2.6 million to the entire creative sector, in crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
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The “Better Days” charity auction is already underway and will end on May 6, and it includes 60 photographs selected directly by Michael Dayton Hermann, director of the foundation's licenses. The polaroids by Andy Warhol mainly feature self-portraits, friends of the artist and floral arrangements. The most valuable shot was estimated at $ 15,000-20,000 and depicts a fragment of the artist's personal life in early 1979 with the Met's curator, Henry Geldzahler, posing behind a backdrop of yellow suburban flora.
As Warhol stated, "You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you, suddenly thrill you". Following the impact of coronavirus closures in the art sector, Christie's EMEA president Dirk Boll highlighted how the company tripled its online sales calendar on global sites between April and May. In addition to the “Better Days” charity auction, Christie's has announced that it will organize a new series of online sales on a weekly basis. The auction house recently said it was organizing its strategies to continue growing in the digital sector based on its global hubs between New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.
The president of Christie's offices in the United States, Jennifer Zatorski, considered it a priority to adapt the sales approach to widespread virtual demand, stating that «following our planned move to reduce our printed materials by at least 50% and to increase our investments in digital initiatives, Christie's is accelerating the development of new improvements that support our private and online sales channels ».
Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler, unique polaroid print mounted on board, executed in 1979. Courtesy Christie's