Andy Warhol once said business was the best art. Now the market for his work is proving his point, with interest expanding from his paintings and prints to his drawings, such as those on view through December 18 at Van de Weghe Fine Arts, the gallery owned by Larry Gagosian’s former top lieutenant, Christophe Van de Weghe. In addition to three works from the early sixties that have sold for prices from $50,000 to $90,000, Van de Weghe has a silkscreen
of The Kiss (Bela Lugosi) on reserve for $800,000 and a
Cagney silkscreen on reserve for $700,000. Los Angeles megacollector Eli Broad bought a similar Lugosi portrait from Gagosian for $800,000, and other Warhol works on paper have recently been acquired by Donald Fisher of the Gap and Minneapolis collector Darwin Reedy. What’s the next growth indicator for the Warhol market? Look for his hand-stitched photographs to jump in price – from $25,000 to $100,000.