''Rabbit'' is a 1986 series of three identical stainless steel sculptures by

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

. One of the editions of ''Rabbit'' is the most expensive work sold by a living artist at auction, being sold for $91.1 million in May 2019.

History

In May 2019, the sculpture was auctioned for $91.1 million, breaking the auction record for an artwork by a living artist. The work, which was sold by the estate of the late magazine publisher S. I. Newhouse, was one in an edition of three (plus an

artist's proof An artist's proof is an impression of a print taken in the printmaking process to see the current printing state of a plate while the plate (or stone, or woodblock) is being worked on by the artist. A proof may show a clearly incomplete image, ofte ...

) and the last still held in private hands. It was later revealed that the art dealer

Robert Mnuchin Robert E. Mnuchin (born 1933) is an American art dealer and former banker. He is the founder of the Mnuchin Gallery at 45 East 78th Street, New York. He is the father of Steven Mnuchin, who was the United States Secretary of the Treasury in the ...

purchased the work for the billionaire hedge fund manager

Steven A. Cohen Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball since September 14, 2020, owning roughly 97.2% of the team. He is the founder of hedge fund Point72 Asset Manageme ...

. In the initial sale of the work, Koons's art dealer

Ileana Sonnabend Ileana Sonnabend (née Schapira, October 29, 1914 – October 21, 2007) was a Romanian-American art dealer of 20th-century art. The Sonnabend Gallery opened in Paris in 1962 and was instrumental in making American art of the 1960s known in Europe, ...

kept one edition and sold the other two for $40,000 each; to the advertising magnate

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi (; ar, تشارلز ساعتجي; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest a ...

, and the painter

Terry Winters Terry Winters (born 1949, Brooklyn, NY) is an American painter, draughtsman, and printmaker whose nuanced approach to the process of painting has addressed evolving concepts of spatiality and expanded the concerns of abstract art. His attention ...

. In 1991, Charles Saatchi sold the piece to American collector

Stefan Edlis Stefan Edlis (1925 in Vienna, Austria – October 15, 2019) was an Austrian born American art collector and philanthropist. As a collector he initially focused on Pop Art. Biography Edlis escaped Nazi Reich annexed Austria with his mother and tw ...

for $945,000. Around the same period,

Larry Gagosian Lawrence Gilbert "Larry" Gagosian (born April 19, 1945) is an American art dealer who owns the Gagosian Gallery chain of art galleries. Working in concert with collectors including Douglas S. Cramer, Eli Broad, and Keith Barish, he developed a r ...

brokered the deal between Winters and Newhouse, for $1 million. In 2011, at Abu Dhabi Art, Gagosian remembered it as his favorite art deal and "the one transaction that stands out the most." Gagosian regretted not being able buy the piece himself, stating it was "a startling price at the time, a million dollars." After Sonnabend's death in October 2007, her heirs sold her edition of the piece as part of a package of art works for $400 million to GPS Partners – set up by the art dealers

Philippe Ségalot Philippe Ségalot is a French art dealer. Career After studying at HEC Paris, Ségalot worked for Christie's from 1996–2001. During that period, he became the first to put contemporary furniture by designers such as Marc Newson into fine art ...

, Lionel Pissarro, and Franck Giraud, on behalf of a consortium of collectors including

Carlos Slim Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from hi ...

Sammy Ofer Sammy Ofer ( he, שמואל "סמי" עופר; born Shmuel Herskovich; 22 February 1922 – 3 June 2011) was an Israeli shipping magnate and one of the richest men in the country. Early life Shmuel Herskovich was born in 1922 in Galați, Romania ...

François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in ...

, and Qatar's ruling

Al Thani The House of Thani ( ar, الثاني , translit=Al Thani) is the ruling family of Qatar, with origins tracing back to the Banu Tamim tribal confederation. History and structure The Al Thanis can be traced back to Mudar bin Nizar. The tribe ...

family. In 2000, Edlis's edition of ''Rabbit'' was given as a partial donation to the

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one ...

, where it is still on display today. The other edition of ''Rabbit'' is part of the permanent collection of

The Broad The Broad () is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, who financed the $140 million building that houses the Broad art collections. It offers free general ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where it is on view to the public as part of the museum's collection of Koons works.

References

External links

''Rabbit''
– jeffkoons.com {{Jeff Koons 1986 sculptures Animal sculptures Rabbits and hares in art Sculptures by Jeff Koons Stainless steel sculptures Sculptures in California Collection of The Broad

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links