Eight works from Clive Davis' private art collection are heading to Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in New York this November, with an estimated combined value of more than $35 million. Among them: Andy Warhol's portrait of Aretha Franklin, a painting that once doubled as the cover of her 1986 Arista Records album *Aretha*, and a David Hockney landscape that has never before been shown to the public.
Warhol's Aretha Franklin portrait, painted around 1986, is estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million, according to Christie's. It was one of Warhol's final completed works before his death in 1987, and its direct connection to one of Davis's signature Arista releases makes it a standout among the eight headline pieces going under the hammer. The auction house's 20th Century Evening Sale, part of its fall marquee week in New York this November, will also feature Fernando Botero's *The Arnolfini Portrait, after Van Eyck* (1978), Joan Mitchell's *Untitled* (1992), and Frank Stella's *Attica II* (1978), Christie's says.
The centerpiece beyond the Warhol is Hockney's 2009 oil-on-canvas landscape *Hawthorne Blossom, Woldgate No. 4*, a 36-by-48-inch depiction of the East Yorkshire countryside that Christie's has positioned as one of the sale's premier non-portrait masterworks. Davis's collection, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, also spans abstraction, pop art and neo-expressionism, with works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hans Hofmann, Alex Katz and Joan Mitchell rounding out a collection largely unseen by the public until now.
From Talent Scout to Art Collector
Christie's Sara Friedlander framed Davis's eye for art as an extension of the same instinct that made him one of the industry's most successful record executives, saying he recognized and cultivated great talent in its nascent phase. Per the Los Angeles Times, Friedlander added that his art collecting reflected the same instinct he used to identify emerging musical talent. That instinct built a roster that included Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Alicia Keys.
Davis began his career at Columbia Records as assistant counsel in 1960 before rising to become the label's president at age 35. He later founded Arista Records in 1970, launched J Records in 2000 — which eventually merged with RCA and Sony — and served as chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and won four Grammys over the course of his career, the Los Angeles Times reports.
A Duplex Filled With Post-War Masters
Jean Dubuffet's 1963 oil painting *La Flibuste*, which once crowned Davis's Manhattan duplex, features four contorted figures from the artist's *L'Hourloupe* cycle and is among the prominent post-war works included in the fall auctions, according to Christie's. Davis housed much of his private art collection across that Manhattan duplex and his 17-acre estate in Pound Ridge, New York, which he acquired in 1991 and outfitted with works by Warhol, Katz, Botero and Damien Hirst, per HELLO! Magazine. According to an NYC.gov environmental impact statement, Rockefeller Center changed the form of midtown Manhattan and became one of the most successful urban-planning projects in the history of American architecture. A New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission document identifies Rockefeller Center as a designated New York City landmark.
Christie's is staggering the public offering of Davis's collection across three separate sales this fall: graphic works go up first in the Prints and Multiples auction in October, followed by the marquee 20th Century Evening Sale and the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale, both in November. Ahead of the New York sales, Christie's is hosting an advance public viewing of selected works from The Clive Davis Collection at its Beverly Hills showroom in Los Angeles from September 14 through September 17.
Not for Sale: Davis's Own Portrait
One notable piece connected to Davis will not be part of any auction. In 2022, Hockney painted an official portrait of Davis after he received the Portrait of a Nation Award from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, marking the first Hockney portrait acquired for the museum's permanent collection, according to Showbiz411. That portrait remains in Washington, D.C., separate from the works now heading to market.
Davis died on June 22 at his Manhattan home at age 94, following a brief hospitalization for a respiratory infection in late May, as Hoodline previously reported his death at 94. The Los Angeles Times noted that the auction announcement coincided with Broadway theater marquees being dimmed on September 8 in honor of Davis and other recently deceased theater-industry figures — a fitting echo for a man whose influence stretched from record labels to the stage he loved.
