Elton John is downsizing — and the superstar’s former penthouse residence in the US city of Atlanta has been emptied for a series of auctions at Christie’s starting on February 21. The items are expected to bring in an estimated US$10 million (NZ$16m).
Want the Yamaha conservatory grand piano where the Rocketman plunked the keys of his Broadway shows Billy Elliot and Aida? It will cost roughly triple what similar models sell for online, with a high estimate of US$50,000.
How about Julian Schnabel’s portrait of the superstar dressed in a gown and ruffled collar? The auction house is seeking US$300,000.
And the most expensive object, a 2017 Banksy painting of a masked man hurling a bouquet of flowers, secured directly from the anonymous artist, is expected to sell for nearly US$1.5m.
“It may not be everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly my taste,” Elton told the Telegraph about the items that are up for sale. “My apartment in Atlanta was like my man cave, full of things that I loved, mementos from everywhere in the world, things that gave me inspiration every day.”
The singer’s husband and manager, David Furnish, also discussed the sale in a recent interview.
“As time went on, the walls got more full,” Furnish said. “Elton never put things in drawers; he bought them to live with his art.”
But the sale of their 13,000-plus-square-foot Atlanta residence, on the 36th floor, for more than US$7.2m last year gave the couple an opportunity to consolidate their collection of artworks and mementos, which includes the singer’s famous sunglasses, silvery platform boots and one of his first sets of stage clothes — an ivory and gold ensemble made by textile designer Annie Reavey in the 1970s.
“I met Elton John and we just hit it off,” Reavey said in a 2007 interview in a Nevada newspaper. “I had purple hair, he had green hair. I had rhinestones, he had diamonds.”
The condominium on Peachtree Road symbolised a turning point for the British singer. He bought the two-storey abode in the 1990s. It served as his American headquarters during tours and a hideaway for staying sober through the 1990s. But the walls were soon populated with dozens of photographs — part of an extensive collection of images by modern masters including Dorothea Lange, whose Depression-era images of despair include Migrant Mother, and Hungarian photographer Andre Kertesz. John also collected works by Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe and others that now have museums clamouring for donations.
Above his bed, he displayed Noire et Blanche, images by surrealist photographer Man Ray.
“I love living with my collection,” John said in a video promoting an exhibition of his works at the Tate Modern in London in 2016. “I’m seeing these wonderful images on the wall that people took a long time ago that still have relevance and still scream out at you.”
When part of his collection was exhibited at the Tate Modern, “what surprised most was its depth”, said Shanay Jhaveri, head of visual arts at the Barbican Centre in London. “For someone whose public persona has been so indelibly associated with excess and kitsch, a collection of predominantly black-and-white, modestly scaled Western modernist photographs seemed inconsistent. Perhaps the revelation was this apparent irreconcilability.”
Atlanta was where John cultivated that love of photography, thanks largely to a local gallerist, Jane Jackson. (In 2003, she became the director of the Sir Elton John Photography Collection, which now includes thousands of images.) Some highlights featured in a 2000 exhibition, Chorus of Light at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, are being offered at the Christie’s auction, including works by Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Andres Serrano.
“The collection was very disciplined,” said Ned Rifkin, who curated the High Museum exhibition and developed a working relationship with the singer. “It wasn’t just about acquisitions but the beauty of having art.” Rifkin, now retired, added: “I remember there were times he would go to auction and he was genuinely frustrated when he couldn’t get something. I’m disappointed to hear he is selling, but on the other hand, he has so much.”
The singer’s husband said it was time to start pruning the collection. “You have to reach a stage where you can’t just continue to accumulate,” Furnish explained. “Elton hates parting with things. It is a very emotional decision.”
To that end, Furnish has been the one to primarily handle the auction, which is the first time that a major selection from John’s collection has been offered to the public since a 2003 Sotheby’s sale of items from his London home (it brought in US$1.67m). In 1988, another Sotheby’s auction in London presented a hodgepodge of artworks and oddities — including a René Magritte painting of a blue fish wrapped in pearls, a chamber pot and a pair of Cartier silver baskets that John once used as soap dishes — fetching US$8.2m, or about US$21m in today’s dollars.
Now, John and Furnish decided to team with the auction house’s rivals.
“This was a competitive situation,” said Tash Perrin, Christie’s deputy chair organising the sale, who helped broker the deal. “It coincides with Elton closing a chapter of spending his time in the States.” Perrin said that most of the 900 items being auctioned would have modest prices. Many are being offered for a few thousand dollars, including the Lange portraits, jewelled rings and Versace dinnerware.
But as recent celebrity auctions have shown, collectors have no qualms about spending gonzo dollars on the knickknacks of their pop idols. Last year’s auction of belongings from Queen co-founder Freddie Mercury at Sotheby’s reached US$50.4m, more than tripling its initial high estimate of US$14.2m. Bidders fought over items like a silver moustache comb, cat ornaments and a neon telephone.
During a turbulent market, auction houses have increased their promotion of these celebrity auctions, with the recent sales of items owned by newscaster Barbara Walters, fashion editor André Leon Talley, French actor Gérard Depardieu and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, each bringing in millions of dollars.
Furnish said the John sale was meant to start their own thinking about the singer’s legacy, as John stepped back from performing to spend more time with their sons, Elijah and Zachary.
“That could mean more sales, gifts to institutions, gifts to friends,” Furnish said. “One reason we have been able to collect is because artists know that when they sell to us, their work is going to a home.” He acknowledged: “As our sons get older, they might have connections to pieces. We need to elegantly find a way of bringing them into that process.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Zachary Small
Photographs by: Vincent Tullo and Paul Taylor
©2024 THE NEW YORK TIMES