VICTOR SKREBNESKI (B. 1929) portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1990 gelatin silver diptych signed and dated in ink (on the recto) overall 19¼ x 29¼ in. (48.9 x 74.3 cm.) Sold: $9,375
Dennis Hopper (R.I.P.) began his art collection in the 1960s after actor Vincent Price, who was an impressionist art collector himself, had encouraged him, telling him it was where he needed to put his money. Dennis Hopper’s four children auctioned off their dad’s collection of 300 works of art at Christie’s today. Alex Hitz, a close friend and trustee of the estate told Associated Press, “it was Dennis’s wish to sell everything. How do you cut a Warhol and all those other wonderful pieces by four?”
One of the more notable pieces in this collection was Warhol’s Mao, a framed screenprint of Mao Zedong with two bullet holes, resulting from a wild night of partying when Hopper mistook the portrait on his wall for Mao himself and shot at it. When Hopper showed the bullet punctures later to Warhol, the pair agreed to call it a work of collaboration, with Warhol drawing circles around the two holes and labeling them “warning shot” and “bullet hole.” The mystique obviously added to its value as the screen print, which was estimated at $20-$30K, fetched quite a bit more: $302,500
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ (B. 1947) Portrait of Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken at Chateau Marmont, 1995, Estimated at $3-5K sold for $12.5K
