The Phillips auction is being held on May 16 in New York
His portrait O. J. Simpson created by Andy Warhol in 1977 is being offered for sale by Phillips in a contemporary art auction being held this month.
O.J. Simpson is depicted in one of Warhol’s 200 portraits and belongs to the “Athletes Series” that also includes portraits of Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dorothy Hamill.
The works in the series, commissioned by collector Richard Weisman, were created when the former American football player was 30 years old and playing for the Buffalo Bills. But an injury in 1977, just weeks after the photo shoot with Warhol, cut short his season, and the following year he played for the San Francisco 49ers.
In the same year he met Nicole Brown. They married in 1985 and stayed together until 1992. Two years after her divorce from Simpson, Brown was murdered.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Brown and her boyfriend Ronald Goldman, but was later found responsible for both deaths by a California jury.
Estimated to sell for $300,000-$500,000 at auction, the portrait was featured with others from the series in the “Athletes by Andy Warhol” exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond in 1978. The portrait later found its way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame of Fame in Ohio and in 2011 was sold by Christie’s in New York to a private individual.
Source :Skai
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