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Lot # 813: Pete Rose Original Silkscreen by Andy Warhol (#30/50)

Starting Bid: $5,000.00

Bids: 13 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2018 Invitational",
which ran from 7/15/2018 9:00 AM to
8/17/2018 10:00 PM



Capitalizing on Pete Rose's quest to break Ty Cobb's all-time hits record in 1985, Andy Warhol was commissioned by the Cincinnati Art Museum to produce a painting of Rose in the summer of that year. The end product was four masterful silk screen images done in Warhol's iconic pop art style. The unlikely pairing proved to be quite symbiotic, as the Museum was easily able to recoup its initial $100,000 investment by selling 50 limited screen prints for $2,500 to $3,000 a pop, and the day after Warhol's painting was installed Rose broke the record. The two famously had very little interest in the other's world, but artist and ballplayer come together impressively in the work, with "Charlie Hustle" looking ready to take a hack and spring from the batter's box amid a splash of vintage Warhol color. Their stories became even more intertwined just a few years later as tragedy befell them both. Two years after painting it, Warhol died in his sleep from a cardiac arrhythmia, while Rose was banned from baseball in 1989. This original silk screen was part of the 50 prints the Museum sold to balance the cost of commissioning it and is number 30 in the set, which is hand-written in pencil. One of these paintings was appraised on a 2013 episode of Antiques Road Show at $30,000. It measures 47x39" and has been signed by both Warhol and Rose in 9/10 pencil. It is in Mint condition and displayed in museum framing with TruVue glass. There is a small gold plaque on the outside frame on bottom reading "Pete Rose, by Andy Warhol." Cultures collide in magnificent splendor in this truly special offering.

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