On November 21st, Sotheby’s in New York will auction off 31 subway drawings by Keith Haring at its contemporary day sale. These works, estimated to fetch between $6.3 and $9 million in total, will be presented at Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries in the exhibition “Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh” from November 8th to 20th.
The auction comprises 31 of Haring’s subway drawings executed from 1980 to 1985. These pieces, which will make their auction debut in November, originated from the private collection of Larry Warsh, a prominent collector and published author who has maintained these works for the last four decades.
Haring began creating these artworks in chalk on black advertising panels that had been left blank throughout New York City’s subway stations. This earned him the anonymous moniker “Chalkman.” For five years, this practice became a daily ritual for the artist. His early drawings often featured simplistic motifs that would become familiar in his later work, like UFOs and radiant babies. After partnering with art dealer Tony Shafrazi in 1982, Haring wrote: “I have been drawing in the subway for three years now, and although my career aboveground has skyrocketed, the subway is still my favorite place to draw.”
“Keith Haring’s subway drawings are his ultimate, years-long love letters to New York City,” said Ashkan Baghestani, head of Sotheby’s contemporary art day auction in New York. “Drawing dozens of works almost daily, Haring’s legacy unfolded in front of millions, as he transformed the everyday experience into the extraordinary through his lexicon of instantly identifiable imagery. They sometimes stemmed from world events and other times from new technologies or were about life, love, and death.”
The full suite of these subway drawings was last exhibited in 2012 at the Brooklyn Museum for “Keith Haring: 1978-1982.” Following the exhibition, the drawings were also featured in the book Keith Haring: 31 Subway Drawings, published in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation.
The upcoming exhibition at Sotheby’s will recreate the 1980s New York City subway environment, complete with turnstiles and subway benches. Alongside the 31 drawings, the auction house will also present archival footage of Haring at work.
