"Bidding starts at $10 million for a painting of Conan the Barbarian that Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett bought from artist Frank Frazetta for $1 million in 2009. The work, titled Conan the Berserker (1967), served as cover art for a paperback edition of Robert E. Howard's novel Conan the Conqueror, and is being offered up in Heritage Auctions ' "Hollywood/Entertainment Signature Auction" December 9-10. Conan looks more than a little triumphant in the painting, with his rippling arms stretched wide as he stares down at some heated battle action against a fiery sky."
"Hammett bought the Conan painting directly from Frazetta, whom Heritage Auctions describes as "unquestionably the most significant illustrator of the second half of the 20th century-a Norman Rockwell of the id whose surreal, menacing, and yet hauntingly beautiful visions of violence and chaos stand among the most successful commercial artworks ever created." The price of $1 million was high at the time; per Heritage Auctions, "To put that staggering price in perspective, soon after the artist's passing in 2010, Frazetta's original pen-and-ink comic book cover for Weird Science-Fantasy #29-widely considered to be the greatest comic book cover of all time-sold for just $380,000, which itself was far more than any comic art had s"
Frank Frazetta's 1967 painting Conan the Berserker, used as paperback cover art for Robert E. Howard's Conan the Conqueror, is entering a Heritage Auctions Hollywood/Entertainment Signature Auction with bidding opening at $10 million. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett bought the painting directly from Frazetta for $1 million in 2009 and included it in his published collection and a museum exhibition. The image depicts a triumphant Conan with rippling arms, a skeleton with an ax, and a leaping horse set against a fiery sky. Heritage Auctions underscores Frazetta's major significance and compares the 2009 price to later market sales.
Read at ARTnews.com
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