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December 9, 2013

The Most Expensive American Prayer [Updated]

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Norman Rockwell's 'Saying Grace' tops record week of art auction sales in US Norman Rockwell’s Saying Grace became the most expensive American painting ever sold at auction last week, fetching $46 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

UPDATE: Saying Grace was one of seven Rockwell paintings in the auction from the "personal collection" of Ken Stuart, who was Art Director of the Saturday Evening Post until 1962.
Illustrators who worked for Stuart complained that he leaned on them to "donate" their original art to his personal collection, in order to stay on his good side when he handed out new assignments. Illustrations that Stuart didn't want to keep, he sometimes donated to museums to get the tax deduction. ILLUSTRATION ART: WARRING WITH TROLLS, part 5

Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 9, 2013 8:12 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

A generation ago, they wouldn't have bid 75¢ for it, if indeed they had let it in an auction. Art World doesn't even have the courage of its lack of convictions any more.

Posted by: Fat Man at December 9, 2013 5:00 AM

You can view this scene in the midwest and south in real time.

Posted by: tripletap at December 9, 2013 5:22 AM

From what I've heard, Rockwell's stuff is even more amazing in the original. I've read of people who dismissed his work as Kinkaid level emotional trash who changed their minds entirely after seeing the real thing. The man was a genuine artistic genius.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at December 9, 2013 6:47 AM

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