Rare Andy Warhol painting of Blondie's Debbie Harry is now for sale
- Publish Date
- Thursday, 1 August 2024, 12:30PM
An Andy Warhol portrait of Blondie's Debbie Harry that was thought to be lost has just resurfaced in Delaware - and is expected to sell for millions.
The iconic 1985 portrait, along with a signed disk of 10 digital image files by Andy, is now up for sale, according to the New York Post.
Andy made the artworks on an early Amiga 1000 home computer when he was a brand ambassador for the tech company, Commodore.
In her 2019 memoir Face It, Debbie explained how the portrait came about: "Andy called and asked me to model for a portrait he was going to create live, at Lincoln Center, as a promotion for the Commodore Amiga computer. It was a pretty amazing event."
She continued, "They had a full orchestra and a large board set up with a bunch of technicians in lab coats. The techs programmed away with all the Warhol colors, as Andy designed and painted my portrait. I hammed it up some for the cameras, turning toward Andy, running my hand through my hair, and asking in a suggestive Marilyn voice, ‘Are you ready to paint me?’ Andy was pretty hilarious in his usual flat-affect way, as he sparred with the Commodore host."
Debbie had previously said that she thinks "there are only two copies of this computer-generated Warhol in existence and I have one of them."
Now, the second portrait has been found. For nearly 40 years, it was displayed in the home of Commodore’s digital technician Jeff Bruette, who taught Andy how to use the computer.
Jeff is planning a private sale of the portrait, as well as the original Amiga disk which contains eight other images Andy made during the Amiga World interview. There is also apparently an experimental image created during the production of the MTV show Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes, according to reports from Page Six.
"It’s been almost 40 years since I worked with Warhol—it was a life-changing assignment," Jeff said.
"For just as long, any time someone has seen the portrait of Debbie hanging on my wall, or learned that I was ‘that guy who worked with Andy,’ especially after the recent explosion of NFTs and digital art, anyone who’s heard the story has been completely riveted. I thought it was time the world got to interact with this extraordinary artwork the way it was meant to be experienced."
Jeff also said that "parting with this collection now gives me the chance to help find it the right home. And, to be honest, could make retirement just a little bit more comfortable."
There's no specific price listed for the portrait, but the Post have speculated that it could sell "for potential millions."
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