Franz Kline - Art Market

Art Market

In 2012, San Francisco financier George R. Roberts sold a nearly ten-foot wide, untitled black-and-white work from 1957 at Christie's, New York; the painting went to a telephone bidder for $36 million, or $40.4 million with fees (Christie’s guaranteed the seller Robert Mnuchin an undisclosed minimum), a record price for the artist at auction and more than six times the previous record, which was set in 2005 when Christie’s sold Crow Dancer (1958) for $6.4 million. Kline has no catalogue raisonné. As a consequence, the trade in Kline forgeries is extensive, and there have been a lot of Klines offered by major auction houses that are considered questionable by art historians.