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Inside The Mugrabi Collection

12 Apr 2023 | 2 min read

The curator Tracy Cooper-Lavery’s cold call to a contact at the Mugrabi Collection is well documented online. As the Director of Australia’s newish gallery HOTA, she was so obsessed with its works (reputedly worth more than $5 billion) that she was determined to show them Down Under.

The result is 2023’s Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York, which includes more than 50 works from 15 key artists. Among them are Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, KAWS, Katherine Bernhardt and Mickalene Thomas.

Installation view of KAWS at HOTA's Pop Master's exhibition

Photo: Shannon Johnston, Risen Film

KAWS

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The Ultimate Collection

The works are reflective of the wider collection, which acts like a visual Who’s Who of the industry spanning six decades.

It was with a 1988 purchase of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe (Twenty Times) that the collection began to take shape. Now, the Mugrabis (dad José and his two sons) are regarded by some as the most influential collectors in the world, renowned in auction houses and friends with industry power houses including gallerist Larry Gagosian. As the New York Times puts it, “for the Mugrabis’ preferred artists, the family doesn’t merely operate in the art market; it is the market”.

Installation view of Andy Warhol at HOTA's Pop Master's exhibition

Photo: Shannon Johnston, Risen Film

Installation view of Katherine Bernhardt at HOTA's Pop Master's exhibition

Photo: Shannon Johnston, Risen Film

Editions

Katherine Bernhardt

Chroma

£6,500

Gallery Appearances

Though HOTA’s exhibition is the largest of works from the collection to date, pieces also have been lent to other institutions for exhibitions echoing its narrative – the Whitney’s Warhol retrospective or the Barbican’s famed Boom For Real for example.

Andy Warhol's portrait of Aretha Franklin, 1986, is one of the many works depicting Pop icons at the Whitney Museum exhibition

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MUGRABI COLLECTION

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled 1981 from the Mugrabi Collection, displayed in Basquiat: Boom For Real at Barbican, London

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MUGRABI COLLECTION

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Phooey

1982/2021
Screen print on paper
Artist's Proof of 15
Stamped and signed by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist’s sisters and administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
215cm x 110cm

£110,000

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For 'Jean-Michel Basquiat – Phooey'

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£104,500

10% Less

£99,000

15% Less

£93,500

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How it Works

Making an Offer means you are committing to buying the artwork.
Complete the checkout providing contact, shipping and payment details.
For artworks over £10,000 you can make a deposit payment of 10%.
Payment is authorised only, but not taken until the offer is reviewed.
If your offer is accepted, we will take the payment and send you confirmation.
If your offer is not accepted, the authorization is cancelled and funds released.
Your order will then be processed and you will be contacted about shipping as usual.

Basquiat dealt with pervasive racism throughout his career. Despite his rapid success, taxis wouldn’t stop for him, so he took limousines everywhere he went. Basquiat was certainly frustrated by the imposed limitations forced upon him and resisted being known as a Black artist, he simply wanted to be known as a great artist. However, he was also 'incredibly connected to the Black experience and to his Blackness' as his sister, Lisane, recalls.

Mickalene Thomas

Left Behind

2021
Inkjet print and pigment-printed silk with hand-collaged elements and UV Print Shield on bamboo paper
Edition of 10
Signed and numbered by the artist on the reverse and accompanied by an identifying label
25cm x 19cm
Print mounted in a bespoke UV-protected plexiglass frame

£13,500

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For 'Mickalene Thomas – Left Behind'

Original Price

Your Offer The closer you are to the list price, the more likely it will be accepted.

5% Less

£12,825

10% Less

£12,150

15% Less

£11,475

Other

Amount

Other Amount Please note only sensible offers will be considered. (Enter numbers only.)

Your offer has been unsuccessful at this time.

How it Works

Making an Offer means you are committing to buying the artwork.
Complete the checkout providing contact, shipping and payment details.
For artworks over £10,000 you can make a deposit payment of 10%.
Payment is authorised only, but not taken until the offer is reviewed.
If your offer is accepted, we will take the payment and send you confirmation.
If your offer is not accepted, the authorization is cancelled and funds released.
Your order will then be processed and you will be contacted about shipping as usual.

Left Behind is an exquisite hand-collaged print edition, accompanied by a signed and numbered copy of Phaidon's 2021 monograph Mickalene Thomas. This stunning set is housed in a beautifully crafted, handmade wooden box and presented in a luxurious red velour dust bag adorned with Thomas' studio logo.

A nod from the Mugrabi Collection is a sign that an artist has made it - and we’re proud to offer work by many of the people included. Get in touch to find out more…

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