«Like every other artist, I want to outwit the death of,
leave something substantial to future generations»

Dennis Hopper (1997)

In under night and day trading "Post-war and contemporary art» Christie's New York, which will be held November 10 and 11, on sale will be on display works from the art collection owned by actor Dennis Hopper. Throughout his acting career, Hopper, who died in late May of this year, successfully combined work in the cinema with a passionate interest in art. Its collection includes outstanding works by many famous artists including Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Total estimeyt exhibited works of more than 10 million dollars.

Hopper began to get involved in art very early. For the first time this happened under the leadership of James Dean, with whom the actor starred in the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" in 1955. It was Dean Hopper instilled the love of photography, painting and sculpture. Inspired by the words of Dean, the actor, who has always been a peculiar spirit of protest against the ossified rules, he began to actively engage in creative work, and to collect works by artists who had just gaining in popularity - Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Claes Oldenburg, Julian Schnabel and Richard Prins. Many of the artists' contemporaries were his close friends. In 1969 Hopper as director took the famous movie "Easy Rider" - narrative of the two bikers, informal, traveling along the southern U.S. states in search of real America. Hopper also appeared as the author of the script of the film and played it one of the leading roles, along with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. The success of the film earned him fame as a director, and known in the artistic environment. Subsequently, Hopper has appeared in a number of revolutionary paintings, including "Apocalypse now" Francis Ford Coppola (1979) and "Blue Velvet" by David Lynch (1986).

Hopper once confessed: " I am a simple boy from the farm, born in the small town of Dodge City, located in the Kansas ... I've always felt that to paint, to be an actor, director and photographer - is an integral part of the life of any artist. What I was earning her own living, and me liked it. I lived not the worst life ».

Hopper has actively participated in the conception of the artistic currents of pop art, becoming one of the first people who bought for $ 75 Andy Warhol painting of which later became a cult Series of works featuring soup Campbell's in the first exhibition of the artist in Los Angeles. The collection of Hopper's art is also represented by artists such as Wallace Berman and Bruce Conner, whose works pay tribute to the aesthetics of the Beat movement. In addition, the collection includes the work of actor Donald Behlera, John Baldessari, China Haringa, Kenny Scharf and Robert Rauschenberg. This summer at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles was organized by Julian Schnabel (whose work also collected Hopper) exhibition "Double Standard of Dennis Hopper. While throughout his life he maintained Hopper predominantly U.S. artists, and he often exhibited outside the U.S., this project was the first truly large-scale exhibition of works by the actor.

Kathy Elkis, Director of private and corporate collections Christie's: «Dennis Hopper progressed from the star of such cult film like" Easy Rider "to the status of a multifaceted artist and a famous collector. His relationship with the art community to reflect the dynamism and foresight ».

Andrew Massad, senior vice president and an expert on modern art of Christie's:« Hopper had a bright, unique personality, and his work went far beyond the limits of popular culture. For his collection he has always been guided by its own opinion, and intuition, picking only those works which he liked and those that had any relevance to his way of thinking and lifestyle. He lived art and always followed up with the times ».

In afternoon trading Christie's« The postwar and contemporary art, which will be held on 10 November, the sale will be offered by Jean-Michel Basquiat "Untitled" 1987, made of acrylic paint, oil and graphite (estimate 5-7 million dollars), as well as Andy Warhol's silkscreen "Portrait of Dennis Hopper" in 1971 (estimate 0,8-1,2 million dollars).

separate section of works from the collection of Dennis Hopper will also be brought to the attention of collectors in the afternoon trading Christie's «postwar and contemporary art on November 11.

Items relevant to the life and work of Dennis Hopper, as well as The Draw graphics from its art collection will be exhibited at Christie's auction interior in January 2011.

Source : press Release Christie's