Rare Pollock for Sale at Sotheby's

A drip work created in 1949 by Jackson Pollock will be featured in the May 16 evening sale of contemporary art at Sotheby’s in New York. According to Sotheby’s, “Number 32” is one of 16 drip paintings the artist painted in 1949 and only one of eight in which he used aluminum paint along with his more typical enamel and oil paint. It is somewhat small by his standards, with a height of 31 inches and a width of just over 22 inches.

Originally shown at Betty Parsons, the painting passed through a few European galleries and collections before returning to the United States and eventually New York. The work has been in the same collection, undisclosed by the auction house, since 1983. It has an estimate of $30 million to $40 million. The work is painted on paper mounted on Masonite, making it technically a drawing, which may account for the lower than usual price compared with his drip canvases. After viewings in Hong Kong, London, and Los Angeles, it will be shown in the Sotheby’s New York showrooms beginning tomorrow.