TV Chef Anthony Bourdain’s Art Collection (and Other Prized Possessions) Are Heading to Auction

The late chef and TV host
Anthony Bourdain apparently had an appetite for culture that was as
big as his appetite for far-flung cuisines. During his travels,
Bourdain amassed a collection of art, furniture, kitchenware, and
other objects from around the world, and now 215 of them are going up for sale in
an online auction next month. 

The sale, hosted by New York’s
Lark Mason Associates, brings together some of Bourdain’s favorite
artists, a representative from Lark Mason told artnet News. Among
the highlights are a 2016 oil painting by Brad Phillips, a couple
of silkscreen prints by Ralph Steadman, who created the art for
Bourdain’s 2016 book, Appetites, and a pair of paintings by artist John
Lurie. 

Each of the works is estimated
at less than $5,000 (even though the New York
Times has reported that Bourdain
purchased Lurie’s works for $19,000 each). Meanwhile, the lot
expected to fetch the most is a custom steel-and-meteorite chef’s
knife, designed by famed American bladesmith Bob Kramer, estimated
at $4,000 to $6,000. Altogether, the collection is conservatively
estimated to be worth upwards of $400,000.

“[Bourdain] was a
larger-than-life personality with so many interests other than food
and this sale reflects his multidimensional persona,” said Lark
Mason, founder of the auction house, in a statement. “We have kept
the estimates low so that everyone who loved Tony will have the
opportunity to purchase something from this sale and know that part
of the proceeds will be going to a good cause.”

Forty percent of the proceeds
from the sale will benefit the Anthony Bourdain Legacy Scholarship
at the Culinary Institute of America, from which the chef graduated
in 1978. The scholarship, founded in June, helps fund students who
study abroad or take part in the school’s global cuisine classes.
The remaining proceeds will go to Ottavia Busia, Bourdain’s wife
(from whom he was separated at the time of his death), and his
daughter, Ariane. 

“Property from the
Collection of Anthony Bourdain” will run from October 9 through October 30 on
the online auction website iGavel.

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Other Prized Possessions) Are Heading to Auction appeared first
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