1977 Keith Haring Bean Salad Lithograph
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GUEST:
Keith gave it to me in 1977 or '78, right before he left Pittsburgh to go to New York. We became friends just riding the bus together to go to work, downtown Pittsburgh. One day, he told us all that he was gonna go to New York and be a famous artist. We kind of responded with a little bit of skepticism at that prospect.
(both laugh)
GUEST:
But lo and behold, he did.
APPRAISER:
And what were you guys doing in Pittsburgh at the time? I was working in a record store, and he was working frying fish and chicken in a grocery store. He actually quit that job to go follow the Grateful Dead.
APPRAISER:
So your friend Keith, of course...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
You're referring to...
GUEST:
Keith Haring.
APPRAISER:
The, Keith Haring.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
The, the American icon. He graduated from high school in rural Pennsylvania in 19...
GUEST:
Kutztown.
APPRAISER:
Kutztown, in 1976.
GUEST:
Yeah, right.
APPRAISER:
And in 1977-78, when you got to know him...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...he was studying art in Pittsburgh, commercial art.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And he was more or less dissatisfied with what he was doing in, in the commercial arts.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
He was moving towards fine art. He got a big break when a gallery artist dropped out of an exhibition and they asked him if he wanted to put his show in there.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
So he had a successful exhibition...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...at this gallery space in Pittsburgh. Keith said, "From that time-- after the exhibition-- I knew I wasn't going to be satisfied with Pittsburgh anymore or the life I was living there. I'd started sleeping with men. I decided to make a major break. New York was the only place to go."
GUEST (chuckling): That sounds about right. He had met his then-girlfriend in the commercial art school that he had been going to. All three of us became pretty close friends there. Keith obviously wasn't happy drawing milk cartons and egg cartons for grocery store circulars.
APPRAISER:
So of course he got to New York.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And in the early 1980s, had this meteoric rise to success.
GUEST:
It, I think he was an overnight success after two or three years of really hard work.
APPRAISER:
Incredibly hard work in New York.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But just, just caught something...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...with the public psyche at the time.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And rose very quickly. And then sadly, in February 1990...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...died of AIDS-related complications. This is an incredibly scarce early lithograph.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Dated 1977.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So Keith Haring was 19 years old at the time.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
It's one of only ten impressions. The only other impression cited of this lithograph is by the Keith Haring Foundation, where they have number five of ten, and you have number seven of ten. As far as we know, there aren't any others accounted for. It's signed by the artist.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Titled, "Bean Salad," which I love. (chuckles)
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And there's just a little bit of late-age toning at the edges, which is what you would expect. It's in immaculate condition. And you brought it here, just rolled up in a tube-- you haven't had it framed or anything like that?
GUEST:
I couldn't afford to frame it at the time that he gave it to me, and it's lived in a tube ever since then, frankly, because... Well, sadly, it's got some sort of unpleasant...
APPRAISER:
Sure, sure.
GUEST:
...associations with me.
APPRAISER:
Sure.
GUEST:
Keith and I did not part on really good terms. I was not good...
APPRAISER:
Yeah. Okay.
GUEST:
...to him, but I still appreciate this for what it is and for a memory...
APPRAISER:
Yeah, it's...
GUEST:
...of our more pleasant times.
APPRAISER:
Down to the valuation of this, it's extremely difficult to do. There is nothing by him-- a printed work, a lithograph, a silkscreen, anything...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...from 1977 or earlier that has been on the market.
GUEST:
I did call the Haring Foundation about it one time many, many years ago, and they didn't seem particularly interested. But...
APPRAISER:
Maybe because they had one already.
GUEST:
It could be!
APPRAISER:
(laughs)
GUEST:
The first thing they did was tell me, "Oh, no, that's too early."
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh. In terms of a replacement value...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
...it would be in the neighborhood of $100,000.
GUEST:
Good heavens.
APPRAISER:
And because it's so scarce...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...I wouldn't be uncomfortable with an upward projection of that...
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
...towards $200,000.
GUEST:
Good golly.
APPRAISER:
So...
GUEST:
(chuckles) Maybe it shouldn't be in a tube in my closet anymore.
(both laugh)
GUEST:
I might have to spring for a frame.
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