Collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz to Sell $20.1 M. in Art at Christie’s
Collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz will sell £15 million ($20.1 million) worth of art at Christie’s next month through an in-person London auction on 25 June and an online sale, totaling 106 works. The top lot is Philip Guston’s Mirror Head (1977), offered with a high estimate of £5.5 million ($7.38 million), alongside works by Beatriz Milhazes, Rose Wylie, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, Henry Taylor, and Charline von Heyl. The sale follows the 2023 closure of the couple’s private museum in London after more than 15 years, with the organization stating it would continue a permanent space on the Finnish island of Sarvisalo and focus on loans rather than fixed-location displays. The article notes ongoing controversy over alleged ties via the Tamares Group (where Poju Zabludowicz is chair and CEO) to a pro-Israel lobbying group and military aircraft services, including artists “deauthoring” works in 2021 and a 2023 boycott of Helsinki’s Kiasma; a family spokesperson told the Financial Times that most Tamares investments are in the US, UK, and Finland, with a small percentage in Israel and no West Bank or military-related interests.
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This story was covered in Museums Under Fire, Markets Turn to Betting