Aussie Rolf Harris Outstrips Picasso at Sale

Rolf Harris Outstrips Picasso at Sale
Fri Sep 5,10:29 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Rolf Harris, the didgeridoo-playing, cartoon-sketching television entertainer, has sold one of his paintings for 95,000 pounds ($149,200) -- to a woman who had never heard of him.

The sale serves as a reminder to Britons that the Australian-born Harris, best known for his "wobble board" musical instrument and songs such as "Two Little Boys," is also a serious artist.

The price of the painting, "Flower Seller at the Elephant and Castle," dwarfed the 16,250 pound price paid for a Picasso etching and the 55,000-pound tag for a silkscreen print of Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe at the sale in upmarket London store Harrods Thursday.

"She wasn't aware of him as a personality. She just fell in love with the painting," said Paul Green, group managing director of the Halcyon Gallery which sold the work at its Harrods gallery.

"We had a one-man show last year, so his (Harris's) work has established prices. There's just tremendous demand for his work."

Green said the gallery had sold two other original landscape paintings by Harris, both with a price tag of 15,000 pounds.
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See "Flower Seller at the Elephant and Castle":
http://www.halcyongallery.com/rha4/rhaorig11.htm

Be sure to click on Harris' paintings list on the right side of the screen.

---BumbleBeeBoogie