A Hong Kong real estate tycoon named Joseph Lau (刘銮雄) bought Andy Warhol’s portrait of Mao Zedong for 17.4 million dollars at an auction in New York. From an AFP report:
Self-made billionaire Joseph Lau, who holds a majority stake in Chinese Estates Holdings, was named by Christie’s as the buyer of “Mao”, a 1972 work featuring the late Chinese leader in familiar pose against a pale blue background.
The flamboyant playboy socialite, 54, has a fortune estimated by Forbes this year of 1.7 billion US dollars.
Xinhua has not reported the sale. However Mop.com has published a summary of a report in Chinese language Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao (大公报) about the sale, together with a photo of the art work (screenshot above). The report is credited to China News (中国新闻社 or 中新社), the state-owned little brother to Xinhua News Agency.
Ta Kung Pao (formerly L’Impartial) is a Hong Kong newspaper that has been published for more 100 years. Since 1949, the PRC government has funded it.
- AFP report on Yahoo: Hong Kong billionaire pays record price for Warhol’s Mao
- Mop.com (Chinese): Hong Kong real estate tycoon buys Mao portrait for 130 million HK dollars
- China News: English website, Chinese website
- Ta Kung Pao (Chinese)