Due to a recent house move, the acclaimed and much loved artist Gerald Scarfe has decided to make some space on his shelves and in his cupboards, by selling off his Pink Floyd archives.
Gerald explained to RollingStone.com that the downsizing of his home was behind the decision. "I'd like it to go to a good home, [and] if possible, to be kept together. It could probably get cut up and divided, but my ideal would be to sell it to one collector who keeps it, because it's got every concept of The Wall from when I first met Roger [Waters]. Small notes, sketches and so forth, which I then developed into bigger sketches. I've got tapes; I found whole cans of film the other day, rust-covered cans of 35mm film in my attic, just bits of film that go back to Wish You Were Here."
Back in 2017, Gerald sold off a few Wall-era items; 'The Scream', the focal piece of artwork for the movie, sold for $1.85million, one of the most expensive non-instrument items in rock history, as RS point out. "I didn't want to let 'The Scream' go, but when I saw the price…" noted Gerald.
The upcoming sale, via the San Francisco Art Exchange, will consist of an incredible 3,000-plus items of sketches, paintings, storyboards, memorabilia, animation cels, stage props, and more. RS notes that "Scarfe's archive collects everything from the five-year stretch that bridges Waters' doorstep arrival with the demo tapes to the aftermath of The Wall's Alan Parker-directed 1982 film adaptation: The early hand-drawn sketches, the paintings that feature inside The Wall‘s vinyl gatefold, storyboards, film scripts complete with Scarfe's illustrations, props from both the extravagant Wall tour and the film. Scarfe's collection also boasts 'five years of ephemera' that ranges from Scarfe's framed The Wall gold records, figurines, backstage passes, a custom-made Wall tour jacket and some obscure items from the film shoot."
Quite a collection, which is sure to have a lot of Floyd fans salivating! It would be great if it could be kept together, and form a new exhibition to complement Their Mortal Remains. We suspect the cost of purchasing the entire thing would be somewhat prohibitive though...one can dream though. Let us know what you'd want to buy from the sale, money no object!
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