Perkins had come to Christie’s in New York for the express purpose of buying The Sugar Shack, a 1976 painting by the football player-turned-artist Ernie Barnes, whose work has belatedly been recognized as a seminal part of postwar American art. The painting in question depicts a dance hall populated by joyous Black dancers and musicians. It’s a duplicate of the painting Barnes made for Marvin Gaye’s studio album I Want You and is the image featured in the 1970s sitcom Good Times. “In my mind, there’s nothing more American than that piece of art,” Perkins says.
The Houston-based hedge fund manager Bill Perkins walked into Christie’s planning to spend $2 million. An hour or so later, he left having spent $15,275,000.
“The plans went awry, to put it mildly,” he says, speaking the next day. “I was shocked, but I knew it was a possibility.”
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