ICanServe Foundation, a breast cancer awareness advocacy group, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a unique fundraiser auction called ‘The Pink Room’. The event features 25 renowned Filipino artists who have each designed a custom Nike Air Force (AF1) Triple White shoe, which will be auctioned off on September 14th. Proceeds from the auction will support ICanServe’s efforts to provide treatment, education, and early detection programs for breast cancer patients.
Gustav Klimt’s unfinished masterpiece, ‘Portrait of Miss Lieser,’ has sold at auction for $32 million. The painting, which depicts a young woman in a turquoise dress and flowing floral gown, had been hanging in a private villa near Vienna for decades. Despite its sale, questions remain about the subject of the portrait and its previous ownership. The painting is believed to have been commissioned by either Adolf or Justus Lieser, wealthy industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian empire. However, it is unclear who the model is, with possibilities including Margarethe Constance Lieser, Lilly Lieser’s niece, or one of her two daughters with Justus. After Klimt’s death in 1918, the painting’s whereabouts are unknown until it resurfaced in a private villa. The current owners, who remain anonymous, agreed to a ‘fair and just solution’ with the legal successors of the Lieser family before the auction.
A long-lost portrait by Gustav Klimt titled “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser” was sold at auction in Vienna for €30 million (US$32 million) on Wednesday, breaking the record for the highest art auction sale in Austria. The painting, one of Klimt’s final works from 1917, was purchased by an unidentified bidder from Hong Kong. The auction was conducted on behalf of the current owners, Austrian private citizens, and the legal heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser, who may have commissioned the work. The identity of the model remains uncertain, but it is believed to be a member of the Lieser family. After Klimt’s untimely death in 1918, the unfinished portrait was given to the family who had commissioned it. The Jewish Lieser family was forced to flee Austria after 1930, losing most of their belongings. The painting’s whereabouts between 1925 and the 1960s, including during the Nazi dictatorship, are unclear.
