Director Jonathan Demme honored at auction-preview birthday party

PHILA., Pa. (ACNI) – Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme – The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and many other cinematic gems – was feted at a lively birthday party on March 28th at Material Culture’s Philadelphia gallery. The event doubled as an auction preview to precede the March 29-30 sale of Demme’s remarkable collection of self-taught art.

The festive evening featured a Caribbean feast from Material Culture’s onsite Baba Olga’s Café & Supper Club, a fantastic band fronted by Jamaican-born reggae star Sister Carol, and, of course, compelling visuals on every wall.

LiveAuctioneers provided the Internet live-bidding services for the sale, enabling fans of intuitive and self-taught art the world over to compete for works that Demme had gathered over the last quarter-century.

The online turnout was very strong, with 850 registered bidders claiming 599 of the auction’s 1,050 lots. The top seller through LiveAuctioneers was Une Deeuse Famme, a Hector Hyppolite (Haitian/St. Marc, 1894-1948) watercolor reminiscent of a Gauguin. It sold for $18,750. The overall top lot of the sale was another artwork by Hyppolite, an oil on canvas titled Birds and Flowers, which was bid to $43,750.

We suspect Jonathan Demme has not shed his penchant for collecting. His mind is far too inquisitive, and his well-practiced eye cannot help but appreciate art in its many forms. We’ll be keeping tabs on Demme’s further collecting adventures, but for now, we can all look forward to his next directing gig, working with Meryl Streep on a film titled Ricky and the Flash.

Based on a Diablo Cody script, the storyline involves a woman who abandoned her family when she was younger so she could seek fame and fortune as a rock star. Decades later, Streep’s character comes full circle and attempts to rebuild a relationship with her estranged children. Demme plus Streep plus Cody equals a prestigious trifecta of Oscar winners. Sounds like a home run for Hollywood.

View the fully illustrated catalog from Material Culture’s March 29-30 auction of the Jonathan Demme collection, complete with prices realized, online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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