Elizabeth Taylor 1932-2011

“I’m more of a man’s woman. With men, there’s a kind of twinkle that comes out. I sashay up to a man. I walk up to a woman.” -- Elizabeth Taylor

“It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a big ring on Elizabeth Taylor’s finger.” -- Andy Warhol

“I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out. The fire, of course, is you.” -- Richard Burton, in a letter to Taylor

SCRAPBOOK

Liz the Icon was in the news this week.

According to Wednesday’s Times, Warhol’s “Liz” sold at Christie’s for $21 million. It had been owned by the actor Hugh Grant, who bought it at Sotheby’s in 2001 for $3.5 million.

“The 40-inch-square painting is from a series of 13, each with a different-colored background. Mr. Grant’s 'Liz' is set against a deep turquoise blue and carried an estimate of $25 million to $35 million. Few expected it to sell, because the image is considered heavy-handed and not as sharp as the others in the series.”

Kathe Burkhart’s “ferocious paintings of Elizabeth Taylor, their images cribbed from publicity photos,” according to The New Yorker, “are encrusted with fake fur and mirrors and peppered with a sailor’s arsenal of expletives. Burkhart’s Liz is an abject diva, an emblem of a decadent golden age, and a serial bride who disavows premarital sex--in short, a gorgeous mess.”

Burkhart’s paintings will remain at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center until January 7