Sotheby’s, the world’s leading destination for fine art and luxury, announced today that personal artefacts from Marianne’s collection will be included in the highly anticipated inaugural popular culture auction, with bidding opening online from 29 August 2024, accompanied by a dedicated exhibition in the New Bond Street galleries from Monday 9 to 12 September.

Press Release :

With 60 years of creative public life as a singer, songwriter, artist and actress under her belt, Marianne Faithfull has amassed an eclectic and unique collection of artefacts including a series of stunning photographs taken in Dublin by Bruce Webber for Vogue; her acoustic Martin guitar – her first one was a gift from her parents, which Marianne describes as ‘an essential 60s accessory – no self-respecting folky was without one!’ alongside her brass ashtray, signed British passport which expired in 1998, a series of Decca printed autograph cards to accompany each of Marianne’s single and album releases and a black and red artwork of a female figure by Anita Pallenberg dated 1992 and dedicated and inscribed “fashion or no fashion” / this is the question / To Marianne, forerunner of all fashion.

Pallenburg gave Marianne several drawings and watercolours over the years. Describing her, Marianne said: ‘People think of Anita in one way – a 60s muse, all that shit – but she was so much more than that. She was a talented artist, as well as being a great actor. She was intelligent, funny, thoughtful, fearless… she truly didn’t care what anybody thought of her. Anita started doing all the things she could have done after stopping the drugs. Many years later she did a fashion degree at Central Saint Martins, in the early 1990s and she started to paint again, and she did life classes. She did some wonderful watercolours – she painted Shell Cottage when I was still living in Ireland. She taught me so much about clothes and how to dress, really it was she that was the forerunner of all fashion.’

Discussing the cultural significance of Marianne’s auction collection, Katherine Schofield, Head of Popular Culture, Sotheby’s, EMEA, said: ‘The name Marianne Faithfull is synonymous with a revolutionary time for youth culture and conjures up images of excessive liberation and the epitome of bohemian rock chic. To bring items from her personal collection for auction, spanning her songwriting, performance, modelling, acting and fashion memories has been extremely inciteful and a true privilege. To uncover an archive of manuscript material relating to her career, with artworks from her favoured artists and friends and fashion spanning three decades, provides an intimate look into the original queen of rock and roll. We are honoured to collaborate with such a fundamental music icon in our inaugural Popular Culture sale in London.’

Luxury pieces from Marianne’s coveted wardrobe will also go under the hammer, with three Chanel jackets, one sequinned, one with black and white lace and one with fur cuffs, gifted personally by Karl Lagerfeld. The collection also features an exquisite Saint Laurent smoking jacket, which Marianne describes as a masterpiece; a bespoke vintage velvet 1970s dress worn to celebrate Marianne’s return to music with the release of her single The Way You Want Me To Be’ which featured in the Daily Mail in 1978 and jackets by Chloe and John Galliano.

Marianne said: ’Clothes have always been very important to me. To feel exquisitely dressed allowed me to become ‘Marianne Faithfull’ – to feel ready. I’ve known so many of the great designers and they were all necessary in helping me create the ‘fabulous beast’ – my public persona.

I got to know Karl a bit when I lived in Paris, and he would invite me to his shows. I love what he did at Chanel, and you can’t go wrong with a Chanel jacket, it’s like wearing professional armour. Fashion isn’t always practical, but a Chanel jacket is.’

The collection also includes an oil painting portrait of Henrietta Moraes by Maggi Hambling, several scripts from films starring Marianne such as The Black Rider and Marie-Antoinette directed by Sofia Coppola, handwritten lyrics for songs from some of Marianne’s most admired albums including Sleep, There Is A Ghost and Sex with Strangers; photographs of Marianne by the likes of Gered Mankowitz and Michael Cooper in two highly collectible monographs, vintage prints including one taken by her former husband John Dunbar on their honeymoon when Marianne was pregnant with their son, alongside concert set lists and posters.

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