Muhammad Ali's (1942-2016) fame as one of the most important athletes of the 20th century is undisputed. His involvement in the civil rights movement is no secret either. However, many don't know that the American boxer also had an artistic side: an auction dedicated to sports memorabilia presented by Bonhams on 5 October included 28 works by Ali, which relate not only to boxing, but also to the civil rights movement and religion.
"Muhammad Ali was a cultural icon who defined a generation," said Helen Hall, Bonhams Director of Popular Culture. "His artwork depicts those subjects close to his heart: Boxing, Civil Rights, Religion and World Peace and Humanitarianism. This sale presents buyers with an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire unique and meaningful artwork made by 'The Greatest of All Time.'"
Born with the name Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali had an innate love of art. His father, Cassius Clay Sr., made a living for his family as a sign painter and encouraged his son to be an artist. Some paintings by Cassius Clay Sr. were also part of the Bonhams auction.
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Focused on his sports career, Ali did not appear as an artist until 1967, when he made some drawings for the socially critical magazine Avant Garde, which visualised his involvement in the civil rights movement. That year, Ali had his boxing licence revoked and his world title revoked after refusing military service for the Vietnam War.
Ten years later, Ali made his artistic comeback when he met the historian and collector Rodney Hilton Brown, who at the time owned a gallery in Manhattan. Hilton Brown not only became a close friend of the athlete, but also encouraged him to become more artistically active. The artworks by Ali, which Bonhams auctioned on 5 October, came from the collection of Hilton Brown, who this year published the biography Muhammad Ali: The Untold Story: Painter, Poet & Prophet, which sheds light on this rather unknown side of his longtime friend.
The artworks offered in the auction were mainly executed with felt-tip pens. The highlight of the offer was Sting Like A Bee from 1978, which was then published in a limited edition of 500 screen prints.
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The felt pen and acrylic paint on paper work is the only one that contains a short poem by Ali: “Ref, he did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!” can be read in the speech bubble on the left belonging to the defeated boxer, while the running referee calls out: "Yes, if you were smart, you run like me."
Ali was referring to his now iconic quote said before his fight against the reigning world champion Sonny Liston, when he got into the ring as the supposed underdog: “Float like a Butterfly. Sting like a bee. The hands can not hit what the eyes can not see."
Sting Like A Bee sold for $425,312, which was ten times the low estimate and set an auction record for a work of art by Muhammad Ali.
Bonhams successfully auctioned 26 of the 28 artworks by the boxing legend on offer. In total, these works achieved $945,524 (£687,500), which is roughly three times the low estimate.
