Chimpanzee art: Big Money

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$33,000 for works from Congo's naive period

June 22, 2005

LONDON: Critics who claim a chimpanzee could do better than some contemporary artists have been proven right with the sale of three paintings by an ape for more than pound stg. 14,000 ($33,000).
Congo, the only chimpanzee to have his paintings sold at auction, was more successful than BritArt figures Jake and Dinos Chapman, Andy Warhol and other renowned 20th-century painters.

Three paintings created by Congo in 1957 were expected to fetch up to pound stg. 800, but spiralled to more than 20 times their estimate after a prolonged bidding war at Bonhams in London. They outsold a painting by the Chapman brothers and put Warhol to shame. One of the New York artist's paintings, estimated to fetch up to pound stg. 500,000, failed to reach its reserve price.

The buyer of Congo's work, a Californian telecommunications consultant, said he had been prepared to pay double.

Howard Hong said he was so worried about being outbid he had contacted friends to raise more than $US50,000 ($64,500).

"Many people have said to me, 'There is a cheaper solution. Buy a chimpanzee and put it in a room with some paper and paint'," he said. "But on a purely artistic level, when I saw the paintings they struck me. (The style) looks like an early Kandinsky. My only upset is that Congo never titled his paintings."

Mr Hong said he was compelled to buy the paintings because Congo was "the ultimate chimp of the art world".

"It is said that what makes us human is our ability to conceive of abstract concepts. This totally contradicts that theory."

Congo created about 400 drawings and paintings after being encouraged by animal behavourist Desmond Morris who wrote The Naked Ape.

The chimp was a regular guest on Morris's Zoo Time television show after the scientist became convinced apes could understand what drove human beings to create art.

Howard Rutkowski, director of impressionist and modern art at Bonhams, said Congo was the most celebrated animal artist. "It is not just any chimp -- it is Congo," he said. "If you own a Congo, you are in the company of Picasso and Miro."

Morris said Congo was the only non-human painter to take care over his art.

"If you tried to interrupt him he would have a temper tantrum," he said. "If you tried to get him to continue after he had finished, he wouldn't do it. I would offer him a brush and he would just look at me.

"Dali said of Congo, 'The hand of the chimp is crazy human; the hand of Jackson Pollock is totally animal'."

The Times