Artists in chief: JFK vs. Trump
They bid a lot on Camelot. John F. Kennedy went headto-head against President Trump at auction Saturday and it was no contest.
Art aficionados preferred JFK’s autographed colorful landscape (above left) to The Donald’s signed doodle of the Manhattan skyline (above right).
The oil-on-canvas Kennedy piece — just one of two auto- graphed works by the assassinated 35th president — fetched a whopping $162,500. The Trump sketch, meanwhile, went for a mere $20,000, about $5,000 more than expected, Heritage Auctions said.
The 1955 Kennedy work, featuring waterfront homes under a blue sky in what is thought to be the south of France, was painted when he was a Massachusetts senator.
Accompanying the painting is “a delightful” black-and-white circa mid-1950s photo of JFK working at an easel with “Jackie (Kennedy) looking over his shoulder,” the lot explains.
The sitting president’s sketch features lush trees, yellow cabs and stick figures.
JFK’s niece, Victoria Gifford Kennedy, consigned the work, which she received from his brother Bobby Kennedy and Bobby’s wife, Ethel, after Victoria married their son Michael.
“I’m delighted that 25 years later, you’re still enjoying President Kennedy’s painting which I gave to you and Michael for your wedding,” reads a note Ethel gave Victoria that accompanies the piece.
A bugle which sounded taps for President Abraham Lincoln fetched $100,000, Heritage said.