Salvatore Scarpitta's Auction Record Surpasses €2 Million at Sotheby's London

Salvatore Scarpitta (1919-2007), an Italian-American artist born in New York to an Italian father and Polish-Russian mother, studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma from 1937. He later served in the U.S. Army's Monuments Men, preserving Nazi-looted art. After WWII, he worked in Rome's via Margutta and was introduced to Galleria La Tartaruga by Plinio De Martiis. In 1958, gallerist Leo Castelli noticed him and invited him back to the U.S., where they remained until Castelli's death. Scarpitta's career included multiple Venice Biennale participations and museum exhibitions worldwide, maintaining strong ties to Italy. He socialized with Rothko, de Kooning, Smith, Burri, Dorazio, and Consagra. In October 2017, his 1959 mixed-media work "Forager for Plankton" sold at Sotheby's London for over €2 million, doubling his previous record of nearly €900,000 set at Christie's New York in 2014 for "The Corn Queen" (purchased in 2011 at Sotheby's London for €550,000). In 2015, Sotheby's Milan sold "Red Ladder n. 2" for €560,000, confirming his rising auction trajectory.