Donald Trump, the (almost) blue-chip artist

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories.

The selection of Kehinde Wiley to paint an official portrait of Barack Obama has been warmly received by the culture sector. But this isn’t the only White House-related art story to have done the rounds in the past week.

In yet another perplexing turn to his presidency, Donald Trump appears to be on the brink of becoming a blue-chip artist himself. Last week, a rough sketch of the Empire State Building that Trump executed in 1995 sold at auction for a cool $16,000, with some proceeds going towards a National Public Radio station in Connecticut.

Dodging the draughtsman: Trump’s drawing of the Empire State Building

And this isn’t the first time a Donald doodle has fetched big bucks: back in July, an off-the-cuff depiction of the Manhattan skyline adorned with the presidential signature went for nearly $30,000…

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