This coming month, Sotheby’s has the privilege of hosting an auction selling the personal artefacts and art collection of rock icon and former frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. The online bidding has been occurring for nearly a month, with all manner of items being sold from paintings Freddie had previously bought to his personal clothing and handwritten lyrics.
When I heard of the auction, I had very mixed emotions on the topic. I would consider myself a Queen fan, perhaps not a super fan, but someone who appreciates and enjoys the music of the band; I have done since I was a child. I have memories of putting on the ‘Greatest Hits’ cassette and blasting Bohemian Rhapsody while jumping up and down on my bed like a bouncy ball as soon as the staccato of the piano began.
For those of you who may not be entirely familiar with who Freddie Mercury is, he was the front man and lead vocalist of the iconic rock band, Queen. He played alongside Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, with them touring the world and writing many iconic songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody
I let curiosity get the better of me and go to the website to see what was for sale, thinking it would be a few stage costumes, musical instruments and maybe some handwritten lyrics. And all of those items are for sale. However, I was shocked to see that there was a great number of personal effects also for sale. Polaroids of the band touring Japan, various items of personal clothing that belonged to Freddie, and pretty much the entire contents of his West Kensington house. It was as if someone grabbed the house, turned it upside down and violently shook it to make sure every small piece of him fell out. Then collected it up and put it before Sotheby’s and they began to valuate it. It made me profoundly sad.
Now my sadness is not just as a fan who sees people buying his effects, it also evolves into spite as I know a great portion of these items will not be displayed in museums or be able to be seen and appreciated by fans; I know they will end up cased and boxed in one of the many warehouses in England and left there to exist between sculptures and 2 meter paintings. Sometimes those items will not see daylight for years and just collect dust: maybe the new owner will be kind enough to let it experience sunlight once in a while to show to friends or put it up for auction again, only to have the item cased and moved around. This is the sad truth of most artworks: they are merely investments and are not being given the dignity to be displayed and appreciated.
This bought up an interesting question for me: is it acceptable to sell the ephemera of a beloved icon, rather than found an establishment in their name and honour? Or even donate?
I feel like the answer isn’t as straight forward as I hope it will be; it’s more of a discussion than a debate or a single word answer. The first criteria is the person who’s item’s you’re selling. Now especially if it’s a posy humorous auction, would they have wanted their items sold for people to enjoy or appreciate on their own? Would they have wanted someone to have a little piece of them so when they would glance over at the item they would think ‘they had fabulous taste, I’m so lucky to own this. ‘Or would the reaction be quite the opposite? Would they hate having parts of their life and sanctuary sold off like a car boot sale?
In the case of Freddie, we know he often enjoyed a good auction; it’s where most of his art pieces come from. So perhaps, in this specific example, he would have wanted people to enjoy what he had once. But the key word here is enjoy; in my opinion, it is difficult to enjoy a work of art if it’s in a safehouse halfway down the M25 and not viewed in one’s living room or bedroom. That behaviour is more akin to hoarding antiques than appreciating them.
The second criteria is what is the purpose of an auction. Now those who may not have the broadest knowledge of the arts world may be under the impression that museums are the big buyers as they have all the resources to care for and store the items, and even allow the public to view them. However, there’s a big secret about museums that most people don’t know: the money that is put aside for acquiring items is miniscule in comparison to what they make. Some museums are lucky enough to have a budget that barely touches six digits. In short, at auctions like this one, where there is so much interest in pieces, there will no doubt be competitive bidding. And so, in a tale as old as time, the heritage sites will be snubbed once again.
Another ethical question arises from this: why have these items not been donated? Now several individuals have argued that since Freddie loved a good auction and was a frequent buyer at Sotheby’s, he would have enjoyed seeing people attempting to win a piece of his collection. However for others, they see it as selling a piece of Freddie’s history and legacy for profit, and this has caused a disparity amongst Queen fans. Although Freddie had previously expressed that he would not want to have his home become a museum, I’m not sure he would’ve appreciated having his personal items treated like symbols of wealth or making it so they cant be enjoyed by his fans.
In my opinion, as someone who is trying hard to contribute to the heritage sector positively, I do think there could be a solution: the items that were previously bought at Sotheby’s all those years ago, they should be the items auctioned.
Anything personal that previously belonged to Freddie, his clothing, photographs, hand written lyrics and sketches, in other words pieces that were extensions of him as a person, should be donated to a museum where they can have the correct and proper care they deserve. Alternatively, a Queen museum could have been erected to celebrate all the members with curated exhibitions on their contributions and their personal lives. This way, fans would be able to enjoy the items with exhibitions that do not have a time limit: Queen fans would have a place that celebrates such an iconic band and showcase the items with the dignity they deserve.
What do you, the reader of this blog, think about this? I would be really interested to know how you feel about exhibitions and auctions like this: do ethics matter and if so why? Also, if any Queen fans are reading, I would like to know how you feel about this auction and if you think a museum would have been a sound compromise?
Death Becomes Her 