Paid in Woodcuts

Juno: museums paid up to $1.9 million for Yllanes paintings! Mochi: twenty years ago they went for $10,000 to $15,000 each. The Rust Baron: the man who promoted them got rich! Mochi: nope, he was cut out around 2003 and paid in woodcuts. Tock: Lake Titicaca, now hanging beside Rubens and Rothko in Toledo.

The Yllanes paintings now selling to museums for $400,000 to $1.9 million passed through a chain of small deals first: a graphic designer who promoted them for a cut was dropped around 2003 and paid in woodcuts, a dealer's contact sold them to a French collector for $10,000 to $15,000 apiece, and Lake Titicaca, now bound for a Toledo gallery beside Rubens and Rothko, went through a Rhinebeck collector before the Frenchman bought it in 2021.

Starring

JunoMochiThe Rust BaronTock