Bill Viola valuation
American video artist whose slow, large-scale works draw on religious painting and human experience.
Bill Viola (1951–2024) was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University in 1973.
What a work by Bill Viola is worth
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation is free, made online from the photographs you send, and it commits you to nothing. We act for sellers across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
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Bio
Bill Viola (1951–2024) was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University in 1973. From 1974 to 1976 he was technical director at the video studio Art/tapes/22 in Florence, where he met artists including Nam June Paik. He represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1995 with Buried Secrets, which included The Greeting, a reworking of Pontormo's Visitation, and the Whitney Museum organised a 25-year retrospective of his work in 1997. The Passions was shown at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the National Gallery in London, and his Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) was installed at St Paul's Cathedral in London in 2014, followed by Mary in 2016. His creative collaborator was Kira Perov.
What comes to market is video works in limited editions, along with some photographs and works on paper. A video work is more than its image: a buyer will want the certificate, the edition number, the master files and the installation instructions, along with any display equipment that belongs to the piece. Flat panels and players age and may need replacing, and any change should be recorded. Work should be seen running before it is valued.
At a glance
- Born
- 25 January 1951, Queens
- Died
- 12 July 2024, Long Beach
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.
