On September 24, 2009, Bloomsbury Auctions in New York offered Portrait of the Artists: The Burt Britton Collection, the self-portraits that writers and other “book people” had drawn for Burt Britton. Lot 113 was the one that started it all: Norman Mailer’s self-portrait, in black crayon on a folded sheet and initialed, estimated at $2,000 to $3,000 (catalog).
A quarter to three at the Vanguard
Britton was tending bar at the Village Vanguard in the mid-sixties when Mailer, the last customer of the night, would not go home. He told the story in his book:
It was the mid-sixties, it was below ground in The Village Vanguard, and, as Old Blue Eyes would say, “It’s - a - quarter - to - three - & - there’s - no - one - in - this - place - except - you - & - me” - I was behind the bar, Norman was on a stool, the group had been long gone, and Norman wouldn’t go home. He kept asking, “What do you want from me, Kid?” and I kept saying, “I want to lock up, go home, get some sleep.” And he’d repeat, “What do you want from me, Kid?” I kept feeding him drinks as I did all the necessaries that had to be done before closing, and when there was nothing left to be done but turn out the lights and lock the door, I said, “Norman, you really have to go.” But again, he insisted on another round, and another round of “What do you want,” etc. What was I to do? This was the writer who wrote the amazing Advertisements for Myself, a book that to this day still excites my sensibilities. This was, then, Norman Mailer. So, finally, and to this day I have no idea why I said, “Norman, here, on this piece of paper, do a self-portrait for me, drink your drink, and let’s call it a night.” And that initial drawing, done after hours at the bar of the fabled Vanguard, this self-portrait done by Mailer, which fascinated me then and fascinates me still - began all this madness.
The collection grew, and in 1976 Random House published a selection as Self-Portrait: Book People Picture Themselves, “from the collection of Burt Britton.” Mailer’s drawing is on page 133.
The sale
The Mailer self-portrait sold; the auction record lists it as sold without a price. Much of the sale went unsold. Jan Herman, writing the next day, counted 68 of 213 lots sold, for about $102,000 by his unofficial tally, led by David Hockney’s self-portrait at $16,000; Cormac McCarthy’s brought $3,000 and John Updike’s $4,200 (ArtsJournal, September 25, 2009). Self-portraits by several of Mailer’s contemporaries found no buyer that day, among them James Jones, Joseph Heller, and Bernard Malamud (catalog).
In Works and Days
- Advertisements for Myself — Mailer’s great omnibus — a 532-page miscellany gathering his stories, essays, columns, interviews, poems, and fragments, stitched together by the italicized…