NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotheby's (NYSE:
BID) is pleased to open our 2019 auctions of Contemporary Art with
Contemporary Curated on 1 March in New York. Reflecting a diverse ensemble of
works from the Post-War and Contemporary periods, with many
exceptional highlights appearing at auction for the first time,
this season's offering is accented by an outstanding group of works
by African American and women artists, with examples by
Olga de Amaral, Louise Bourgeois, Sam
Gilliam, Eva Hesse,
Yayoi Kusama, Kerry James Marshall and Faith Ringgold, among others.
Estimated to achieve more than $22.5
million, the March auction marks the highest-ever pre-sale
estimate in the sales series' nearly six-year history.
Highlights from the sale include George
Condo's Smiling Girl with Black Hair (estimate
$1/1.5 million) – a highly refined
example of his ability to manipulate the traditional notions of
portraiture – Sean Scully's
monumental Wall of Light Pink Grey Sky from the artist's
celebrated Wall of Light series (estimate $800,000/1.2 million); Ad
Reinhardt resplendent No. 12 from 1950
(estimate $600/800,000); and
Yayoi Kusama's Dots Obsession
from 2005 – a remarkably complex example of the artist's most
personal and renowned body of work (estimate $450/650,000).
Preceding the bi-annual auction is By Women, For Tomorrow's
Women – the first-ever all-women artist benefit auction at a major
auction house. Over the course of several months, 40 pieces by 38
pioneering women artists have been donated to create this distinct
offering of modern and contemporary works, with full proceeds to
support financial aid that enables emerging female leaders to
attend Miss Porter's School, the
nation's leading, all-girls private boarding school. Separate
release available
The Contemporary Curated pre-sale exhibition opens to the
public this Friday, 22 February, alongside works from By Women,
For Tomorrow's Women, and our Contemporary Art Online auctions, open for bidding
from 22 February – 8 March.
"On the heels of our highest-ever sale total this past
September, we are thrilled to present the Contemporary Curated
auction this March. Included in the sale are several paradigm
shifting and groundbreaking, fresh-to-market works by artists who
have played pivotal roles in the Contemporary art historical
cannon. Some of these examples include the intimate circa
1945 Alice Neel portrait Connie, a formative painting by
Eva Hesse from the late 1950s, a
1970 intricately collaged, vibrant Romare Bearden entitled The
Unforgotten and the groundbreaking 1974 Slab painting
Special Checking by Jack
Whitten, the first from this series to appear at auction by
the artist.
"In addition to these exceptional works we are thrilled to offer
a selection works by the artists active today, led by the
exquisitely painted 2008 Untitled (Painter) by Kerry James Marshall which addresses the tenets
of race and representation as well as the act of painting and
the history of cultural production. Many of the exceptional
works in the Curated sale are by artists historically
underrepresented in the secondary market which is a wonderful
complement to the charity component of our sale series this season
as we are honored to partner with Miss
Porter's School on the By Women, For Tomorrow's Women
auction co-chaired by Agnes Gund and
Oprah Winfrey. We are thrilled to be
collaborating on the sale which will raise money for financial aid
at the school and know that the auction will celebrate and promote
the vital contributions that female artists have made, and will
continue to make, to art-making and to our culture at large."
Sotheby's auctions of Contemporary Art continue this week with
Contemporary Art Online (22 February
– 7 March) and a dedicated online-only sale, The Form of Ideas (22
February – 8 March).
About Sotheby's
Sotheby's has been uniting collectors
with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby's became the
first international auction house when it expanded from
London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in
Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international
fine art auction house in China
(2012). Today, Sotheby's presents auctions in 10 different
salesrooms, including New York,
London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby's BidNow program allows
visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids from
anywhere in the world. Sotheby's offers collectors the resources of
Sotheby's Financial Services, the world's only full-service
art financing company, as well as the collection, artist, estate
& foundation advisory services of its subsidiary, Art
Agency, Partners. Sotheby's presents private sale opportunities
in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of
Sotheby's Global Fine Art Division, and three retail businesses:
Sotheby's Wine, Sotheby's Diamonds, and Sotheby's Home, the online
marketplace for interior design. Sotheby's has a global network of
80 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the
New York Stock Exchange (BID).
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| +1 212 606 7176 | Darrell Rocha |
Darrell.Rocha@Sothebys.com | Alex
Fizer | Alex.Fizer@Sothebys.com
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SOURCE Sotheby's