NEW YORK – 29 APRIL 2025 – Phillips is pleased to present highlights from its forthcoming Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, taking place on 14 May 2025 at its New York headquarters. Comprised of nearly 250 lots, the auction will present works by some of the most important names of the 20th century in the Morning Session, with a focus on Contemporary and 21st-century works in the Afternoon Session. As previously announced, a selection of works in the Afternoon Session are being sold to benefit The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by the two-time Super Bowl Champion and three-time Pro Bowl Safety, marking the first time Phillips has ever partnered with a professional athlete for a Modern & Contemporary Art auction. The full catalogues for both the Morning Session and the Afternoon Session are now available online.

Annie Dolan and Patrizia Koenig, Co-Heads of the New York Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, said, “It is a privilege to present such a strong selection of artists in Phillips’ May Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, spanning defining artistic movements of the 20th and 21st centuries while bringing to the fore the important creators who are emerging today. Among the top lots of the auction are Christopher Wool’s Untitled, Nicole Eisenman’s Team Shredder, Robert Motherwell’s Premonition Open with Flesh over Grey, and Keith Haring’s Untitled diptych, all of which are being offered at auction for the very first time. From the Morning Session, which features exemplary works by icons of the art historical canon, to the Afternoon Session, which has become a place of discovery for newer names, the sale marks an exciting moment for our collecting community.”

The Morning Session will open with a serene rural landscape by Richard Mayhew, Back Country (2004). Here, the masterful colorist builds a dreamlike landscape at sunset with textured brushstrokes, highlighting nature’s beauty by portraying a rare snapshot of wilderness untouched by man. Another work by Mayhew, Guardian (1999), sold in Phillips’ Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale in November 2022 for $242,000, setting a new lifetime auction record for the artist. Since his passing, Mayhew’s works have continued command to six-figure prices in both the primary and secondary markets. Jack Whitten Richard Mayhew Back Country, 2004 Estimate: $70,000 - 100,000

Jack Whitten —whose comprehensive retrospective, Jack Whitten: The Messenger currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art was described in The New York Times as “scintillating and sweeping” —- continually experimented with various mediums and techniques in an effort to push the boundaries of painting. Whitten’s Her Majesty’s Angle (1980) hits the auction block for the first time, acquired by the original owners in 1981 for just $275. Here, Whitten evokes the vastness and complexity of the cosmic universe by foregoing traditional representation in favor of painterly abstraction. Her Majesty’s Angle, 1980 Estimate: $150,000 - 200,000

Key examples of American Minimalism include works by Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Serra. Kelly's Black Curve, Radius 12 Feet (1976) is a large-scale collage that features a black curved form on a blank page, while Serra’s Untitled (2010), is a mature example of the artist’s celebrated paintstick works, measuring nearly eight feet high and five feet wide.  

Modernist works in the sale include Suzanne Valadon's Adam et Ève (1910), which reinterprets the Genesis creation story to celebrate the artist’s love affair with André Utter. Here, Valadon captures the moment before Eve eats the apple, presenting the scene through a distinctly female lens. This work comes to market just before Valadon’s major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou is scheduled to close in late May — the first exhibition in Paris dedicated to the artist’s work since 1967.  

Marc Chagall’s Portrait de la soeur de l’artiste (1908) — the earliest work included in the Day Sale — is a rare example of the artist’s expressionist portraits, which offers a quiet, introspective glimpse into Chagall’s relationship with one of his eight younger siblings. Formerly in the prized collection of American playwright Edward Albee, the work depicts the artist’s sister, demure and contemplative, revealing not only her Suzanna Valadon Adam et Ève, 1910 Estimate: $120,000 – 180,000  personality but also Chagall’s own tenderness in her portrayal. Another early 20th-century work featured in the Morning Session is a recently rediscovered painting by Norman Rockwell that has been held in the same family collection for a century. Painted when the artist was just 21 years old, the painting was conceived as an illustration from Walter Camp’s 1915 book, Danny the Freshman.  

Later in the Morning Session is Keith Haring’s Two works: (i-ii) Untitled (1984), commissioned as part of a set design for Secret Pastures, a ballet produced by Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. Outlined in bold, inky black lines and filled with energetic red zigzags, the figures in these two Untitled works recall a fast-paced music score, embodying the power of dance and performance. Today the two works form a largescale diptych. Another single panel from the commission is housed in the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, Hokuto. Andy Warhol Double Torso, 1966 Estimate: $450,000 - 650,000

Additional highlights from the Morning Session include Andy Warhol’s Double Torso (1966), one of only three UV paintings ever made, originally commissioned for Playboy magazine, as well as two works by Robert Rauschenberg — Untitled (1968), a transfer drawing, and Rush 9 (1980) from his Cloister series — which are being offered during the artist’s centennial year. Jean Dubuffet’s Animation parcellaire (1979) from the artist’s Théâtres de Mémoire is also featured , coming from the same esteemed Collection of Ray and Sally Allen as Calder’s Yellows in the Air, offered in Phillips’ Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale the night before.

The Afternoon Session has built a reputation for showcasing important Contemporary works alongside the artists of today who are shaping the art market of the 21st century.  Kicking off the Afternoon Session are works by soughtafter artists Yu Nishimura, Robin F. Williams, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Firelei Báez, alongside Avery Singer, Jonathan Gardner, Nina Chanel Abney, and auction newcomers Uman, Poppy Jones, and Maia Cruz Palileo.

Leading the session is Christopher Wool’s Untitled (2004), an astute example of the artist’s silkscreen paintings. In a carefully worked process of layering and translation characterized by buildup, erasure, and reproduction, Wools puts forth two bilateral silkscreens of the same abstracted gesture. While the upper iteration is almost crisp, the lower iteration invites substantial mechanical flaws that obscure the original mark. Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Escape Collage (2016) is another important highlight, coinciding with the artist’s landmark mid-career survey currently on view at the Guggenheim Museum through January 2026.  

Standout works of Contemporary abstraction explore color’s full potential, including paintings by Etel Adnan, Marina Perez Simão, and Marina Adams, the mid-career artist making waves with her dynamic works in vibrant, asymmetrical shapes. Also among these standout works is Sean Scully's Cut Ground Moon (2011), a luminous example from the artist’s Cut Ground series. Here, inspired by the topography of cultivated landscapes, Sean Scully Cut Ground Moon, 2011 Estimate: $200,000 - 300,000 Scully emphasizes the sensuality of paint application and the interplay of light and color. Rectangles are divided by colorful horizontal and vertical stripes, with painterly brushstrokes that lend a captivating vitality and rhythm.  Nicole Eisenman Team Shredder, 2006 Estimate: $500,000 - 700,000

Contemporary figuration also features prominently in the sale, with examples by Toyin Ojih Odutola, Robin F. Williams, and Yu Nishimura. Leading the grouping is Nicole Eisenman’s triptych, Team Shredder (2006), depicting a seaside fantasia populated by nude women. Brimming with allegorical tension, the largescale work exemplifies Eisenman’s skill in building complex figurative scenes filled with sharp humor and emotional depth. Widely exhibited in institutions across Europe, it was notably included in Eisenman’s 2021 solo show, Giant Without a Body at the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo.  

The Afternoon Session also features a strong grouping of contemporary sculpture led by KAWS’s COMPANION (RESTING PLACE) (2013), a nearly seven-foot-tall Companion figure, coming to auction in advance of the artist’s exhibition at SFMoMA this fall. Other examples in the category include Carol Bove’s Snake (2016), an exemplary “collage sculpture” that was notably exhibited at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2021. Also on offer is Nicolas Party’s monumental sculpture, Speaker (2017), a commission for Modern Art Oxford honoring women’s contributions to the city. Rising star Kennedy Yanko’s Anoint (2019) is also included.

The Afternoon Session features several other notable works, such as Anish Kapoor’s Mirror Glow (Spanish Gold) (2017), a lacquered silver disc with a stunning gold reverse, and Scott Kahn’s In the Wilderness (1984), a monumental painting from a prestigious private collection. Other exciting works arrive at auction concurrently with, or preceding noteworthy exhibitions. Key examples include works by Pictures Generations artists Robert Longo — whose first comprehensive exhibition in Scandinavia is currently on view at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, through August — and Barbara Kruger, whose first survey exhibition in Spain will open at The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao this June. Moreover, Lucas Arruda’s landscape, Untitled 17 (2011) arrives on the auction block concurrent with his first monograph exhibition in France at Musée d’Orsay.

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(Press Release)