Sotheby’s has unveiled its marquee sales series in New York this May in full, led by Mark Rothko’s towering Brown and Blacks in Reds (est. $70 million to $100 million), held in the collection of Robert Mnuchin for more than two decades. The series is highlighted by a selection of works from Mnuchin’s collection, estimated to achieve in excess of $130 million, including works by Rothko, Franz Kline and Jeff Koons. The Rothko is one of 15 monumental canvases created in 1957, the majority of which reside in museum collections. CELINE is the presenting partner for the New York sales.
The Now & Contemporary Evening auction is led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1983 Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) (est. in excess of $45 million), which debuted at the artist’s solo exhibition at Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1983. Also offered is Willem de Kooning’s 1975 Untitled III (est. $25 million to $35 million), coming to auction for the first time, and works from the collection of Jennifer Gilbert sold to benefit Lumana Detroit, led by Joan Mitchell’s Loom II (est. $5 million to $7 million) and Kenneth Noland’s Circle (est. $4 million to $6 million).
From the Adele and Enrico Donati Collection is Pablo Picasso’s Arlequin (Buste) (est. in excess of $40 million), created in the spring of 1909, alongside Wassily Kandinsky’s Rote Tiefe (Red Depth) (est. $12 million to $18 million). Further highlights include Vincent van Gogh’s La Moisson en Provence (est. $25 million to $35 million), a watercolor from the artist’s Arles period executed in June 1888, and Henri Matisse’s La Séance du matin (est. $20 million to $30 million), a Nice-period interior painted in 1924.
The David and Shoshanna Wingate Collection, built over seven decades, is led by Alberto Giacometti’s La Clairière (Composition avec neuf figures) (est. $18 million to $25 million), joined by his late bronze Buste d’homme (New York I), Mark Rothko’s Untitled of circa 1959, and a Tiffany Studios “ Wisteria” lamp (est. $600,000 to $800,000). A dedicated single-owner sale preceding the Modern Day auction on 20 May will present a further cross-category selection from the collection.
The collection of Sybil Shainwald, the lawyer and advocate for women’s health, brings a group of European modernist and surrealist works, including René Magritte’s Femme-bouteille from 1955 (est. $800,000 to $1.2 million), Dorothea Tanning’s Témoins du drame from 1947 (est. $1 million to $1.5 million), and Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Personnages from 1926 (est. $200,000 to $300,000). From the Wall Family Collection, Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Inside Clam Shell of 1930 is estimated at $6 million to $8 million, with her Pink Camellia of 1945 at $2 million to $3 million.
Additional highlights include Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Baigneuse assise sur un rocher from the Durand-Ruel Family Collection (est. $8 million to $12 million); Matisse’s La Chaise lorraine from 1919 from the Barbier-Mueller Collection (est. in excess of $25 million); Picasso’s Tête de femme sur fond jaune from July 1934 (est. $7 million to $10 million); and works from the Latner Family Art Collection, led by Giacometti’s Annette d’apres nature (est. $5 million to $7 million). From the Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg, Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Il cielo di Venezia is estimated at $10 million to $15 million.
(Press Release)
