Past Auction

Post-War & Contemporary Art

Wed, Nov 06, 2019 at 2pm EST |

New York

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Featuring The Marian Sulzberger Heiskell and Andrew Heiskell Collection

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Auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 2pm
Featuring The Marian Sulzberger Heiskell and Andrew Heiskell Collection
Highlights Include Works by Augustin Cardenas, Nicolas Carone, Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Hambleton, Robert Longo and Ad Reinhardt

NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle's auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art on November 6, 2019 presented important paintings and sculpture by some of the 20th and 21st centuries' most prominent artists. Encompassing works by American, European, Latin American and Asian artists, the sale spanned artistic movements from Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Minimalism, moving through Fluxus and Mail Art to Street Art and works by emerging artists.

Highlighting the auction was a 1974 work by Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) that sold for $150,000, surpassing its estimate of $80,000-120,000. Frankenthaler was an innovator. Like most artists of her generation, she followed the well-beaten path of the Action Painters. But Frankenthaler did not stop at imitation. Using newly developed acrylic paints, she thinned and saturated raw canvas with these pigments resulting in rich translucent fields of color. The work from 1974 was one of three examples from The Marian Sulzberger Heiskell & Andrew Heiskell Collection in the sale.

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) was always an abstract painter. Though he moved freely from biomorphic to geometric forms, his dedication to a pure aesthetic art form never ceased. In the late 1940s Reinhardt shifted from a hard-edged style toward an expressionist brush stroke. This aligned him with Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and the Action Painters. Number Twelve, a gouache on paper created in 1949, is a strong example of this period, achieving $143,750, well over its estimate of $70,000-90,000.

A gouache and graphite work on paper by Robert Longo that fetched $87,500 against a $60,000-80,000 estimate is part of his iconic Men in the Cities series, a decade-defining body of work produced from roughly 1977-1983. Longo achieved the dramatic poses of the characters by inviting friends (including photographer Cindy Sherman) to the roof of his apartment, where he then threw objects at them, photographing their bodies in reaction, recoiling from the flung projectiles. In addition to original work, the Men in the Cities series has included lithograph editions and photography. Examples from the series can also be spotted in the apartment of Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale) in American Psycho, the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ landmark novel of the same name, set in mid 1980s New York.

Nicolas Carone (1917-2010) was active in the Post-War era, and is often referred to as a Second Generation Abstract Expressionist. He co-founded Stable Gallery where he had his first New York solo show in 1954. In 1961 Mourning Sleep was exhibited at Stempfli Gallery, and graced the announcement card for the show. The work was a highlight of the Nov 6 auction, selling for $68,750, several time its estimate of $15,000-20,000. Though Carone’s best-known works are his abstract action paintings, he was a lifelong student of the old masters and constantly drew and painted the human form. If the viewer believes they see sensual human forms in the flowing brushstrokes of his abstract works, they are not mistaken.

The Marian Sulzberger Heiskell and Andrew Heiskell Collection

Doyle is honored to present The Marian Sulzberger Heiskell and Andrew Heiskell Collection as a highlight of the Fall season. A civic leader and philanthropist, Marian championed outdoor community spaces across New York and led a nonprofit organization responsible for restoring the 42nd Street theatres. She was instrumental in the 1972 campaign to create the Gateway National Recreation Area, a 26,000-acre park with scattered beaches and wildlife refuges around the entrance to the New York-New Jersey harbor. For 34 years, she worked as a Director of The New York Times, where her grandfather, father, husband, brother, nephew and grand-nephew served as successive publishers. Her work at the newspaper focused on educational projects. In 1965, Marian married Andrew Heiskell, the Chairman of Time Inc., whose philanthropies included the New York Public Library.

Highlights from the couple’s remarkable art collection include a group of works by Helen Frankenthaler, as well as examples by Pierre Eugène Montézin and Auguste Rodin, and elegant furniture, silver and decorative arts. Read More

All prices include the Buyer's Premium.

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