A Tale of Five Artworks

A Tale of Five Artworks

Robert Rauschenberg Andy Warhol Jasper Johns Cy Twombly Jeff Koons Art Partying Abroad Cary Leibowitz in New York Kevin Spacey to Lend Voice to Sculptures

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

The web exclusive that follows is an extension
of Sonnabend Goes Private, an article originally published in the June 2008 issue of Art+Auction.

The unloading in April of $600 million worth of paintings and sculpture, reportedly 25 pieces in all, from the Sonnabend collection has been called the largest private sale of art ever. It’s also a reminder of the pivotal role Ileana Sonnabend, the star-making gallerist who died last October at 92, played in the rise of postwar American art. Her Paris gallery, which she opened on the Left Bank in 1962, introduced Europe to Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg—piquing French critics, who thought her promotion of American talent too pushy. (She wasn’t bothered.) Always ahead of the curve, the Romanian-born dealer opened a gallery in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City in 1971, long before others did.

Her lasting partnership with the influential dealer Leo Castelli following their 1959 divorce helped secure her position as one of the art world’s prime movers. But this passionate businesswoman was also a passionate collector, and over time she amassed one of the most important collections known today. Records of how much she paid decades ago for works that are today worth millions are hard to come by. Antonio Homem, Sonnabend’s longtime gallery director and adopted son and heir, estimates that many of them cost her only a “very few thousands of dollars.” Although the April transaction is cloaked in mystery, all participants having signed confidentiality agreements, most industry insiders concur that the following pieces were among the sale’s standouts.

Click on the photo gallery to the left for a look at five works believed to be part of the April sale. 

"A Tale of Five Artworks" is a web exclusive published in conjunction with the June 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2008 Table of Contents.