Iconic 60s masterworks by Josef Albers and Robert Rauschenberg, along with an impressive assemblage of modern works on paper, photographs, and prints representing the breadth of the collection, will be offered in the upcoming New York 20th Century & Contemporary, Photographs, and Editions . Important works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, René Magritte, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miró and many more will be included. Selected works will be on view at Phillips Gallery in Los Angeles as part of our 20th Century & Contemporary Global Highlights Tour this coming April.
Esman was an innovative print publishing house who initiated portfolios of fine art prints and editions of three-dimensional multiples featuring the iconic artists of the 60s and 70s
Including: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Lee Bontecou, Robert Rauschenberg, Eva Hesse, Tom Wesselmann, Sol LeWitt, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler and others. Major publications created under Tanglewood Press or Original Editions include New York Ten Portfolio, 1965 and 1969, Ten from Leo Castelli, 1967, Seven Objects in a Box, 1966, and 11 Pop Artists Volumes I, II, and III, 1966. Additionally, during the 70s, Rosa Esman has teamed up with art book publisher Harry Abrams to create Abrams/Original Editions, producing portfolios and individual prints of Saul Steinberg, Red Grooms and others.
His inspired vision, born out of the couple's desire to collect works by artists they otherwise could not afford, helped pioneer the field of postwar artists' editions and multiples. In addition to her publishing activities, Rosa Esman's eponymous gallery exhibited in Manhattan for over twenty years, and she was a founding partner of Ubu Gallery, which is still operating today. His career as an art dealer preceded his publishing work, beginning in 1957, when she and a friend founded the Tanglewood Gallery in Norman Rockwell's former art studio on Main Street in Stockbridge, MA.
Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), 1950
Sti: $200,000 – 300,000
As collectors, the Esmans were a familiar sight on the gallery scene starting in the 60s, when they spent Saturdays touring New York galleries, often meeting with artists and other collectors at the Leo Castelli Gallery in the late afternoon. As the New York art scene shifted to 59th Street, SoHo/Tribeca and Chelsea, Dr. and Mrs. Esman followed suit; Saturday gallery visits remained an essential part of their lives well into their 90s.
The two had a particular appreciation for modern art and collected a wide variety of prints and multiples
Including: a 1912 cubist etching by Pablo Picasso, the livres des artistes of Joan Miró and works by El Lissitzky, Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp and Meret Oppenheim, among others, as well as those of more contemporary artists since Warhol and Lichtenstein in the 60s to Vik Muniz, Kiki Smith and Allen McCollum in the 90s and 2000s. The couple's collection also reflects their admiration for the work of Jasper Johns, particularly his Scent, 1975-76, and Target from 1967, impressive images created with Tatyana Grosman at the ULAE. The collection also features editions by Josef Albers, Ellsworth Kelly, Claes Oldenburg, Sol LeWitt, Gerhard Richter and Mel Bochner, reflecting the Esmans' deep passion and involvement with the art of their time.
Bath, 1964
Estimate: $400,000 – 600,000
Another highlight of the collection is Bath, 1964 by Robert Rauschenberg
The work will be offered in the 20th Century and Contemporary Evening Sale next May. Created in the latter part of Rauschenberg's celebrated Combines period, the work straddles the line between painting and sculpture, combining found objects with brilliant oil paint and newspaper clipping transfers onto a plexiglass surface – a reflection of the Rauschenberg's saying that “painting refers to art and life… I try to work in the gap between the two.” Bath captures the vibrant, playful and culturally engaged personality of the artist whom the Esmans admired and, indeed, these are qualities which have permeated many of the works in their collection. The couple bought the piece at an auction to benefit the Congress of Racial Equity in 1964, whose participation by the artist reflects his commitment to the power of art to create social change.
Photography also played an important role in the Esman collection. Many of these works will be offered as a section at Phillips' April 4th Photography auction and will include a major selection of avant-garde photographs from the 20s and 30s by Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko and Jaromír Funke, among others, along with contemporary photography by Sol Lewitt, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Vik Muniz.
Apples, Peaches, Pears and Grapes,
After Cezanne from Pictures of Magazines, 2003
Estimate $30,000 – 50,000
Cover Art: Ansel Adams
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941, estimate: $150,000 – 250,000
Learn more about this part of the sale are available here.
