S otheby’s is pleased to present a new installment of Contemporary Discoveries, marking the inaugural edition of the cross-category auction series to be held at The Breuer, the company’s iconic new global headquarters at 945 Madison Avenue. The sale brings together paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs spanning the 1950s to today, featuring works by both established and emerging artists alike.
Contemporary Discoveries is thrilled to present an exciting selection of works by some of the most significant artistic voices of the last century. This season’s sale showcases exceptional works by defining figures of the post‑war period, including Paul Feeley, Sam Francis and Roy Lichtenstein, alongside a compelling selection created by notable living artists whose practices continue to shape the current artistic landscape, including Dana Schutz, Wade Guyton and Hayley Barker.
Sotheby’s is honored to announce In Sharp Focus: Photorealism from a Distinguished Private Collection, a single-owner sequence of 17 works to be offered in Contemporary Discoveries. The collection, assembled with care and passion over the course of several decades, features many of the most celebrated voices of the Photorealism movement like Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Audrey Flack and Robert Cottingham as well as other important practitioners of the style who rarely appear at auction, like Idelle Weber, Fran Bull, Raphaella Spence, and Don Jacot.
Central to the Photorealism movement is Charles Bell’s observation that “the lens-eye view of the world pervades our everyday lives” and is “the premiere idiom in [the 20th century] for communicating visually.” The works of In Sharp Focus explore the tension and gap between our own binocular vision and the vision of cameras and lenses. From the crispness of Roberto Bernardi’s glass vessels to the blurred faces of Ron Kleemann’s figures, these works are both strange in familiar in the way they capture photographic reality.
Explore a dynamic selection of Conceptual and text-based artworks, united by the primacy of idea over image. From Ed Ruscha’s signature wordplay to Chrstain Marclay's concept-driven video montage, these works foreground reading, reflection and interpretive engagement as central modes of perception.
“Being an artist now means to question the nature of art. If one is questioning the nature of painting, one cannot be questioning the nature of art… That’s because the word ‘art’ is general and the word ‘painting’ is specific. Painting is a kind of art. If you make paintings you are already accepting (not questioning) the nature of art.”
From the measured rhythms of Gene Davis’ color fields to Jana Schröder’s luminous coiling brushstrokes, this selection showcases the enduring vitality of abstraction from the postwar era to today.
Challenging conventions and expanding the possibilities of expression, female artists take center stage in this season’s Contemporary Discoveries auction.
![View 1 of Lot 472: ‘Titled (Art as Idea as Idea)’ [ideo]](https://sothebys-com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3cde842/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1997x2000+0+0/resize/330x330!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2Fwebnative%2Fimages%2F85%2F43%2F55f44c6c4b06b421e214e63c7146%2Fn12062-bx66q-t2-02.jpg)
![View 1 of Lot 471: i. Iže; ii. Mutabor [Two Works]](https://sothebys-com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7f37b31/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x783+0+0/resize/330x129!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2Fwebnative%2Fimages%2F9f%2F90%2Fec49493d4e5e8af0aff9e55b099e%2Fn12062-dfwm5-t2-02-a-group.jpg)
