T his March, Sotheby’s is partnering with the Happy Childhood Foundation to run a Contemporary Art Auction, to raise money for the charity.
The sale will take place on 14 March, 2019 at the MIM Museum in Beirut, chaired by MIM’s President Mr. Salim Eddé and led by Sotheby’s Sotheby’s Senior Director, Contemporary Art, Martin Klosterfelde.
On sale will be 21 works of art by leading international and regional contemporary artists including Julian Schnabel, Jeff Elrod, Katherine Bernhardt, Brian Calvin, Raymond Pettibon, Michael Biberstein, Nadim Karam, Samia Halaby, Lara Baladi and many more.
In Lebanon, HCF has already provided support to thousands of children. All proceeds from this 2019 auction will contribute to support its children's rehabilitation programme at the Laetitia Hatem Rehabilitation Centre (LHRC) at Hotel Dieu de France hospital in Beirut. This center has fast become a center of rehabilitation excellence in the Middle East and in 2018 alone, it has provided ten thousand physical, occupational, and speech therapy sessions to almost two hundred children, with remarkable cases of recovered health, autonomy, dignity, and hope.
All works have been donated to the Happy Childhood Foundation through leading galleries in New York, Chicago, London, Brussels, Paris, and the Middle East region. This is the third auction of its kind the foundation has held.
Auctioneer and expert Martin Klosterfelde joined Sotheby’s as Senior Director and Senior Specialist in September 2016, bringing the Contemporary Art team in London the benefit of his extensive knowledge and experience.
Following a career which included two years with gallery owner Barbara Gladstone in New York, Klosterfelde founded his own gallery in Berlin in 1996: KLOSTERFELDE. Here he focused on pioneering new artists as well as more established names, exhibitions included solo shows for artists who now enjoy international acclaim including Hanne Darboven, Matt Mullican, John Bock, Christian Jankowski, Elmgreen & Dragset, Danh Võ and Lawrence Weiner.
In the summer of 2013, after 18 years and 104 exhibitions, Klosterfelde closed his gallery and became Director and International Art Specialist at Phillips, based in Berlin. In 2016, he trained as an auctioneer, and it is in this guise we will see him lifting the hammer on a variety of exciting new works.
Amira Rizk, member of the Board of HCF Lebanon, said of the 2019 sale: “We have expanded our network of partner galleries, namely Vito Schnabel, Xavier Hufkens, Almine Rech, and Lehmann Maupin galleries from the USA and Europe, and Tanit and Mashrabia galleries from the Middle East, all of which were carefully selected among the best worldwide. We are overwhelmed by the support of so many individuals and organisations, with generous hearts and compassion. Their support and generosity allow us to reach our objectives and share the joy of bringing happiness to so many underprivileged children."
