S otheby’s is pleased to present a new installment of Contemporary Discoveries at The Breuer, held at the company’s iconic global headquarters at 945 Madison Avenue. Spanning the 1950s to the present day, the sale brings together an engaging selection of paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs, showcasing works by both established and emerging artists.
Highlights of the auction include important works by Etel Adnan, George Condo, Elaine de Kooning, Chamberlain, and Alex Katz, alongside Property from the Walker Art Center, Sold to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund; Reinventing the Old Masters: Manolo Valdés Portraits from a Distinguished Private Collection; A Contemporary Vision: Property from an Important Private Collection; and A Learning Ecosystem: Property to Benefit LA ESCUELA___.
Sotheby’s is honored to present the collection of Robert “Bob” Monk as the highlight of our Contemporary Discoveries season. Over the course of his four-decade-long career, Monk moved through nearly every corner of the art market, from his early years at Castelli Gallery to his tenure as head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s and, ultimately, as a senior director at Gagosian. Deeply passionate, personable, and generous with his time and knowledge, Monk formed lasting relationships with many of the most important artists of his generation. His collection, featuring works by Ed Ruscha, Richard Artschwager, Andy Warhol, Bruce Nauman, Jasper Johns, and Cecily Brown, is a remarkable reflection of his discerning eye and profound appreciation for art, bringing together works of exceptional quality and character that speak to the depth of his professional and personal engagement with the art world.
Read LessSince the late 1960s, Manolo Valdés has primarily worked in referential series, continuously iterating upon major works within the art historical canon and placing them in new material and visual contexts. Together, Reinventing the Old Masters: Manolo Valdés Portraits from a Distinguished Private Collection showcases his ability to recontextualize a familiar, well-known and carefully studied image into a study in form and economy of line. By reducing the most identifiable features of his source materials to their essential forms, Valdés embraces tensions between recognition and de-identification, raising new questions about the omnipresence of these masterpieces, and securing his own place within a centuries-long lineage of great artists.
LA ESCUELA___ is an artist-run foundation that facilitates experiential, collective art education and research across Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas. This sale brings together works by artists whose practices have not only been central to LA ESCUELA___’s intellectual, pedagogical, and collaborative ecosystem but have also shaped the wider course of contemporary Latin American art. Reflecting the platform’s pioneering approach to artistic inquiry, the selection offers exceptional works by leading and emerging voices across the region.
Since its founding, the Walker Art Center has played a pioneering role in shaping the discourse around contemporary artistic practice, building a collection renowned for its depth, rigor, and international significance. The works presented in this sale reflect the institution’s thoughtful approach to collecting and its longstanding commitment to supporting artists whose contributions have defined and challenged the course of art history. We are delighted to present this exceptional group, which offers collectors the rare opportunity to engage with works that have been part of the collection of a museum celebrated for its vision, scholarship, and enduring impact on the cultural landscape.
Borrowed from Lou Reed’s lyrics for a song by The Velvet Underground, the title invokes that “between thought and expression lies a lifetime.” Amassed over the last five decades, The Rosen Collection is a powerful testament to one collector’s aesthetic intuition, endless curiosity, and personal commitment to championing artists and galleries. Characterized by its incredible breadth and depth, the collection embraces diverse themes within Contemporary Art, from figuration and gesture to geometry and wordplay and many, many more.
![View 1 of Lot 1233: Año 2173, y aquí… [It’s 2173, and here…] (No hay museos solo espacio comunales) (i) & Año 2173, y aquí… [It’s 2173, and here…] (En Abya Yala el territorio solo lo dividen los ríos) (ii): Two Works](https://sothebys-com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/34249c2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1518+0+0/resize/330x250!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2Fwebnative%2Fimages%2F74%2Ffa%2F3be1d5e14003816ed733b830ff41%2Fn12255-dqqbv-cs-02-group.jpg)
