S otheby’s is delighted to present Crafting Modernism: Masters of the American Studio Design Movement from the Pinnacle Art Collection, a dedicated auction in New York on June 10th. A celebration of modern American design, this seminal sale event brings together exceptional examples of American Craft spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, commencing with examples from the first quarter of the century by Greene & Greene and Charles Rohlfs, to quintessential works of the postwar and contemporary eras by Wharton Esherick, George Nakashima, Wendell Castle, Paul Evans, Harry Bertoia, Judy McKie, Frank Gehry and Johnny Swing, among others. Assembled by a pioneering collector over several decades, the collection embodies the passion and commitment of its patron for the artists and makers who shaped the landscape of American Studio Design over the last century. The masterworks comprising this comprehensive presentation, the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to this movement, represent some of the most significant innovations in craft, oftentimes further enhanced by historic and storied provenance. Crafting Modernism will be on view at Sotheby’s New York galleries from June 3 – 9.
What does the very best in modern American craft look like? The present auction, drawn from the Pinnacle Collection of Mount Dora, Florida, gives you the answer. You will never see a greater assembly of studio furniture. Gathered here are some of the most important works of the three most influential makers in that discipline’s history: Wharton Esherick, who came before them all, charting a previously unknown territory where sculpture and furniture meet; Wendell Castle, who, directly inspired by Esherick, became the most consistently inventive maker furniture has ever known; and George Nakashima, who incarnated the idea of craft as a serene, spiritual pursuit. This extraordinary triumvirate is accompanied by other, equal talents, traversing the whole of the twentieth century. This is, quite simply, as good as modern craft gets. Read more here.
