Sotheby’s is pleased to present the Vision of Aso O. Tavitian. An avid collector across a range of disciplines, Aso Tavitian’s collection will be offered in a series of four sales during Master’s Week New York in the beginning of February 2025. The extraordinary quality and outstanding breadth of the collection illuminates his identity as a collector, philanthropist and connoisseur.
As an indelible portrait of the American Dream, Aso O. Tavitian was a Cold War refugee who emigrated from Bulgaria to New York City where he started driving taxi cabs until he managed, through keen intellect and no lack of charm, to secure a scholarship to Columbia University and eventually earn a Master’s in Nuclear Physics. His studies were in-part paid for by his high school English teacher, an act of kindness that left a permanent mark on him and fueled his lifelong commitment to philanthropy. After great success in the software industry and pursuing numerous philanthropic endeavors, including supporting arts institutions in New York City and local artistic initiatives in the Berkshires, he established the Tavitian Foundation, which has made significant contributions to scientific, cultural, and religious institutions in Armenia, Artsakh, and the United States.
Aso Tavitian turned his eye towards the fine and decorative arts in earnest in the early 2000s. As a collector, he developed an exacting eye for quality as he built an incredible collection of Old Master Paintings, Sculpture and English Furniture. The sales include a selection of his Old Master Paintings & Sculpture alongside Mr. Tavitian’s extraordinary collection of English Furniture and Decorative Arts, this collection is a remarkable reincarnation of the connoisseur-philanthropist found in the Gilded Age of New York
