“I think a good dealer is also a collector.”
—Rosa EsmanRosa and Aaron Esman assembled an outstanding collection of Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art over the course of their seventy-year marriage. The collection’s highlights mirror that of Rosa’s career as a gallerist and print publisher (which Aaron, a psychoanalyst, strongly supported), with interests in Modernism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, and American Pop Art taking center stage. Rosa got her start publishing artists’ print portfolios in the 1960s, including the New York Ten Portfolio, 1965, and Ten for Leo Castelli, 1967, which featured works by rising contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg, and helped pioneer the field of artist’s editions and multiples. Her eponymous gallery exhibited in Manhattan for over twenty years, and she was a founding partner of Ubu Gallery, which is still in operation today.
When asked about her wide artistic tastes in 2009, Rosa emphasized her love of drawing, “the quintessential bit of the art,” which can be seen across the collection, regardless of genre.
The pair bonded over gallery visits when dating in the early 1950s. While Aaron already had begun collecting by then, the first work they purchased together was a drawing by Miró, early in their marriage. Rosa recalled: ‘sometimes we look at something, and I say, “Oh, isn’t that marvelous?”’ and Aaron would respond, ‘It’s for us.’
Founded on lifelong love, the Collection of Rosa and Aaron Esman gives a unique vision of the art movements of the 20th century that shaped New York’s art scene.
Rosa Esman (Left) and Aaron Esman (Center) with Arman (Right) Literature
Jane Otmezguine and Marc Moreau 244
Catalogue Essay
Including: Brushing Aside; At the Point of the Knife; Sharp Art; and Squeezing the Tube
The accumulations are spontaneous castings in polyester resin. Small imperfections are a necessary by-product of the artist's expression.
Property from the Collection of Rosa and Aaron Esman
28
Paint Box (O. & M. 244)
1970
The set of two accumulations of artists' materials cast in polyester resin with one accompany stand, and two screenprints on Plexiglas, one offset lithograph, on Rives BFK paper, and one drypoint, on Arches paper, the full sheets and full margins, lacking the two additional smaller accumulations on one stand.
all approx. S. 15 3/8 x 19 1/8 in. (39.1 x 48.6 cm)
box closed 16 1/8 x 21 x 3 1/4 in. (41 x 53.3 x 8.3 cm)
The accumulations and prints on Plexi all incised with signature and numbering 'AP 1/10', the lithograph and drypoint both signed and numbered 'AP 1/10' in pencil (an artist's proof set, the edition was 125), published by Abrams Original Editions, New York (the prints with their blindstamp).
Estimate
$2,000 - 4,000
Sold for $4,445
Editions@phillips.com
212 940 1220
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 18 - 20 April 2023
