“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 and Aaron Esman, Madrid, 1963 來源
紐約Leo Castelli畫廊（1963年）
巴爾的摩美術館出租畫廊
洛杉磯Everett Ellin畫廊
紐約Rosa及Aaron Esman伉儷收藏
現藏者繼承自上述來源Catalogue Essay
In the late 1950s Kline collaborated with the poet Frank O'Hara for their contribution to the 21 Etchings and Poems portfolio, a project which looked back to the tradition of illustrated works such as the Book of Kells and William Blake's illuminated poems, integrating text and image. The poem was written by the hand of O'Hara onto the copperplate, meaning he had to master the skill of writing backwards in a mirror. The current work integrates the words of O'Hara with Kline's iconic Abstract Expressionist composition.
Rosa及Aaron Esman伉儷收藏
8
《我將永遠愛你–來自「21幅蝕刻版畫和詩歌」》
1957-1960年作
蝕刻版畫 幼點腐蝕 Rives BFK 紙本（全包邊）
圖像：8 1/4 x 14 7/16 英吋 (21 x 36.7 公分)
紙本：17 x 19 7/8 英吋 (43.2 x 50.5 公分)
款識：簽名、Artist's Proof.
尚有50版及12版藝術家試作版，由紐約Morris畫廊出版及布魯克林Anderson-Lamb畫廊印刷，此作已裱。
估價
$10,000 - 15,000
成交價$7,620
Editions@phillips.com
212 940 1220
限量版畫及紙本作品
紐約拍賣 2023年4月18至20日
