“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
紐約州Universal Limited Art Editions畫廊
紐約Castelli Graphics畫廊
紐約Rosa及Aaron Esman伉儷收藏（1976年購自上述來源）
現藏者繼承自上述來源文學
Universal Limited Art Editions 166
Esther Sparks 116藝術家簡介
賈斯培．瓊斯
American • 1930
Jasper Johns is a painter and printmaker who holds a foundational place in twentieth century art history. Quoting the evocative gestural brushstroke of the Abstract Expressionists, Johns represented common objects such as flags, targets, masks, maps and numbers: He sought to explore things "seen and not looked at, not examined" in pictorial form. Drawing from common commercial and 'readymade' objects, such as newspaper clippings, Ballantine Ale and Savarin Coffee cans, Johns was a bridge to Pop, Dada and Conceptual art movements.
Beyond the historical significance, each work by Johns is individually considered in sensuous form. A curiosity of medium led him to employ a range of materials from encaustic and commercial house paint to lithography, intaglio and lead relief.
Rosa及Aaron Esman伉儷收藏
24
《香味 (ULAE 166, S. 116)》
1975-1976年作
石版畫 直刻版畫 木刻版畫 Twinrocker紙本附「Scent」水印（全包邊）
圖像：25 x 42 3/4 英吋 (63.5 x 108.6 公分)
紙本：31 1/4 x 47 英吋 (79.4 x 119.4 公分)
款識：簽名、日期、14/42（畫背）
鈴印：紐約州Universal Limited Art Editions畫廊
尚有7版藝術家試作版，由紐約州Universal Limited Art Editions畫廊出版，此為已裱。
估價
$40,000 - 60,000
成交價$76,200
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
