Sol LeWitt - Editions & Works on Paper New York Wednesday, June 21, 2023 | Phillips
  • “I think a good dealer is also a collector.”
    —Rosa Esman

    Rosa 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 edition publisher with the strong support of Aaron, a psychoanalyst and passionate collector, with interests in Modernism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, and American Pop Art taking center stage. Rosa began publishing portfolios of prints by contemporary artists in the 1960s. Editions such as the New York Ten Portfolio, 1965, Seven Objects In A Box, 1966, and Ten from Leo Castelli, 1968, which featured works by rising contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Rauschenberg, pioneered the field of artist’s editions. 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 Esman collection, regardless of genre.

     

    Art was one of several passions that Rosa and Aaron shared, even when they began dating in the early 1950s. In 1952, they bought their first artwork together, a drawing by Miró, initiating their shared pursuit of inspired collecting that would continue for the rest of their lives. Rosa recalled: “sometimes we look at something, and I say, ‘Oh, isn’t that marvelous?’ and Aaron would respond, ‘It’s for us.’” Founded in 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
    • Provenance

      Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
      Rosa and Aaron Esman, New York (acquired from the above, 2004)
      Thence by descent to the present owners

    • Literature

      Barbara Krakow Gallery 2004.07

    • Artist Biography

      Sol LeWitt

      American • 1928 - 2007

      Connected to the Conceptual and Minimalist art movements of the 1960s and '70s, the artist and theorist Sol LeWitt was a pivotal figure in driving 'idea' art into the mainstream art discourse. Redefining what constituted a work of art and its genesis, LeWitt explored these ideas through wall drawings, paintings, sculptures, works on paper and prints.

      Using a prescription to direct the creation of a work, the artist's hand subordinated to the artist's thoughts, in direct contrast to the Abstract Expressionist movement earlier in the century. Actions, forms and adjectives were broken down into terms, serially repeated and reconfigured: grids, lines, shapes, color, directions and starting points are several examples. These directives and constructs fueled an influential career of vast variety, subtlety and progression.

      View More Works

Property from the Collection of Rosa and Aaron Esman

38

Lot offered with No Reserve

A Sphere Lit from the Top, Four Sides, and all their Combinations (Composite) (K. 2004.07)

2004
Inkjet print, on Hahnemühle paper, with full margins.
I. 20 1/2 x 33 7/8 in. (52.1 x 86 cm)
S. 24 x 35 7/8 in. (61 x 96.2 cm)

Signed, dated and numbered 11/19 in pencil (there were also 6 artist's proofs), published by Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, unframed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$2,000 - 3,000 

Sold for $1,524

Contact Specialist

Editions@phillips.com
212 940 1220

Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 21 June 2023