“I had a bunch of very nice artists that I worked with that, you know, I couldn’t hold forth any particular one as being a favorite. I could talk about other artists in the art world whom I thought were particularly generous and warm and wonderful. I mean like Tom Wesselmann. He was a wonderful man, a very generous and warm person. So was Lichtenstein. They were kind of very authentic people. I also sort of really enjoyed Andy Warhol. I loved talking to him because he had such a kind of fey way of seeing the world.” —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 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 文學
see Mary Lee Corlett p. 27 (Lichtenstein); Wildenstein Plattner Institute P661 (Wesselmann)
Catalogue Essay
Including: Allan D'Arcangelo, Side-View Mirror; Jim Dine, Rainbow Faucet; Roy Lichtenstein, Sunrise; Claes Oldenburg, Baked Potato; Andy Warhol, Kiss; and Tom Wesselmann, Little Nude
Rosa及Aaron Esman伉儷收藏
31
《盒內七物》
1966年作
全套六件複製品，包括鍍鉻側視鏡、砂鑄鋁件、鋼上烤漆件、澆鑄樹脂件、有機玻璃絲網印刷品和真空成型有機玻璃件，存於原裝木盒連鋼印藝術家的姓名、頭銜和理由在蓋下，缺少George Segal
盒：21 1/4 x 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 英吋 (54 x 42.5 x 32.4 公分)
款識：簽名、日期（全部）Q（五版、蓋下）A（Wesselmann版）
尚有75版及25版A-Y藝術家試作版，由紐約Tanglewood Press出版。
估價
$25,000 - 35,000
成交價$29,210
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
