New York – Alchemy, a sensational work by Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) leads Bonhams' Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on November 16 in New York. A highlight of 20th/21st Century Week, the painting is estimated at $2-3 million.
Helen Frankenthaler, one of the great American artists of the twentieth century, was eminent among the second generation of American Abstract Expressionist painters. A pioneer of the soak-stain technique, Frankenthaler expanded the possibilities of abstract painting and ushered in a wave of painters who redefined the male-dominated AbEx movement of the era.
The November sale features an array of crucial artists of the genre who had been previously overlooked within the art historical canon. Clarissa's World (1974) by Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) is included with an estimate of $200,000-300,000. A stunning painting by a founder of the movement, Norman Lewis (1909-1979), Untitled (1955-1978), is estimated at $700,000 – 1,000,000. Abstraction (Carmine Street) (1949) by Elaine De Kooning (1918-1989) estimated at $80,000 – 120,000, and a vibrant gouache by Lynne Drexler (1928-1999), Untitled (1960), featuring her iconic patchwork motif is estimated at $40,000 – 60,000.
Also featured in the sale are three 1970s works by landmark postwar artist Ed Ruscha (b. 1937), the subject of a retrospective currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The works are offered through a single owner collection and include a wide range of materials for which the multidisciplinary artist is known. Various Plastics (1979), an expansive oil painting, is estimated at $600,000 – 800,000. Adults (1971), made using gunpowder and pastel, is estimated at $300,000 – 500,000, and Suspended Sheet with Vaseline Stain (1973), a drawing using petroleum jelly as well as gunpowder, is estimated at $180,000 – 250,000.
Other highlights offered in Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary sale in New York include:
• Sobre Cézanne by Fernando Botero (1932-2023), estimated at $800,000 – $1,200,000.
• A sculpture, Bomb (1967) by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), estimated at $600,000 – $800,000.
• Santa Cruz (1962), by Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), estimated at $450,000 – $650,000.
• Tambos (1993) by Tomás Sánchez (b. 1948), estimated at $400,000 – $600,000.
• Country Layup (1979), by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009), estimated at $350,000 – $550,000.
• Untitled (circa 1950), by Franz Kline (1910-1962), estimated at $350,000 – $550,000.
• Sanna in Umeå (2014), by Juame Plensa (b. 1955), estimated at $300,000 – $500,000.