NEW YORK—Phillips will host its final Design auctions of the year December 12 with the Evening and Day Sales in New York. The auctions will present an opportunity for collectors of all levels and interests to acquire exceptional examples of 20th and 21st century design.
Click images for more auction information.
A Day Sale and Evening Sale comprise the Design auctions, offering over 100 lots, including the ceramic works of Viola Frey, Ettore Sottsass, Rudy Autio, Claudius Linossier, Young Sook Park, Jerry Rothman, David Gilhooly, Alberto Giacometti, Lucie Rie and Peter Voulkos, among many others.
Peter Voulkos, Rondena (alternate views), 1958 Stoneware, paddled and constructed wheel-thrown elements, brushed cobalt, iron, and white slips, epoxy, 62 x 37 3/4 x 32 1/2 inches
detail
Leading the Evening Sale is Voulkos’ monolithic Rondena (1958) from the collection of Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum.
“We are honored to have had the opportunity to work with the Sheinbaum estate in offering works from this highlight esteemed collection, including Peter Voulkos’ Rodena, a truly magnificent work that serves as a testament to the artist’s importance as well as the Sheinbaum’s enduring contributions to the field.” —Meghan Roddy, Phillips’ Senior Specialist, Design.
Rondena belongs to a small group of works that radically changed the concept of ceramics. With echoes of de Kooning’s women and Matisse’s cut-outs, these works are widely considered some of the best and most historically significant. Rondena is undoubtedly the most ambitious of the works from this series and it has remained in the Sheinbaum family collection since it was acquired by them in 1959, just a year after its creation.
Read: Tower of Power: Peter Voulkos’ ‘Rondena’ by Glenn Adamson
Lucie Rie, Oval bowl, c. 1970, Porcelain, manganese glaze, with circular impressed designs inlaid with glaze, 4 5/8 x 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Also highlighting the auctions are Austrian-born London-based studio potter Lucie Rie‘s footed and oval bowls. Rie, who initially started out making ceramic buttons and jewelry for the fashion industry in London, eventually hit her stride with the pitch-perfect footed bowls and flared vases for which she is best-known today. She worked in porcelain and stoneware, applying glaze directly to the unfired body and firing only once. She limited decoration to incised lines, subtle spirals and golden manganese lips, allowing the beauty of her thin-walled vessels to shine through. In contrast with the rustic pots of English ceramicist Bernard Leach, who is considered an heir to the Arts and Crafts movement, collectors and scholars revere Rie for creating pottery that was in dialogue with the design and architecture of European Modernism.
Lucie Rie, Footed Bowl, c. 1978, Porcelain, pink, turquoise, and golden manganese bands, 3 3/4 x 5 inches
Viola Frey’s large-scale sculpture World Civilization #1, is also featured. A figural representation of working class people, the sculpture is a nod to the artist’s upbringing on a California farm the second World War. Long considered an influential figure on the forefront of twentieth-century American ceramics, the work of Frey is held in over seventy institutions internationally including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others.
Viola Frey, World Civilization #1, 1987, Glazed ceramic, On base: 68 3/4 x 27 x 17 1/2 inches
detail
Seventeen of David Gilhooly’s funky figures have also been consigned from the Sheinbaum collection. A practitioner of the “Funk” movement within ceramics, Gilhooly used the medium as a means of political and social satire.
David Gilhooly, Group of seventeen sculptures, 1975-1990, Glazed earthenware, found objects. Dimensions variable
David Gilhooly, Group of seventeen sculptures, 1975-1990, Glazed earthenware, found objects. Dimensions variable
David Gilhooly, Group of seventeen sculptures, 1975-1990, Glazed earthenware, found objects. Dimensions variable
Auction Information:
Day Sale Auction
12 December 10am EST
450 Park Avenue, New York
Public Viewing
5 – 11 December
Monday – Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday 12pm-6pm
Evening Sale Auction
12 December 5pm EST
450 Park Avenue, New York
Public Viewing
5 – 11 December
Monday – Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday 12pm-6pm
Young Sook Park, “Moon Jar,” no. 14, 2007, Porcelain, white glaze, 24 x 21 5/8 inches
Jerry Rothman, Sculpture, from the “Naked Lily” series, c. 1969, Glazed stoneware, 43 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches
Claudius Linossier, Tall vase on stand, 1921, Hammered dinanderie, patinated bronze stand, 17 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches
Rudy Autio, Oracle of the Pale Horse, 1982, Glazed stoneware, 19 1/4 inches
Alberto Giacometti, Pair of candle holders, circa 1930, Terracotta, Dimensions variable
Ettore Sottsass, Small bottle, circa 1959, Glazed ceramic. 7 1/8 inches
Ettore Sottsass, Bowl, c. 1962, Glazed ceramic, 8.5 inches
Ettore Sottsass, Fruit bowl, model no. 197-B, c. 1959, Glazed ceramic, 5 x 12 inches
Ettore Sottsass, Vase, c. 1957, Glazed ceramic, 9 inches
Do you love or loathe this auction from the world of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments section below.
I think Phillips needs to re-evaluate what design is. Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey and many others being auctioned had nothing to do with design. Viola Frey studied painting with Rothko. She was a pioneer combining large scaled figurative sculptures with painting. Her works have meaning. Viola had a solo exhibition of her sculptures and paintings at the Whitney Museum in 1984. Peter Voulkos brought abstract expressionist ideas to 3-D clay forms. They were artists not designers.