antiquesandartireland.com

Untitled, 1968 [New York City] – a seminal example of Cy Twombly’s  ‘Blackboard’ paintings  comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on November 11.  It is expected to realise more than $60 million.  The work is from the collection of Los Angeles philanthropist Audrey Irmas and sale proceeds will benefit The Audrey Irmas Foundation for Social Justice. The foundation supports causes including Wilshire Boulevard Temple, which will receive $30 million from the sale. The funds will launch the campaign for the Temple’s new building, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) led by Rem Koolhaas, and to be named The Audrey Irmas Pavilion. The building will be OMA’s first commission from a religious institution, and the firm’s first cultural building in California.

“It is always a pleasure to welcome spectacular works of art back to Sotheby’s” said  Anthony Grant, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, Americas. “We last offered the painting in 1990 as part of the Saatchi Collection. The brilliance of the artist’s gestural genius is on full display as the written form dissolves into a nuanced grey background. All of us who know and care about the arts in Los Angeles have benefited from the extraordinary generosity of Audrey Irmas and her late husband Sydney, and so we are thrilled to be offering this Twombly masterpiece to benefit such a wonderful cause.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2015 at 2:37 pm and is filed under ART, AUCTIONS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.