Over the course of the last century, a small number of individuals have played a vital role in shaping the unfolding story of 20th-century art. Emily Fisher Landau was a key member of this group: her deep and longstanding involvement with leading institutions; her profound engagement with the art of her time; and her unerring instinct as a collector at the highest level, all combining in one of the greatest patrons of ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Emily Fisher Landau was deeply involved with leading institutions and the art of her time.

Emily Fisher Landau

For a brief period in the 1950s and ’60s, a three-block area at the southeastern edge of Manhattan hosted a community of artists whose work there would change art history, included among those were Agnes Martin, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Ellsworth Kelly.

In the 1950s and ’60s, a small area of Manhattan hosted a community of history-defining artists.

The Artists of the Coenties Slip

Jasper Johns deconstructed boundaries between fine art and everyday life, laying the foundation for Pop Art’s embrace of commodity culture. Andy Warhol accelerated this movement, mass-silkscreening the objects of mass-production themselves, while Ed Ruscha took as his subject everyday language and advertisements.

Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Ed Ruscha helped establish Pop Art’s embrace of commodity culture.

Titans of Pop

Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg, both represented in The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, met as students in New York in the early 1950s, and had a profound influence on each others’ work for many years.&nbsp;

Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg had a profound influence on each others’ work.&nbsp;

Twombly and Rauschenberg

An affinity for word paintings drew Emily Fischer Landau to Ed Ruscha, then to Richard Prince and Glenn Ligon – artists who expand the subject of semiotics to new conceptual heights. Politically charged and culturally witty, these postmodern artists seem never at a loss for words as they challenge the very meaning of language and voice via the painterly mode of abstraction.

Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince, and Glenn Ligon expand the subject of semiotics to new conceptual heights.

Language | Abstraction

Attesting to the pivotal moment when a new generation shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York in pursuit of new forms of artistic expression, these artists represent a call and response of influences and innovations that echoes across the Atlantic. Together, this group of artworks compellingly illustrates the narrative of post-war expression, charting the course of art history—from figuration through abstraction and back again.

A generational and artistic shift moved the center of the art world from Paris to New York.

Post-War Across the Atlantic

A tour de force of Picasso’s famed 1932 production and one of the finest examples of his portraiture ever created, Femme à la montre is a monumental paean to Picasso’s impassioned affair with his lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter.

Pablo Picasso’s 1932 masterpiece comes to auction for the first time.

 Femme à la montre

New York

EVP | Chairman, Americas

Lisa Dennison

EVP | Chairman, Contemporary Art

Grégoire Billault

SVP | Vice Chairman, Global Fine Arts

Simon Shaw

SVP | Head of Contemporary Art, Co-Head of Marquee Sales, Americas

David Galperin

Vice Chairman, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art

Julian Dawes

VP | Senior Specialist, Head of Modern Evening Auction

Allegra Bettini

AVP | Specialist, Contemporary, The Now Evening Auctions

Specialist | Deputy Director

Kelsey Macpherson

Cataloguer, Contemporary, The Now Evening Auctions

Serena Hildebrandt

AVP | Specialist, Modern Evening Auction

Sara Land

Meet our Specialists

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The result of decades of inquiry and curiosity, the Emily Fisher Landau Collection is synonymous with connoisseurship and quality, and also speaks to Mrs. Fisher Landau’s voracious and instinctive approach to collecting. Presented as two standalone auctions during Sotheby's Marquee sale season in New York, The Emily Fisher Landau Collection traces the greatest achievements of art in the past century. The dedicated Evening Auction is led by superb examples from the greatest artists of the 20th century, highlighted by Pablo Picasso's Femme à la montre, Ed Ruscha's Securing the Last Letter (Boss), Jasper Johns' Flags, and Mark Rothko's Untitled, as well as exceptional examples by Andy Warhol, Mark Tansey, Robert Rauschenberg, and Glenn Ligon.

The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Evening Auction