T his Fall, Sotheby’s is proud to present The Collection of Geraldine and Harold Alden, an extraordinary selection of Modern and Contemporary Art. Assembled by Geraldine and Harold Alden with care and connoisseurship over decades, this Collection tells the story of a lifetime of collecting by a visionary couple: a pair who trusted their instinct and discerning eye to assemble a remarkable collection of 20th Century paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
The Alden Collection also tells the story of art over the last 100 years, serving as a thrilling microcosm for the greatest artistic movements across that span. Within the artworks of The Alden Collection, we see the dynamic interplay between figuration and abstraction in the work of Post-War masters Jean Dubuffet and Wassily Kandinsky, and the development towards pure abstraction in the work of such Abstract Expressionist pioneers as Franz Kline and Hans Hofmann. This exploration of abstraction is continued in the groundbreaking sculptures of artists Isamu Noguchi, Louise Bourgeois, and David Smith, while key masterworks from Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann reveal the development of Pop Art in America. United by a shared emphasis upon vibrant color and immediate aesthetic beauty, yet highly varied in media, scale and date, the artworks of this Collection are a testament to the Alden’s deft ability in creating dialogues across artists, movements, and even continents of the last century.
To be offered in Sotheby’s sales across Modern and Contemporary art this fall, The Alden Collection will be led by a singular work, Dubuffet’s richly rendered Sourire (Tête hilare II), in our October 2022 Contemporary Evening Auction in London, followed by a selection of 6 works in our November 2022 Contemporary Evening Auction in New York. This second curated grouping will feature Lichtenstein’s Pop masterwork Modern Painting with Small Bolt, alongside highlights by Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline, and more. A curated selection of artworks, including Adolph Gottlieb’s Deep Over Pale and Tom Wesselman’s Great American Nude, No. 43, will be offered in our November 2022 Contemporary Day Auction, with additional works in our December 2022 Discoveries Online auctions.
