NEW YORK, 10 May 2017 – Sotheby’s is honored to announce that we will present works from the private collection of Robert Motherwell and his wife, Renate Ponsold Motherwell, across our sales of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art this May in New York.

A collection that traces the development of Modern art as it evolved from Surrealism to post-war Abstract Expressionism, these works carry special significance having belonged to someone who actively participated in these circles and contributed to their legendary output. The personal collection of Robert Motherwell and Renate Ponsold Motherwell is a treasure trove that exemplifies the deep peer-to-peer relationships amongst the most significant pioneers of these artistic movements. Exceptional works by Max Ernst, Cy Twombly, Philip Guston and Robert Motherwell himself – among others – provide rare and tangible insight into a generation of painters and sculptors who helped shape the trajectory of art history in the 20th century.

Sotheby’s exhibitions of Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary Art are now open to the public in our York Avenue galleries.

ROBERT MOTHERWELL & RENATE PONSOLD MOTHERWELL
A noted photographer herself, Renate Ponsold moved from her native Germany to New York in the 1950s and immediately fell into step with the intelligentsia of the Greenwich Village and Cedar Tavern milieu that included Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and David Smith. With her sharp wit, infectious smile and intellectual prowess that could rival that of Clement Greenberg, Renate became an essential member of this famed artistic scene and attended its most exclusive events.

In 1959, at the launch party for Harold Rosenberg’s groundbreaking critique, Tradition of the New, Renate met Philip Guston who would remain a close friend until his death in 1980. Mark Rothko even accompanied Renate to a Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Renate first glimpsed her future husband, Robert Motherwell. But it wasn’t until October 18, 1971 that Renate was formally introduced to Motherwell at a cocktail party at publisher Charles Cowles’ apartment. The pair soon became inseparable, marrying on August 16, 1972. Renate joined Motherwell at his newly refurbished carriage house in Greenwich that featured multiple working studios for Robert – including one for Renate’s own photography.

IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING SALE
Auction 16 May
Max Ernst’s bronze Le Roi jouant avec la reine (estimate $4/6 million) was originally conceived in the summer of 1944, while Ernst and Dorothea Tanning were holidaying in Great River, Long Island. Ernst presented the plaster version to Motherwell, who was also staying nearby, as Motherwell recalled in a later biography: “Max Ernst made some haunting sculpture in white plaster, including The King Playing with the Queen. Angry at its general rejection, and moved by my admiration, he gave me The King … on the spot. I barely managed to get it into my little Nash convertible”*.

In 1953 Jean and Dominique de Menil arranged for the work to be cast in bronze by the Modern Art Foundry, and Ernst arranged for Motherwell to receive a bronze cast as an acknowledgement of his safekeeping of the plaster and in testament to the friendship between the two artists.

Conceived as part of a small group of sculptures, Le Roi jouant avec la reine – ‘The King playing with the queen’ – is one of Ernst’s most powerful and compelling plastic works, illustrating his visionary approach to the art form. The work’s power lays in the prominent contrast between the ominous, god-like King, who surfaces from the chessboard, and the miniature queen who sits within his embrace. A seasoned chess player himself, Ernst reimagined the game’s pieces as enlivened Surrealist figures. Evidently, the artist’s fascination with chess was rooted in more than a mere enjoyment of the game; rather, chess functioned metaphorically as an alternative reality, and served as vehicle through which Ernst could explore the Surrealist preoccupations that dominated his career.

IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART DAY SALE
Auction 17 May
The Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale will offer works from the collection by Surrealists Joan Miró, Jean Hélion and Wolfgang Paalen. The three European artists spent long periods of time in the 1930-40s in New York City producing works that would strongly influence the Abstract Expressionists. Motherwell, in particular, gravitated towards these modern masters including Wolfgang Paalen – whose work Untitled (estimate $7/9,000) was executed after the two spent several highly-productive months working together in Mexico. It was during this time that Paalen introduced Motherwell to the swelling ink-spots and ephemeral shapes which would forever impact his style. Joan Miró’s Sans titre (estimate $180/250,000) from 1929 abandons all subject matter employing the ‘automatic’ techniques of the Surrealist movement – another important precursor to the Abstract Expressionist movement. The work also hung next to Robert and Renate’s bed in their Greenwich, Connecticut home.

CONTEMPORARY ART DAY AUCTION
Auction 19 May
Our 19 May auction features works from the collection by Cy Twombly, Philip Guston and Robert Motherwell himself, which are accompanied by stories that offer incredible insight into their friendships with one another.