A LIFE IN ART: THE COLLECTION OF SHERRY AND JOEL MALLIN 1,000+ works, Together Constituting The Largest Private Collection of Contemporary Art Ever to Come to Auction
To be Offered at Sotheby’s

Assembled Over Decades of Passionate Engagement with the Art of Their Time The Collection Features Major Works by: Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober, Anselm Kiefer, Peter Doig, Robert Irwin, William Kentridge, George Condo, Yayoi Kusama, Juan Muñoz, Gerhard Richter, Sean Scully, Sol LeWitt, Cindy Sherman & Thomas Schütte And an Encyclopedic Survey of the YBAs

To be Offered in a Series of Sales Beginning in London in October and New York in November & featuring A Dedicated Sale of Monumental Sculpture in February 2023

“We bought what spoke to our hearts and our minds, we didn’t have an agenda.” Sherry and Joel Mallin

  “Defined by superlative quality, an uncompromising and fearless collecting vision, intellectual bravery, and generous artistic patronage, the Mallins’ collection showcases their steadfast pursuit of the works they loved and their equally steadfast loyalty to the artists they loved.” Alex Branczik, Chairman, Modern and Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s Asia

FULL SALE SCHEDULE:

Property from the Collection of Sherry and Joel Mallin will be offered in a series of sales throughout Fall 2022, followed by dedicated auctions in 2023, and beyond:
2022
Contemporary Evening Auction, London, 14 October 2022
Contemporary Day Auction, London, 15 October 2022
Prints and Multiples, 12 – 28 October 2022, New York
Contemporary Evening Auction, 16 November 2022, New York
Contemporary Day Auction, 17 November 2022, New York
Modern Day Auction, 15 November 2022, New York
Contemporary Discoveries, December 2022, New York

NEW YORK, 6 OCTOBER 2022 – Beloved by the artists and institutions they support, Sherry and Joel Mallin have, over the last three decades of their joint collecting careers, assembled a collection that is unique in breadth, vast in scope, and distinctly personal - a mirror to their curiosity, warmth and deep friendships within the art community. Though their collection spans all media, at its heart is a remarkable group of sculptures from their legendary Buckhorn Sculpture Park in Pound Ridge – a ‘Park’ that was never really intended as such but that quickly became - by popular demand – a must-see destination for visitors from far and wide.

Now, as the Mallins part with the 15-acre sculpture-filled grounds, the purpose-built 10,000 square foot ‘Art Barn’ and their magical home at Buckhorn Park, the hundreds of works that adorned its various spaces will be offered at Sotheby’s, together constituting the largest private collection of Contemporary art ever to come to auction. Estimated to realize in excess of $50m, works from the collection will be offered between October 2022 and late 2024, opening with a first offering of some 63 works to be sold in London this October, at the heart of which is an encyclopedic survey of the YBAs, of whom the Mallins were early and dedicated adopters. Among the various offerings between then and 2024 (see below for details), will be a landmark first-of-kind dedicated sale, in February 2023, of some 31 outdoor sculptures from Buckhorn Park. Featuring works by Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Anthony Gormley, William Kentridge, Richard Serra, Jaume Plensa and Joel Shapiro.

The vast majority of the 1,000+ treasures to be offered will be making their first ever appearance on the market, many having been acquired directly from the artists themselves, most of whom, in turn, are long-time friends of the Mallins.

Joel and Sherry first met at school when they were just 14 years old. From there they both went on to study at Cornell University, after which their lives took separate turns, with Sherry pursuing an independent life and career as an options trader and Joel making his mark as a tax lawyer at the IRS, before both moved independently into venture capital.

In parallel with this, Joel also developed a deep interest in surrealist art, assembling a celebrated collection, some 26 works from which were offered in a dedicated sale at Sotheby’s New York in May 1985. Among these were major works by Savaldor Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, René Magritte and, not least, Max Ernst, whose bronze Capricorn made a near $1m record for the artist at the time.

A number of works from this moment in Joel’s collecting career remain in the collection and will be offered at Sotheby’s over the coming months. Meanwhile, many of the Contemporary works in the collection also have a surrealist bent. Not least, those of Robert Gober, who is represented in the sale by over 20 works – together representing one of the most important collections of the artist’s work in private hands.

From the moment that Joel and Sherry were reunited in the 1980s, art became their life. As their relationship blossomed, art was central to their conversation: a work by Christo which hung in Joel’s home triggered conversations about the different things that might be happening within it, proving that art really is whatever you want to make of it. Together, they joined an art class where they made long-lasting friends with whom they would tour the New York galleries every week for the next 21 years.