NEW YORK, 26 June 2017 – Sotheby’s is honored to announce that we will offer The Collection of Edward Albee in a dedicated auction this September in New York. The full proceeds of the sale will benefit The Edward F. Albee Foundation, which provides residencies for writers and visual artists in Montauk, Long Island.

One of America’s most-treasured cultural figures, Edward Albee (1928–2016) was a keen observer of modern life in the United States whose piercing dialogue and constant experimentation helped reinvent and define post-war theater internationally. Beginning with The Zoo Story in 1958, the dozens of plays he wrote over the following five decades include such icons as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), A Delicate Balance (1966), Three Tall Women (1991), and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2000).

For many, Sotheby’s September auction will offer a new window into Edward Albee’s life and creative mind. Sourced from artists, friends and galleries over several decades, the majority of the 100+ works on offer adorned the walls of Albee’s Tribeca loft, which he rehung often to explore new artistic connections. In keeping with his constant experimentation as a playwright, the collection focuses on the birth and evolution of Abstraction in 20th century art, and a highly-personal intellectual pursuit of the ephemeral and the elusive – from a stunning figural work by Milton Avery, to a whimsical relief by Jean Arp, a Bauhaus work by Wassily Kandinsky, and a group of geometric abstractions by John McLaughlin.

Further details regarding the collection and sale, including public exhibition dates, will be shared in September