NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces the sale of property from the estate of one of the most renowned and influential art collectors and dealers of the 20th Century, Eugene V. Thaw. A dedicated Collection sale of fine and decorative art will take place on October 30 in New York, during Christie’s Classic Week series of sales, and various individual highlights will be offered across Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, American Art and Prints and Multiples sales in London and NY. The Estate’s sale proceeds will benefit the Eugene V. and Clare Thaw Charitable Trust, which supports the arts, the environment and animal welfare. In total, the Collection is comprised of more than 200 lots and is expected to exceed $10 million.

Noël Annesley, Christie’s Honorary Chairman, UK, comments, “Christie’s is honored to be entrusted with the sale of the Collection of one of the most influential Americans to shape the art world in the Post-War era. Gene Thaw was a renowned polymath and he and Clare’s wide-ranging collecting represents his knowledge and love of art, and unerring eye for quality.”

Jessica Fertig, Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, and Ana Maria Celis, Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, state, “It is a privilege to offer works from the Thaw collection across our November Impressionist and Modern and Post War and Contemporary art sales. They represent a collector who had an eye for exceptional works of art and left an indelible mark on the art world.”

The dedicated Collection sale on October 30 will offer English Neo-Gothic and Georgian furniture, Old Master, 19th Century and American Art, Renaissance bronzes, porcelain, books, Antiquities and decorative arts. Across the Collection, artists include Joseph Cornell, Paul Cézanne, Salvador Dalí, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Lee Krasner, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jackson Pollock, among others.

EUGENE V. THAW (American, 1927-2018)
In 1950, at age twenty-three, Eugene V. Thaw opened his gallery above the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street and moved to Madison Avenue in 1954. Among his career achievements, he co-wrote the catalogue raisonné of Jackson Pollock’s work, he was a founding member of Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), serving as president from 1970 to 1972, and he was an active board member of several cultural and educational institutions throughout the world. He received the Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund in 2003 in appreciation of his effort in advancing the preservation of world art and architecture.

As a dealer, Thaw advised some of the most important collectors of the 20th Century, such as Paul Mellon and Norton Simon, as well as major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the National Gallery in Washington. Under his advice, David Rockefeller formed a syndicate in 1968 with six prominent collectors to purchase the Gertrude and Leo Stein Collection, which Thaw appraised. Picasso’s Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, which sold for $115 million in May 2018 from The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, was among the works from the Stein collection.

Though he dealt primarily in European art – from Old Masters to Modern – his personal collection encompassed multiple categories, including Old Master Drawings, 19th Century oil sketches, Native American Art, ancient Eurasian bronzes, medieval works of art, and architectural models – much of which was donated to various museums throughout his and Clare’s lifetime. Thaw’s philanthropy is perhaps best remembered in relation to the Morgan Library & Museum. Beginning in 1968, he made the first donation of Old Master and Modern drawings, ultimately donating over 400 works by 2017. In addition, the Thaws also underwrote the position of the Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings and Prints; made a $10 million gift to for a new conservation center and its endowment; and funded the Clare Eddy Thaw gallery all at the Morgan Library.