NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s and Miss Porter’s School unveiled the full sale contents of By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women – the first-ever all-women artist benefit auction at a major auction house, which will precede the bi-annual Contemporary Curated sale on 1 March in New York.

Over the course of several months, 40 pieces by 38 pioneering women artists have been donated to create this distinct offering of modern and contemporary works, with full proceeds to support financial aid that enables emerging female leaders to attend Miss Porter’s School and go on to shape a changing world.

Presented alongside the live auction on 1 March, additional works from By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women will be offered as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Online auction, open for bidding from 22 February – 7 March. All 40 works will be on view in Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning 22 February, alongside the Contemporary Curated and Contemporary Art Online auctions.

Agnes Gund and Oprah Winfrey, longtime supporters of Miss Porter’s School, will serve as Honorary Co-Chairs for the sale. A Miss Porter’s alumna, Agnes Gund ‘56 is one of the most important patrons of the arts in America and exemplary in her support of women artists. Winfrey is a strong believer in the power of youth education and is the founder of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) in South Africa. The OWLAG Board is chaired by Miss Porter’s Head of School, Dr. Katherine Windsor.

Chair Jill Spalding ’56, Artist Vice-Chair Jenny Holzer, and Vice-Chair Adam Sheffer of Pace Gallery will lead the auction initiative. Chrishaunda Lee Perez ’94, Miss Porter’s Trustee Dr. Sunnie Evers ’71, and Miss Porter’s Art History Instructor Dr. Anna Swinbourne will serve as Event Co-Chairs, as part of the ongoing celebration commemorating the school's 175th anniversary in 2018.

Honorary Co-Chair Agnes Gund said: “Social and racial diversity is imperative in raising the next generations of female leaders. Having an all-women artist benefit auction was a natural extension. In school and college and in graduate school, my most important mentors, many of them women, nourished my love of art and my love of helping others. I have been so fortunate to be able to collect and enjoy the work of painters and sculptors, print-makers and photographers. As more women assume leadership roles, as head curators and museum directors, the more this will change. And a school like Miss Porter’s, incubating future generations of leaders coming from all backgrounds, will be instrumental in helping to shape the future for women in key leadership positions in all fields.”

Fellow Co-Chair Oprah Winfrey added: “It’s more important than ever for women to own their individual power and to have a sense of what their identity means to the collective whole. With this special auction, we want the world to focus on the extraordinary work of women artists and we want collectors to honor the work of women artists and feature them prominently in their collections as I have.”

Head of School, Dr. Katherine Windsor, remarked: “By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women is an example of Miss Porter’s School living its mission statement. By shining a light on the inequities women experience in the art world and by bringing together prominent women in the arts, Agnes Gund MPS ’56, Oprah Winfrey and partnering with Sotheby’s, we are setting an example for others to follow as we seek to remedy the inequities women experience in the art world. We are leveraging our “all-girls” network on behalf of the young women at Miss Porter’s today and the generations to follow.”

Saara Pritchard, Senior Specialist in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Department in New York, commented: “We are honored to work alongside Miss Porter’s School, Ms. Gund and Ms. Winfrey to raise awareness for this increasingly important initiative. In addition, the generosity of the participating artists, estates, collectors and galleries that have all played an integral role in helping to bring the auction to life can’t be overstated. The sale arrives during a particularly exciting time in the market for works by female artists, as illustrated by the new artist records for Jenny Saville and Dana Schutz this past fall, and the recent outstanding results for The Female Triumphant during our Masters Week sales just a few weeks ago. It is with this tremendous momentum that we look forward to presenting By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women.”

LIVE AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
The 1 March sale is led by a paragon of Carmen Herrera’s reductionist artistic ethos, Blanco y Verde from 1966-67 – the most important work by the artist ever to appear at auction (estimate $1.5/2 million). A concise arrangement of shapes, encompassing three green triangles in a white field, the present work’s economy of form and minimalist tranquility emits a palpable visual energy and dynamism, derived from Herrera’s expert use of color, line, perspective and shape. Capturing her fundamental contributions to the development of minimalist abstraction, Blanco y Verde underscores Herrera’s role as a true innovator and pioneer in art history, as well as the great intellectual, emotional and aesthetic joy found in the simplest of forms. From her breakthrough series of the same name, the painting was recently exhibited in a retrospective of her work, Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and has been donated to the upcoming sale by Ms. Gund.

Donated to the sale by the Artist Vice-Chair, Selection from Survival: Men Don’t Protect..., Jenny Holzer’s provocative marble bench from 2006, illustrates the compelling visual vocabulary that has distinguished her body of work for more than four decades (estimate $50/70,000). A pioneering conceptual artist, Holzer has presented her social and political views in varied text exhibited in public places and international exhibitions, including 7 World Trade Center, Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1990, she became the first woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale and to receive the prestigious Leone d’Oro.

On offer directly from the artist’s archives, Pat Steir’s vibrant Blue and Red Waterfall is another highlight from the sale (estimate $120/180,000). Executed in 1994 at the height of her renowned Waterfall series, the present work is distinguished by its vibrant blue and red color palette – a rare pairing in Steir’s depictions of the natural subject. The artist’s deconstructive approach to the painted image has long focused on charged icons of allegorical painting, such as the rose, but in 1985, Steir turned her attention to another shorthand for natural beauty: the waterfall. This shift in content witnessed a simultaneous breakthrough in method and style, as she began to fling and pour paint onto the canvas. This forceful incorporation of gesture brought the artist’s practice into a close and multifaceted relationship with the represented object.

Roni Horn’s Hack Wit— life is candy, v. 3, an engrossing work on paper from 2014-15, demonstrates her deftness across multiple mediums, using installations, sculptures, drawings, writings and photography to produce a variety of artworks, which revolve around literature, humans and their environment, and the nature of mutability (estimate $70/90,000). Horn often traveled and explored Iceland and is fascinated by its geological conditions. Her visits have been highly influential and provide a source of inspiration for her artmaking, especially her well-known cast glass sculptures and installations. Intrigued by the sun and nature’s transformative essence, Iceland’s environment and landscape became part of the artworks, the cast- glass sculptures and installations reflecting the essential idea of mutability that Horn often conveys through her creations. Her works are included in major collections around the world, and she has been the subject of major solo retrospectives at the Tate Modern and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.

Executed in 2018, Cecily Brown’s Beach Blanket Babylon is a dazzling work on paper that illustrates the sensual, powerful and provocative nature of her work (estimate $50/70,000). Brown’s expressionist pieces embrace both abstract and representational depictions of figures and nudes, her imagery filled with vibrant colors and swirling brushstrokes, often exploring themes such as sexuality and attraction with the tactility of her work allowing her to enhance such concepts. The assertiveness of her paintings are often compared to other Abstract Expressionist works, which are often associated with fierce masculinity. Her work can be found in numerous distinguished institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Tate Britain, and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In addition, Brown has been the subject of many solo exhibitions and has a forthcoming show planned for the Thomas Gallery of Art in Naples, Italy.

From the artist’s celebrated The Kitchen Table Series, Carrie Mae Weems’ Untitled archival pigment print from 1990-2018 captures the essence of the award-winning photographs for which she is widely celebrated (estimate $50/70,000). Working across an extensive range of mediums, Weems, who became the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, challenges the roles of people of color and women within established social systems, while exploring the intricacies of storytelling through a powerful combination of image and text. Her photo series deeply resonate with individuals of all backgrounds, as they address the trauma of America’s past through not only a critical lens, but also, one of beauty and strength. Weems has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the prestigious Prix de Rome, National Medal of Arts, MacArthur Fellowship, W.E.B DuBois Award from Harvard University and was named the Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow.