NEW YORK, NY.- This fall, Christie’s will present Works by Robert Motherwell from the Dedalus Foundation, consisting of over 60 works by Robert Motherwell, including paintings, prints and works on paper. Founded by the artist in 1981, the Dedalus Foundation is devoted to preserving Motherwell’s artistic legacy and his archives, and has continued to support individuals and institutions through grants and programmatic initiatives. In this two-part sale, Christie’s will present a career-spanning selection of works from the Dedalus Foundation’s holdings, offering a unique opportunity to own a part of Motherwell’s legacy and the Dedalus Foundation’s history. The collection will be sold across the live Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 7 October, 2020, at Christie’s New York, and Robert Motherwell Prints from the Dedalus Foundation, a dedicated online-only sale of Prints by the artist, which will be open for bidding 22 September – 8 October, 2020. All proceeds from the sales will benefit the Dedalus Foundation, a private nonprofit operating foundation.

Jonathan Rendell, Deputy Chairman, Christie’s, remarked: “It is an enormous privilege to work with the Dedalus Foundation to further their mission by presenting this retrospective of Robert Motherwell’s work in both the live and online sales at Christie’s this October. We hope that this exceptional grouping of works will engage both established collectors and claim a new audience for the artist.”

Jack Flam, President and CEO, Dedalus Foundation, stated: "The Dedalus Foundation is pleased to be working with Christie’s to present a select body of work by its founder, Robert Motherwell. He created the Dedalus Foundation to ensure that things which greatly mattered to him – such as Modernism, visual literacy, arts education, scholarship, and the stewardship of his work – would continue beyond his lifetime. In his works, Motherwell showed how profound and varied the vocabulary of modern painting could be, and he did so with great vitality and integrity.”




Additional Highlights

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Untitled, oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas, 1968, 69 x 51 in. Estimate: $400,000-600,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Open No. 147: Blue on Beige, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 1970, 12 x 16 in. Estimate: $80,000-120,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Automatic Image No. 6, oil on paper, 1963, 29 x 23 in. Estimate: $100,000-150,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, The Red Queen (PCR 476), aquatint and etching, on Whatman paper, 1989. Image: 23⅝ x 17¾ in. (600 x 451 mm.) Sheet: 31 x 25 in. (787 x 635 mm.) Estimate: $10,000-15,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Elegy Sketch, State 1 (PCR 492), lithograph on white Arches Cover mould-made paper, 1990. Sheet: 37 x 51⅝ in. (940 x 1311 mm.) Estimate: $10,000-15,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Octavio Paz Suite the complete set of 27 lithographs in colors, on Japon chine appliqué to Arches paper, 1988. Overall: 33⅛ x 27½ x 1⅝ in. (841 x 699 x 41 mm.) Estimate: $20,000-30,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Samurai, lithograph, on Suzuki handmade paper, 1971. Sheet: 73⅜ x 37¼ in. (1864 x 946 mm.) Estimate: $4,000-6,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, London Series I: one print, screenprint in blue, on J.B. Green paper, 1971. Image: 36 x 24 in. (914 x 610 mm.) Sheet: 41 x 28¼ in. (1041 x 718 mm.) Estimate: $3,000-5,000

• ROBERT MOTHERWELL, Roth-Händle, aquatint and collage, on Auvergne à la Main Richard de Bas, 1975. Sheet: 19⅝ x 15¾ in. (499 x 400 mm.). Estimate: $3,000-5,000