NEW YORK, NY.- Christie's will present Temple of Style: The Barbara Jakobson Collection, a vibrant array of post-war and contemporary art, design, photographs and prints and multiples, which will be offered as a capsule collection within Post-War to Present, live at Christie's Rockefeller Center on February 26, alongside a dedicated online sale open for bidding February 18 – March 4. Barbara Jakobson was a storied MoMA trustee and patron, an endlessly passionate collector and lifelong champion of her creative contemporaries. The sale features rare and personal examples of sculpture, painting, photography, prints and design by leading twentieth and twenty-first centuries artists—many of whom were Ms. Jakobson's dear friends.
Jenna Torres and Maggie Wheeler, Barbara Jakobson's daughters, remark, “Our mother's love for art and the people who make it served to inspire the life she led. When we were growing up, our home was an ever-changing landscape filled with art and conversation. We are so grateful for the artistic community we were immersed in from an early age. The works included in this auction meant so much to our mother who chose each piece with her whole heart. While it is bittersweet to say goodbye to Barbara's extraordinary collection, we are so excited for all the joy we know these works of art and design will bring to their new owners.”
Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie's Americas, remarks, “Barbara Jakobson was an extraordinarily caring and intentional collector who left an immeasurable impact on the world of modern and contemporary art. She experienced art with a profound joy and assembled her collection with vivaciousness, driven by curiosity and an unwavering love of art. We are honored to work alongside Jenna and Maggie this February as we pay tribute to their mother and her incredible legacy.”
Sara Friedlander, Chairman, Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie's Americas, remarks, “Barbara Jakobson played an essential role in shaping the historical framework of art during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with countless contributions to the movements of post-war and contemporary art throughout multiple generations. During her life, she surrounded herself with creativity—championing artists, celebrating their vision, and supporting their practices in the truest sense. We are grateful to have known Ms. Jakobson and deeply humbled to present her personal collection of art and design at Christie's.”
The leading highlight of the collection is Winter Bears, a sculpture by Jeff Koons, friend of Ms. Jakobson. Dating to 1988, the sculpture comes from the artist's celebrated Banality series and carries an estimate of $3,800,000 – 5,000,000. The sale includes a stellar selection of post-war artworks that reflect Ms. Jakobson's refined taste, including Josef Alber's Homage to the Square: Insight, which Ms. Jakobson purchased from her friend, renowned gallerist Sidney Janis, in 1964, as well as That Housing Tract Is Only Texture, a pastel work on paper by Ed Ruscha. In the realm of Design, highlights include a bookcase by Charlotte Perriand and a bar by Tom Sachs. Commissioned by the collector for her Upper East Side Townhouse two decades ago, the bar by Sachs became an exclusive and famous gathering spot for the most important figures of the international art world. The sale also features an incredible selection of photographs, including The Junior Interstate Ballroom Dance Champions, Yonkers, NY, 1962 by Diane Arbus, Untitled (Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi), 1970 by William Eggleston, and a portrait of the collector, taken by her dear friend Robert Mapplethorpe in 1982.
Temple of Style represents a continuation of Christie's successful partnership with The Barbara Jakobson Collection following a sale with the collector in 2005 during which she sold much of the townhouse's collection at the time, in a concerted effort to refocus on new acquisitions. The present selection on offer is richly layered, meaningful and diverse, consisting of a number of objects acquired during the course of the last twenty years and many of her most treasured personal pieces.
