NEW YORK, NY.- Christie's announced The Collection of Herbert Lust will be a headliner of New York's Fall Marquee Week of Sales. The collection comes from the home of the ingenious collector, author, and banker Herbert Lust, who was beloved by artists, luminaries and fellow collectors for his generosity, wit and endless curiosity. Mr. Lust was a scholar with a voracious appetite for seeking out knowledge and philosophical truth. He acquired art with a studied deliberation, filling his home with thought-provoking examples of modern, post-war and contemporary works he was drawn to both aesthetically and intellectually—many of which were made by artists with whom he shared deep personal bonds, notably Alberto Giacometti and Robert Indiana. The fruitful, lifelong relationships he came to share with cultural icons of the twentieth century had a seismic impact on Mr. Lust's life, shaping both the arc of his brilliant art collection as well as the throughlines of his core identity.

The Collection of Herbert Lust will be presented by Christie's in collaboration with The Fine Art Group, an independent global advisory firm renowned for its expertise, scholarship, and market insight. The collection is led by Giacometti's masterpiece Figure, demie grandeur (no. 2), estimated at $20 million – 30 million. The work was conceived circa 1949, the year Mr. Lust and the artist first met. One of the earliest known full standing bronzes from the post-war period, cast shortly after its conception by the master foundry Alexis Rudier, it is among the finest examples of the sculptor's most prized series remaining in private hands.

Another highlight is Les Indes Galantes, painted by Frank Stella in 1962, a pivotal year both for his practice and in the broader art historical canon. The work has not appeared at auction in nearly a quarter of a century, presenting a rare opportunity for collectors. It is one of just four large-scale Mitered Squares that Stella created during the all-important year, with all three others held in the permanent collections of major museums. In addition to these outstanding works by Giacometti and Stella, the sales are highlighted by canonical giants including Alexander Calder, Yves Tanguy, Roberto Matta, Sol Lewitt, and Robert Indiana—an artist Mr. Lust both collected in depth and counted amongst his dearest friends.

The collection is notably poised to reset the markets for niche creatives that Mr. Lust championed with great fervor, such as Hans Bellmer, Mary Bauermeister and Enrico Baj. Bellmer's Jointure de boules (La Poup�e) is the artist's largest and most important 1930s construction in private hands, emblematic of his defining contribution to the Surrealist movement. The work is set to establish a new world auction record for the artist. A mesmerizing example from her groundbreaking Lens box series, Bauermeister's Saint Time will mark her overdue debut in an evening sale context.

The sale series will begin with the New York November marquee week, with artworks included in the 20th Century Evening Sale and a dedicated Herbert Lust Collection Day Sale. Subsequent sales will take place in New York, London and Paris. In total, the collection is expected to realize in excess of $50 million.

Bonnie Brennan, CEO, Christie's, remarks, “Herbert Lust was more than a collector—counting many of the artists he collected among his dearest friends and imbuing their philosophies and ideologies into various aspects of his life. At once scholarly and deeply personal, the collection tells the story of both an exceptional personality and the course of art history across the twentieth century.”

Vanessa Fusco, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Department, Christie's, remarks, “The delicately articulated features of the exquisite Giacometti standing figure have an unusually expressive clarity. She is, as Herbert himself described her, 'love, tenderness, courage and majesty incarnate, a weightless queen in an invisible kingdom.' The exceptionally early cast by the Alexis Rudier foundry is the only known cast of this sculpture by the legendary fonderie, a rarity among Giacometti's post-war standing figures. Such a sensational object is a fitting highlight of the marvelous collection of Giacometti paintings, drawings and design pieces that together demonstrate the richness of Mr. Lust's personal and profound connection to the artist.”

Mr. Lust's foray into the art world began with a chance encounter with Giacometti in Paris. Only 22 years old at the time, Mr. Lust was a recent expatriate from the Midwest studying comparative literature at the Sorbonne on a Fulbright scholarship. He found himself at an event amongst an intimidating group of artists and intellectual thought-leaders. One of the guests was the artist Alberto Giacometti, who invited Mr. Lust to come visit his studio. The two became close, and would continue to meet regularly for the rest of the artist's life. Years later, Mr. Lust wrote a heartfelt memoir honoring his friend and their time together, Alberto Giacometti: Friendship & Love, published by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2003—just one of many well-known publications he authored. Among his most significant contributions was the catalogue raisonn� of Giacometti's graphic works, an influential publication that deepened understanding of the artist's oeuvre.

Lust similarly expanded scholarship on other European avant-garde figures, producing a catalogue raisonn� on Enrico Baj and publishing extensively on Hans Bellmer, whose work he collected in exceptional depth. His scholarly output frequently grew out of sustained engagement with artists and their work, reflecting a rare combination of intellectual rigor, firsthand experience, and connoisseurship. Lust's success in business and collecting ultimately enabled him to support institutions generously; his gifts of hundreds of works to the Tel Aviv Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden proved transformative, expanding the scope and reach of both museums' collections.