NEW YORK, NY.- Christies presents Property from Cleveland Clinic generously donated by Mrs. Sydell Miller, which will be offered in Christies 20th Century Week of Impressionist and Modern Art and Post-War & Contemporary Art, May 15 and 17. All eight works by Louise Bourgeois, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Roy Lichtenstein, Marino Marini and Pablo Picasso were donated to Cleveland Clinic by Mrs. Sydell Miller, who has a long association with the hospital. All proceeds will benefit Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute. A global tour* of highlights will commence at Christies London.
Laura Paulson, Christies Chairman, remarked: Christies is honored to have been entrusted with eight remarkable works that Mrs. Sydell Miller so kindly gave to Cleveland Clinic. The collection is a sweeping representation of 20th century art, which bears a figurative thread of sumptuous materiality and color. The degree of quality and cohesion possessed by this selection are the direct results of a highly discerning collector. Mrs. Millers gift will make a significant impact on the transformation of heart care for Cleveland Clinic, and we are very pleased to play a small part in this momentous act of philanthropy.
Sydell Miller is one of the most inspiring philanthropists of our time and a great friend of Cleveland Clinic, said Toby Cosgrove, MD, CEO and President. Her familys significant commitments established the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion and named our world-renowned Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute. Our heart program has been No. 1 in the nation for 22 consecutive years, according to U.S. News & World Report, and we thank Sydell and her family for their help in making this remarkable distinction a reality.
In 2008, Sydell Millers transformative gift helped create the landmark Miller Pavilion which serves as Cleveland Clinics gateway to its sprawling main campus. That same year, Dr. Cosgrove created the Arts & Medicine Institute, which promotes art and music as healing medicine.
Francois Bethoux, MD, Medical Director of the Arts & Medicine Institute, added: Today, Cleveland Clinics Art Program ensures that art continues to be an integral part of our health system. And with the help and support of distinguished benefactors like Sydell Miller, we will continue to provide exemplary care in a healing environment for the next 100 years.
Cleveland Clinics Art Program as part of the Arts & Medicine Institute, is comprised of nearly 6,300 works by artists from around the world including Mike Kelley 1 by artist Jennifer Steinkamp; a vibrant video illustration of a tree cycling through the seasons. The collection is made possible in part through the generous contributions of collectors like the Miller family.
Highlights of the collection include:
Pablo Picasso, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, Painted in Montrouge and Paris, 1917-1920 ($20,000,000-30,000,000)
- Seated woman in an armchair is the cubist depiction to the famous neo-classical portrait of his wife Olga, which is now in the Picasso Museum in Paris
- This painting provides an extraordinary demonstration of the contrasts in style and technique that Picasso practiced as he moved from neo-classicism to cubism, in this rare instance focusing on an identical subject
- This work was in the Picasso family collection since 1984 and has been owned by Mrs. Sydell Miller since 2000
Marc Chagall, Les trois cierges, Painted in 1939 (estimate on request)
- The Three Candles is a romantic and nostalgic depiction of Chagall and his wife, Bella in Vitebsk, their native town in Byelorussia and emerges as hopeful prayer for peace and memories of ancient traditions of his Jewish faith
- After the collapse of France under German regime in 1940, Chagall and his wife immigrated to the US. His daughter Ida and son-in-law joined them a few months later bringing Les trois cierges and numerous other paintings saving them from almost certain loss and destruction
- Le trois cierges was unveiled at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York during November-December 1941, which was the first inaugural show of Chagalls work in the United States and was immediately recognized as the masterpiece in the exhibition
Roy Lichtenstein, Expressionist Head, Executed in 1980 (estimate: $2,500,000-3,500,000)
- Executed in bronze, this monumental sculpture is one of the most striking of Roy Lichtensteins sculptural works, it melds together the artists pop aesthetic with his comprehensive knowledge and understanding of art history
- Standing nearly five feet tall, this is the only sculpture in a series commenced in 1978 in which the artist took his classic Pop language and combined it with the powerful aesthetic of German Expressionism
- Lichtenstein used a clever combination of positive and negative space, and used the tonality of each primary color to denote the different areas of light and shadow that fall across the face
The collection also includes Marino Marinis Piccolo cavaliere, conceived in 1948 (estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000), Marinis best known and admired bronze sculpture theme; Alberto Giacomettis Buste dAnnette VI, conceived in 1962 and cast in 1964 (estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000), one of the finest busts that Giacometti created after 1950 of his wife Annette; Max Ernsts The Phases of the Night, 1946 (estimate: $4,000,000-6,000,000), a complex, nocturnal landscape of the American far west; Jean Dubuffets Le Truand, painted in 1954 (estimate: $2,000,000-3,000,000), an incredibly rich and complex enigmatic figure; and Louise Bourgeois Breasted Woman, conceived in 1949-1950 and cast in 1991 (estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000), one of Bourgeois most well-known and celebrated forms.