Phillips Design New York
June 8 2023
bgreen@phillips.com
917 207 9090

NEW YORK CITY — Phillips announced a selection of highlights from the New York spring design auction on June 8. The range of material on offer, in both geography and time period, testifies to the diversity of the Design category and the remarkable talent of designers across the globe. Including more than 100 works that span the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, the sale includes works from notable makes such as Gio Ponti, Paul Evans, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Louis Majorelle, José Zanine Caldas and Jean Prouvé, among many others.
Works will be offered by Joyce Anderson, Diane Itter and Gloria Kisch, each of whom are being offered for the first time in a Phillips sale. Anderson — who, in the 1950s, went from assisting her husband Edgar to becoming his equal collaborator — was a designer and woodworker in her own right and an influential member of the burgeoning craft movement in postwar America. Her expert craftmanship is nowhere better exemplified than in the walnut cabinet with an inlaid stone mosaic top that is on offer. Itter, while an important member of the 1960s and 1970s fiber art movement, was unique among her contemporaries for her focus on vibrantly dyed thread, which she employed with intricate knotting techniques to create intimately scaled and highly detailed works. The auction includes two knotted linen pieces that exemplify this practice. Kisch, a sculptor first, began to create functional works in the 1980s which blurred the lines between art and design. “In the Mirror,” is a whimsical and truly original take on an entryway staple, the coatrack. Each of these designers is currently experiencing a renaissance with new interest being paid to their contributions to design history.

Leading the sale is a panel from the Delaware Valley Modernist Paul Evans with a rare two-sided “Sculpture Front” screen from 1966. This is a rare example of a standalone Evans screen with gilt and painted steel decorations on both sides. Originally intended to float suspended on a metal frame, the screen is an imposing and historically significant work. Other artists in the lineup from this region include Harry Bertoia and George Nakashima. Bertoia is represented by a two-rod Sonambient, which stands at 100 inches high and comes from the collection of Gabriele and Robert Lee.

Phillips is also offering three works by Nakashima, including a set of eight New dining chairs, a Frenchman’s Cove II dining table and a two-door cabinet that all come from a private collection in Houston, Texas, where they have remained in the same family since their acquisition from the designer’s studio in the 1960s. Moving West, four Weed Pots from Doyle Lane alongside one of Lane’s clay paintings are also up for auction, celebrating the two forms he is most known for and marking the first time that one of Lane’s clay paintings will be offered at Phillips.

Additionally, Phillips will present five notable examples of Twentieth Century Brazilian design. Leading the group is a dining table by José Zanine Caldas, one the best examples of his work to come to the secondary market, due to its striking form and proportions as well as its impressive provenance. The work was acquired directly from the designer in 1977 by Brazilian art dealer Bruno Musatti and his wife, artist Jeanete Musatti, and it remained in their collection until 2020, when it was acquired by the present owner. Furthermore, this group includes iconic designs by Lina Bo Bardi, Joaquim Tenreiro, Sergio Rodriguez and Martin Eisler.

Phillips will also offer a group of French Art Nouveau lighting and furniture from a private collection. This collection comprises designs by French designers who were pivotal during the turn of the Twentieth Century, including Daum Frères, Louis Majorelle, Émile Gallé, Eugène Gaillard and Georges de Feure. Many of these designs were included in various world expositions and are considered to be pinnacle examples of Art Nouveau design. Highlights on offer include a “Nénuphar” table lamp by Daum Frères and Louis Majorelle, a table lamp in the form of a water lily, as well as Louis Majorelle’s “La Cascade” cabinet.

Another category in the sale will present Italian design works from the 1950s and 1960s primarily coming to market from American collections. The group reflects the significant interest in Italian design in postwar America. One work in the sale that represents this collaborative period is a pair of rare wall lights that Gio Ponti designed circa 1959 for the auditorium of the Time & Life Building in New York City.

Another discovery is a ceiling light designed by Studio B.B.P.R., which comes from a private Midwest collection where the work had been installed in a Highland Park residence in the early 1960s until now. The sale also includes a desk designed by Gio Ponti for the Altamira showroom in New York. Accompanying these pieces are numerous other designs by Italian designers from the same era, such as Carlo Mollino, Ico Parisi and Max Ingrand.
Auction viewing is June 2-8. Phillips is at 432 Park Avenue. For additional information, www.phillips.com.

Benjamin Green, Associate Specialist
Including Important Art Nouveau Lighting and Furniture from a Private Collection
Daum Frères and Louis Majorelle, “Nénuphar” table lamp, circa 1903; Émile Gallé, “Libellules” gueridon, circa 1900; Daum Frères and Louis Majorelle, “Magnolia” table lamp, circa 1904; Louis Majorelle, “La Cascade” cabinet, circa 1899