Sotheby’s is immensely honored and proud to offer A Discerning Eye: Latin American Masterpieces from a Private Collection.  Rarely are we able to offer for auction a group of masterworks from a single collection of such quality, variety and depth.

This striking assembly of works acquired over a period of two decades represents some of the finest examples of Latin American art of diverse styles and cultural origins.  From Rivera to Matta, from Pelaez to Tamayo and from Botero to Figari, the common denominator that prevails throughout is the discerning eyes that chose the pieces and the high level of taste and refinement that is reflected in this grouping.

This evening sale includes works by masters from several Latin American countries.  From Mexico the collection includes three paintings by Rufino Tamayo representing his greatest periods: the colorful and iconic Sandias of 1941; Madre Diviertiendo a su Hijo of 1946, a sensitive and whimsical depiction of a loving mother and child; and the vibrant and monumental Mujer en Extasis of 1973.

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The Contemporary Art auction at Sotheby’s will be held in New York on May 9th, 10th and 11th.  Exhibitions open May 6th.

The Contemporary Art Evening Auction will be held on May 10th

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The Collection of Allan Stone will be auctioned off on May 9th

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The undoubted highlight of the Old Master Paintings sale this May is Jan Steen’s School class with a sleeping schoolmaster, one of his finest treatments of a schoolroom interior. It is his only representation of a schoolroom still remaining in private hands which is both signed and dated. It has a remarkable provenance, going as far back as 1764, which includes the distinguished Baring collection in the 19th Century. This exciting picture perfectly demonstrates Steen’s mastery at depicting the humorous side of everyday life, which remains as true to life and as successful in capturing our attention today as it was to his viewers in the 17th Century.

Another highlight in the sale is a grand and joyful Village Kermesse with numerous peasants feasting by Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot. This picture is one of his largest and most successful pictures.

The sale also features a strong selection of early Netherlandish, Flemish and German paintings, including a delightful Virgin and Child with an apple by the Master of the Female Half-Lengths, and a portrait of the Elector Frederick II ‘the Wise’ of Saxony (1463-1525) by Lucas Cranach the Elder. This portrait is one of a number of portraits Cranach painted of his most important early patron, and was possibly commissioned by John Frederick the Magnanimous (1503-1554) in 1532.

Other highlights include an amusing Interior of a Guardroom by Jacob Duck, and an attractive View of the Weesperplein with the Weesperpoort in Amsterdam, by Isaak Ouwater.

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The forthcoming Swiss Art sale in Zurich includes a wide range of classic paintings by Switzerland’s most important artists such as Albert Anker, Alexandre Calame, Robert Zünd, Cuno Amiet, Ernest Biéler, Giovanni and Gottardo Segantini, Louis Soutter, Alberto Giacometti and Otto Morach. Works by Modern and Contemporary artists such as Max Bill, Daniel Spoerri, Andreas Rickenbacher also are featured.

The multifarious and outstanding selection reflects more than 150 years of Swiss Art. The most spectacular works in the sale includes a small group of paintings of women by the distinguished artists from the Swiss avant-garde at the early 20th century such as Ferdinand Hodler, Félix Vallotton and Augusto and Giovanni Giacometti. The top lots are a standing women in a blue dress with a dancing gesture, Fröhliches Weib (Joyful Woman), painted circa 1909 by Ferdinand Hodler, as well as Giovanni Giacometti’s Theodora from 1914, which depicts a beautiful naked woman laying on a canapé.

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Sotheby’s Wine Department, led by Serena Sutcliffe, M.W., has the most experienced and successful team in the wine auction business, selling wine in London since 1970 and in New York since 1994 with worldwide sales of over $44 million in 2008.

Sotheby’s specializes in offering the finest wine cellars in the world, such as A Superb Private Collection (London, September 2008, $2.9 million), Magnificent Bordeaux and Burgundy from an Important Private Cellar (New York, April 2008, $6.1 million), The Adrian Bowden Cellar Part II (London, March 2007, $2.8 million), and Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Treasures from the Private Cellar of Baroness Philippine (New York, February 2007, $2.2 million). We hold sales in London, New York and Hong Kong, featuring fine and rare wines for both current drinking and cellaring.

If you are interested in selling wine through Sotheby’s, our teams in New York and London make it an easy process. Send us a list of wines you want to sell and we will provide a detailed valuation of your entire collection. We offer the option of both auction and private sales and will include a proposal of how to maximize the value of your wines. We make all the arrangements to ship your wines to our temperature controlled warehouse where we offer complimentary storage until their sale.

For those interested in buying wine, you can be confident that all the wines we offer have been carefully inspected by our team of experienced specialists. We are happy to provide advice on cellar management as well as make recommendations on wines for investment, lying down, or current drinking. We take pride in offering only wines in the best condition and with verifiable provenance.

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This sale offers a broad range of Dutch Romantic paintings as well as works by artists from The Hague and Amsterdam School.

One of the highlights is Willem Koekkoek’s Winter in the Streets of a Dutch Town (lot 22). After growing up in Amsterdam, Willem Koekkoek became one of the most distinguished painters of townscapes, travelling throughout the Netherlands. His paintings were greatly admired all over Europe for their nostalgic mood and uniquely refined and detailed style of painting. The present lot is an impressive example, not only because of its size, but also because of its ability to capture Holland’s Age of Romanticism.

A further significant highlight is Sunday Mass by Gari Melchers (lot 61). Attracted by the pictorial side of Holland, this American artist took special interest in depicting devotional peasant women with their colourful patterned dresses. During his life Melchers received multiple awards, establishing him as the leading American proponent of Naturalism. The present lot has been in the collection of Walther Rathenau, the Berlin industrialist and founder of the German Democratic Party, who was murdered in 1922 by officers of the extreme right wing party because of his Jewish background and political ideas.

Also included in this sale are five paintings from an important Canadian collection, each painting being a highlight in the artist’s oeuvre, including works by Cornelis Springer, Petrus van Schendel, Andreas Schelfhout, Salomon Verveer and Nicolaas Johannes Roosenboom (lots 39-43).

From another private collection and in the family of the present owner since 1964, is an impressive ice view by the master of winter scenes, Andreas Schelfhout (lot 38). This painting has all the elements an attractive winter landscape should have: windmills, skaters and a refreshment stall with figures having a drink.

Dutch impressionism is represented by several paintings and watercolours, all fresh to the market, and including artists like Jacob Maris, Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Isaac Israels and Floris Arntzenius. From a private collection in Canada a large canvas by Jozef Israels is offered (lot 70), depicting an interiorscene with a fishermen’s family, a subject which made Israels internationally respected as the master of Dutch realism.

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Sotheby’s American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture Sale on Thursday May 19 will present exceptional 19th Century, Impressionist, Ashcan, and Modernist works for collectors seeking the best examples by American artists.

We are delighted to offer the Property from a Distinguished East Coast Collection. This collection focuses on American Modernism and features an important figurative painting by Milton Avery, March Playing the Cello from 1943. Avery’s special regard for this loving portrait of his daughter is underscored by his inclusion of it in a later self-portrait. Another highlight from this collection is Thomas Hart Benton’s Flood Disaster (Homecoming – Kaw Valley), which was painted to raise governmental support from the United States Congress after the devastating flood of Kansas City in 1951.

Also on offer will be paintings, works on paper and sculpture from the Collection of Edward P. Evans. This collection is comprised of a range of 19th and 20th century works with a particular emphasis on American Impressionism and the Ashcan school. One of the highlights, Childe Hassam’s Quai St. Michel, painted during the artist’s Parisian sojourn during the late 1880’s, depicts an elegant woman browsing the famed bookinistes and framed by the city’s soft light and stone architecture. Another work, George Bellow’s Dock Builders, painted in 1916, was the first in a series by the artist portraying Maine’s rugged seaman and featuring the dynamic compositional style made famous by the artist in his early boxing scenes.

Other highlights include works by Raphaelle Peale, James McNeil Whistler, Theodore Earl Butler, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell, William Glackens, Marsden Hartley, and Western works by Albert Bierstadt, Ernest Blumenschein and Walter Ufer.

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Sotheby’s sale of rugs and carpets this May is comprised of nearly two hundred pieces collected by the renowned dealers Bergi Andonian and Joseph W. Fell.  The lots offered in the sale are predominantly small-scale tribal and village weavings from Anatolia, the Caucasus, Turkestan and Persia and also include works of more unusual origins, such as Peru and Kyrgyzstan.  Besides rugs, a selection of textiles and a number of room-sized carpets will also be featured in this two-owner sale.

Highlights of the auction include a West Anatolian ‘Transylvanian’ rug from circa 1700 with a small medallion Oushak-derived field and unusual border (lot 18), a Lesghi long rug of multi-layered design and brilliant colors (lot 58), an eighteenth-century Cretan embroidery densely-decorated with fantastical creatures in rich hues (lot 127) and a rare group II Yomud C-gul main carpet that should be familiar to seasoned collectors of Turkmen rugs as it has been included in a number of prestigious publications and exhibitions (lot 134).

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Check out the results for a marathon Asian Auction at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

Sotheby’s May 18 sale of American Indian Art in New York will offer a rich selection of artwork from the Northwest Coast, Southwest, Plains, Eastern Woodlands and the Eskimo. Native traditions including porcupine quillwork, beadwork, basketry, blanket weaving and carving are well represented. There is also an exceptional group of contemporary paintings and sculpture from the Southwest.

The sale is distinguished by a number of private collections including The Bruce and Nancy Berman Collection of Navajo Blankets, which features weavings that date from the mid-19th century. A highlight is a rare and exceptionally dazzling wedge weave blanket. There are also several large and pristine rugs that reflect the enormous creativity found within the Navajo weaving tradition.