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Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Christie’s to auction Three generations of Wyeth: The Collection of Eric and Cynthia Sambol

Christie’s announce the sale of Three Generations of Wyeth: The Collection of Eric and Cynthia Sambol at the New York sale of American Art on 23 May. Comprised of thirteen works by N.C., Andrew, and Jamie Wyeth, the collection includes important and notable works from three generations of perhaps the most remarkable American art family dynasty of our time.

Jamie Wyeth, Lighthouse Dandelions, oil on panel, 30 x 48 in. Est: $250,000-350,000© Jamie Wyeth.
Jamie Wyeth, Lighthouse Dandelions, oil on panel, 30 x 48 in. Est: $250,000-350,000© Jamie Wyeth.

ERIC AND CYNTHIA SAMBOL: A businessman, photographer, and philanthropist, Eric Sambol’s captivation with art began at a young age, as the child of a painter. A school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1976 exhibition of Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons solidified Eric’s fascination with the Wyeth family’s work, an enthrallment that would stay with him for decades. While Eric’s profound emotional response to the work of Andrew Wyeth guided them to their initial acquisition, it was Cynthia, who was instrumental in the aesthetic choices and subsequent acquisitions, based on her practice of sustainable landscape farming and design. While they originally collected works from the Hudson River School and Maritime paintings, the Sambols eventually acquired works by Andrew Wyeth, beginning with Flat Boat. They later expanded their collection to include works by Andrew’s father, N.C. Wyeth, such as Norry Seavey Hauling Traps Off Blubber Island, as well as those by Andrew’s son, Jamie, such as Lighthouse Dandelions. Eric Sambol noted that ever since his early experience at the Wyeth exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, “no one could compare. The moods and feelings that I felt conveyed in his work began an important journey, which prompted my own creative work as a photographer. Collecting isn’t just about purchasing objects for me- I knew behind every realistic image an ambiguity, a disquiet, and a generational family story was hiding.”