Christie’s announce the upcoming sale of an outstanding private American collection of Modern and Contemporary Art: Property from the Collection of Evelyn D. Haas. As a patron of the arts and philanthropist, Mrs. Haas immersed herself in a wide range of volunteer work and was a devoted leader of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, while also becoming a well-regarded art connoisseur in her own right.
RICHARD DIEBENKORN (1922-1993) Berkeley #59, 1956 Estimate: $4,000,000 – 6,000,000 Photo Christies
Notable for the extraordinary quality, rarity and important art historical status of the works, her collection includes Modern and Contemporary paintings and sculpture, as well as important works on paper and prints. Among the artists represented in her collection are Post-War artists Richard Diebenkorn, Barnett Newman, Vija Celmins, Richard Prince and Wayne Thiebaud, plus Modern artists Pablo Picasso, Raoul Dufy and Maurice Utrillo. Christie’s will offer paintings, works on paper, and prints from her collection across a number of sales in April, May and July, and several photographs in October, (see appendix for details). The total combined value of the works, which will be offered across seven sale categories, is estimated to exceed $9 million.
Mrs. Haas’s passion for art was encouraged by her mother-in-law, Elise Stern Haas, a renowned collector and an early member of the SFMOMA Board of Trustees from 1953-1990. Elise made extraordinary donations to the museum over the years, including the bequest upon her death in 1990 of thirty-seven paintings, sculptures and works on paper, among them a painting she bought from her dear friend Sarah Stein, Henri Matisse’s Femme au chapeau, currently on view in the critically acclaimed exhibition, The Steins Collect, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Laura Paulson, Christie’s Deputy Chairman and International Director for Post-War and Contemporary Art, said: “We are thrilled that Christie’s has been entrusted with the sale of the Collection of Evelyn D. Haas. Her life’s passion was supporting the arts and bringing art to the people, not only in San Francisco, but also to the world at large. Her personal collection reveals a discerning eye and deep appreciation of the major artists of the late 19th and 20th centuries, and an appreciation of the artists in the Bay Area.”
Highlights from the Collection are traveling on a world tour, with stops in Geneva from April 16 – 19 and San Francisco from April 17 – 18, before arriving in New York for a special exhibition from April 21 – 25
