This is a quite rare occurence. On May 14, Christie’s will present their 21st Century Evening Sale with artworks by artists such as Brice Marden, Georgia O’Keeffe, David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Claude Monet. And among these exceptional artists, we will also find Diane Arbus with a magnificent print of the photographer’s iconic Identical Twins. This is a rare foray of “classic” Photography in a sale always awaited in the calendar and often dedicated exclusively to Art with a capital A. The estimate is 800,000 to 1,200,000 USD. Let us salute the occasion in due form! – GSD
In December 1966, Diane Arbus attended a Christmas party of identical twins, Cathleen and Colleen, in Roselle, New Jersey. It was there that she made one of the most indelible works of art of the twentieth century.
Born Diane Nemerov in New York City in 1923, Arbus first began taking pictures in the early 1940s, and by the year of her death in 1971 had begun to deeply impact the worlds of art and photography. In 1972, the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art, headed by esteemed curator John Szarkowski, mounted a full-scale retrospective of her work, helping to cement her place in a quickly evolving canon of great 20th century artists. Subsequent decades have testified to her lasting influence, and in recent years ambitious Arbus surveys have been mounted by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Jeu de Paume, Paris, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The full selection of work on offer in the sale will be on view at Christie’s New York in an exhibition free and open to the public beginning May 4, 2024 until May 14, 2024.
Lot 45 A
Property from the Collection of Ambassador Trevor Traina
DIANE ARBUS (1923–1971)
Identical twins, (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, New Jersey, 1966
Estimate
USD 800,000 – USD 1,200,000
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6482293
LIVE AUCTION 23171
21ST CENTURY EVENING SALE
14 MAY 8PM EDT | LIVE AUCTION 23171
https://www.christies.com/events/20th-21st-century-new-york/what-is-on
