From Robb Report · Hikmat Mohammed for ARTnews · · 1m 20s
A $50 Million Pop Art Estate Hits Christie's
The collection Antonio Homem Sonnabend inherited and kept goes under the hammer this fall, with Warhol, Koons, and Johns on the block.
In brief
The collection Antonio Homem Sonnabend inherited and kept goes under the hammer this fall, with Warhol, Koons, and Johns on the block. One family's dealing history, from Ileana and Michael Sonnabend down to their adopted son Antonio, is about to be priced in public at more than $50 million. Originally reported by Robb…
Fifty million on the block
The Antonio Homem Sonnabend Collection is estimated to bring more than $50 million when it sells at Christie's this fall.
“estimated to achieve more than $50 million at auction”
The names on the wall
Works by Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol make up the sale. That is a short list of postwar American heavyweights.
Warhol and Lichtenstein anchor it
Among the highlights are Lichtenstein's Large Spool from 1963 and Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can (Turkey Noodle) from 1962.
Who Antonio Homem was
Homem died in March. He was the adopted son of Ileana and Michael Sonnabend, and the collection carries his name.
A dealer family's holdings
Ileana and Michael Sonnabend were art dealers, so this is not a collector buying at market. It is what a dealing family chose to keep off the market.
Christie's this fall
The sale lands in Christie's fall calendar, putting a private family holding in front of public bidding for the first time.
What it means
One family's dealing history, from Ileana and Michael Sonnabend down to their adopted son Antonio, is about to be priced in public at more than $50 million.
