Americas Society, Christie's Auction Raises $687,000 Toward Visual Arts Department Endownment
Americas Society, Christie's Auction Raises $687,000 Toward Visual Arts Department Endownment
The May 29-30 Benefit Auction featured works by renowned Latin American artists such as Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesús Rafael Soto.
Works donated by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, The Diane and Bruce Halle Collection of Latin American Art, and Thomas Messer, among others.
New York, May 31, 2013 – A selection of works by major Latin American artists including Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesús Rafael Soto were featured at Americas Society’s Visual Arts Endowment Benefit Auction held in conjunction with Christie’s Latin American Sale on May 29 and May 30, 2013. According to Christie's, the Americas Society Benefit Auction raised a total of $687,000. The two-day sale included a selection of 32 works donated to Americas Society. The institution, formerly the Center for Inter-American Relations (CIAR), is the oldest organization in the United States dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.
At the Evening Sale on May 29, Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez's Physichromie No 1601 (2009), a dazzling display of the vitality of color present in the artist’s works, sold for a price of $147,750. Jesús Rafael Soto’s Petit carré rouge, donated by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros—co-chair of Americas Society’s Visual Arts Endowment Benefit Auction—sold for $171,750. The Day Sale on May 30 featured works by important contemporary artists donated by prestigious galleries from São Paulo, Mexico City, Houston, and New York, as well as private collectors.
- View the auction catalogue.
- View a slideshow showing samples of the works donated to Americas Society for this auction.
Eight years ago, Americas Society embarked on a project to inject new life into the Visual Arts program and ensure its long-term sustainability. The Visual Arts Endowment Benefit Auction at Christie’s represents a culmination of this effort. The chairs of Americas Society’s Visual Arts Endowment Benefit Auction are Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Carlos Cruz-Diez, and Sharon Schultz Simpson.
Americas Society's art gallery has played a central role in the field through its historic and contemporary exhibitions. Iconic Latin American figures like Colombian Fernando Botero, Mexican David Siqueiros, and German-born Venezuelan sculptor Gego are some of the artists that have exhibited at Americas Society Art Gallery over the past four decades. Among the highlights of Americas Society’s 2013 programming are major exhibitions of the work of Argentine modernist painter Xul Solar and Mexican artist Yishai Jusidman.
Overall, Christie's Latin American Art Sale achieved a total of $21,325,625, setting nine new world auction records.
Press Inquiries: Please contact Adriana La Rotta at alarotta@as-coa.org or 1-212-277-8384.
Image: Carlos Cruz-Diez (Venezuelan b. 1923). Donated by the Atelier Cruz-Diez.
Americas Society is the premier organization dedicated to education, debate and dialogue in the Americas. Established by David Rockefeller in 1965, our mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.
