Sotheby’s announces a benefit collaboration between Oprah Winfrey, Agnes Gund and Miss Porter’s School. Click here to watch the video describing the event.:
Sotheby’s and Miss Porter’s School are honored to unveil the full sale contents of By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women—the first-ever all-women artist benefit auction at a major auction house, which will precede our bi-annual Contemporary Curated sale on March 1st in New York.
Over the course of several months, 40 pieces by 38 pioneering women artists have been donated to create this distinct offering of modern and contemporary works, with full proceeds to support financial aid that enables emerging female leaders to attend Miss Porter’s School and go on to shape a changing world.
Presented alongside the live auction on March 1, additional works from By Women For Tomorrow’s Women will be offered as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Online auction, open for bidding from Feb 22 -March 7. All 40 works will be on view in Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning February 22nd, along slide our Contemporary Curated and Contemporary Art Online auctions.
Agnes Gund and Oprah Winfrey, longtime supporters of Miss Porter’s School, will serve as Honorary Co-Chairs for the sale. A Miss Porter alumna, Agnes Gund ’56 is one of the most important patrons of the arts in America and exemplary in her support of women artists. Winfrey is a strong believer in the power of youth education and is the founder of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. The OWLAG board is chaired by Miss Porter’s Head of School, Dr. Katherine Windsor.
The March 1 sale is led by a paragon of Carmen Herrera’s reductionist artistic ethos, Blanco y Verde from 1966-67—the most important work by the artist ever to appear at auction ($1.5-2m.) The painting was recently exhibited in a retrospective of her work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and has been donated by Agnes Gund.
Donated to the sale by the Artist Vice- Chair, Selection from Survival: Men Don’t Protect…, Jenny Holzer’s provocative marble bench from 2006, illustrates the compelling visual vocabulary that has distinguished her body of work for more than four decades ($50-70k.)
On offer directly from the artist’s archives, Pat Stier’s vibrant Blue and Red Waterfall is another highlight from the sale ($120-180k.) Executed in 1994 at the height of her renowned Waterfall series.
