Phillips is pleased to offer an exclusive glimpse at the masterworks from a Private American Collection to be offered through a series of sales this coming Spring. Featuring significant contemporary works by many of the most compelling American artists of the twentieth century, including singular examples by Brice Marden, Ed Ruscha, Robert Ryman, and John Chamberlain to be offered in the May Contemporary Art Evening Sale, the highlights of the collection are representative of the generation that followed the Abstract Expressionists—a group of artists who were diverse in their aims and movements yet unified in their spectacular adherence to the American spirit of individualism and innovation.

One of the most remarkable features of this particular collection is its variety of mediums, as we see equal representations of painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper therein. The highlight of the selection offered within this sale of important prints is Brice Marden’s Suzhou I-IV, from 1998, which served as one of the foundations for the collection at large. This wondrous assortment of form is a perfect synecdoche for the collector and collection, where mixed mediums and diversity of materials serve to incite a rare and enlightening dialogue amongst the works within. And, when paired with the collection’s contingent of international artists, such interplay among objects is a true marvel – an exceptional group of works bound by their own magnificent differences. Please see lots 48, 56, 69, 128 and 179.