Louise Nevelson - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York Thursday, May 19, 2022 | Phillips

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  • "The Wedding Present (1977-79), most eloquently demonstrates Nevelson's ability to create a symphony out of scrap wood, its themes carried out by discarded chair legs, bits of molding and other battered fragments. Nevelson took such elements and fitted them into individual modules, then built the modules into enigmatic monoliths, monoliths which can now be seen brushing the ceilings of art galleries and museums all over the world."
    —A staff writer at Buffalo News writing on the present work in 1991

    • Provenance

      Diana MacKown, New York (gifted by the artist)
      Pace Wildenstein, New York
      Private Collection
      K Auction, Seoul, July 14, 2015, lot 132
      Seomi Gallery, Seoul
      Private Collection, Asia
      Sotheby’s, New York, May 12, 2016, lot 136
      Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Jamestown, The Forum Gallery, Jamestown Community College, A Friend Remembers Louise Nevelson, November 9–December 19, 1991, pp. 13, 20 (illustrated, p. 13)

    • Literature

      “Signature Symphonies of Scrap as Emblems of Modernism,” The Buffalo News, December 6, 1991 (online)

158

The Wedding Present

painted wood boxes, in 14 parts
overall 102 3/8 x 43 x 11 in. (260 x 109.2 x 27.9 cm)
Executed in 1977–1979.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$300,000 - 400,000 

Sold for $352,800

Contact Specialist

Annie Dolan
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Morning Session
+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

New York Auction 19 May 2022