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MEDIA ALERT
PHILLIPS TO OFFER THE MOST IMPORTANT TWO-DIMENSIONAL WORK BY LEE BONTECOU TO EVER APPEAR ON THE MARKET
Untitled to be Featured in the May Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art, Marking the First Time the Work Will be Offered at Auction, Poised to Achieve a Record-Breaking Result
Sale Marks the First Public Exhibition Since its Inclusion in Bontecou’s Celebrated Retrospective at MoMA Over Two Decades Ago
Lee Bontecou Untitled, 1985-2001 Estimate: $1,200,000–1,800,000
NEW YORK – 15 APRIL 2026 – Phillips is proud to announce that the May Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art will offer the most significant two-dimensional work by Lee Bontecou to ever appear at auction. Untitled, an acrylic and pastel on canvas measuring nearly six feet wide, has remained in the same private collection since its execution, and the auction on 19 May marks the first time that it will be offered publicly. The viewing ahead of the sale also marks the first time that the work will be exhibited since its prestigious inclusion in Bontecou’s celebrated 2003-2004 traveling retrospective, which was jointly organized by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles’s Hammer Museum, and Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Estimated at $1.2–1.8 million, the work is poised to break the record for a two-dimensional work by the artist at auction.
Untitled represents one of Bontecou’s few works on canvas and the culmination of a decades-long cycle of drawings from the 1980s and 1990s. This luminous, expansive pastel composition, defined by sweeping, wave-like forms, embodies Bontecou’s notion of the “worldscape,” where landscape, organism, and imagined terrain converge into a single field of energy and transformation, animated by the medium’s capacity to gather and diffuse light across its surface.”
Robert Manley, Chairman, Modern & Contemporary Art, said, “Untitled is a truly singular work within Lee Bontecou’s oeuvre. While she is rightly celebrated for her revolutionary steel relief sculptures, this expansive work occupies a category entirely its own. There is nothing else quite like it in her entire body of work. Deeply immersive and luminous, this worldscape distills decades of Bontecou’s thinking about space, energy, and transformation. Its scale, rarity, and presence make it incredibly special, and its appearance at auction for the first time represents a rare opportunity for our collecting community to encounter Bontecou at her most ambitious and visionary.”
Auction: 19 May 2026 Auction viewing: 9-19 May 2026 Location: 432 Park Avenue, New York, NY Click here for more information: https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY010326
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ABOUT PHILLIPS Phillips: where the world’s curious and bold connect with the art, design, and luxury that inspires them. As a leading global platform for buying and selling 20th and 21st century works, Phillips offers dedicated expertise in the areas of Modern and Contemporary Art, Design, Photographs, Editions, Watches, and Jewels. Auctions and exhibitions are primarily held in New York, London, Geneva, and Hong Kong, with representative offices based throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia. Phillips offers a regular selection of live and online auctions, along with items available for immediate purchase. Phillips also offers a range of services and advice on all aspects of collecting, including private sales and assistance with appraisals, valuations, and financial planning. Visit phillips.com for further information.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
PRESS CONTACTS: NEW YORK – Jaime Israni, Head of PR and Corporate Communications, Americas jisrani@phillips.com Katie Zoni, PR Manager kzoni@phillips.com
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