Sotheby’s Highlights Lichtenstein Breakthrough, (RED) Auction Impact and Studio Valle de Valle Debut Book
Sotheby’s has released a new editorial package that traces Roy Lichtenstein’s decisive turn to Pop art, revisits the 2008 (RED) charity auction that reshaped its fundraising ambitions and spotlights the first book from New York–based interiors firm Studio Valle de Valle.
In an excerpt from biographer Avis Berman’s forthcoming study of Roy Lichtenstein, Sotheby’s recounts the artist’s shift away from abstract expressionism in 1961, when a children’s picture book image of Donald Duck prompted him to reimagine commercial illustration as the basis for a new visual language that would define his Pop period.
James Haldane looks back at the Valentine’s Day 2008 auction at Sotheby’s New York that propelled (RED), the AIDS-focused initiative co-founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, from consumer partnerships into the upper tier of the art market, surpassing internal expectations for what a single charity sale could raise.
The issue also features Julie Coe on Studio Valle de Valle’s debut volume, which documents how founders Jane Keltner de Valle and Giancarlo Valle begin each project with meticulous, handmade maquettes that guide the architecture, custom millwork and furnishings of their completed interiors.