MASS MoCA - Benefit in New York

Celebrating the landmark Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective opening in late 2008, and featuring an auction of art, travel, and unique experiences. The event is sold out but you can still place bids for the auction.

Download an Absentee Bid Form (PDF) for the MASS MoCA 2007 Benefit Auction in New York.

To place an absentee bid please complete the absentee bid form, print and fax a signed copy to 413.663.8548 (attention: Eric Kerns) by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7, 2007. We will confirm all faxed bids via email. If you have not received a confirmation within one business day contact Eric Kerns before resubmitting your bid. If you have not received confirmation within 24 hours of your bid (or by 10:00 a.m. November 7 for bids placed on November 6).

Wall Drawing #1057 (for Merce Cunningham),
First execution at Paula Cooper Gallery, November 2002
6H pencil
Within a 3' circle, draw not-straight lines for 30 minutes.
Within a 3' square, draw straight lines for 30 minutes.
36 × 96 inches (as installed)

Sol LeWitt was one of the leading early figures in minimal and conceptual art. The wall drawings represent a radical development within the history of drawing in the 20th Century. These works question ideas of authorship and permanence — the concepts were LeWitt’s; execution was given over to others. Wall Drawing #1057 (for Merce Cunningham), 2002, combines elements of timed performance, simple geometric form, and poetic line.

Purchase of this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed and dated by the artist. Purchase does not include costs for installation, which consists of labor fees and materials. Gift of Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.

Estimated Value: $150,000

Note: The budget for the LeWitt retrospective at MASS MoCA is $8.6 million: $5.5 million for building renovation and art installation, $2.5 million for endowment, and $600,000 for the 3-volume catalogue raisonne. Yale has endowed a curatorial position for the conservation of all LeWitt archives and drawings, both at MASS MoCA and around the world, and Bruner/Cott & Associates has donated all architectural and engineering services for the project. However, to make the construction fit within the budget, a coveted item was removed from the renovation plan: maple flooring. The budget allows for masonite-like floors. We’d prefer the floors in the LeWitt galleries to match those in the rest of the 19th-century complex: beautiful hardwood maple floors. The successful bidder of this wall drawing will not only be lucky enough to own a particularly fine LeWitt, but will also provide for this very specific need of the LeWitt project at MASS MoCA.

Phil/Fingerprint, State II, 1981
Lithograph
48 1/4 × 35 3/4 inches
Published by Pace Editions, Inc.
Edition of 6

“Chuck Close has painted, drawn or made prints of the composer Philip Glass so many times that even he has lost count. The images, most based on a photograph Mr. Close took of a young, tousled and slightly wild-eyed Mr. Glass back in 1969, have had the odd effect of both freezing the young Mr. Glass in time and turning him into a landmark of contemporary art.” The New York Times, 2005

The larger-than-life lithograph offered here, created solely with impressions of the artist’s fingerprint, has become one of his most famous images. Chuck Close’s subjects are his family, his friends, himself, and fellow artists whose faces are described through his distinct, meticulous marks. His work is in numerous museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Gallery. The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited Close's prints in 2004. Gift of Chuck and Leslie Close.

Estimated Value: $75,000

Summer (Blue), 1991
Lithograph: Two Plates, Ed. 9/225
16 1/4 × 11 inches
Framed

In 1991, Brooke Alexander collaborated with Jasper Johns to publish a print titled Summer (Blue), derived from Johns’ painting Summer (1986), one of four paintings depicting the seasons. In each painting, Johns incorporates biographical iconography and elements from his life. The artist often reworks an image in another medium to explore new possibilities. Summer (Blue) includes the image of a George Ohr pot from the artist’s collection of George Ohr ceramics. Other key motifs that recur in the Seasons paintings are also found in this print: the Mona Lisa, a seahorse, the artist’s shadow, and a reference to Minotaur Moving His House by Picasso. Gift of Jasper Johns.

Estimated Value: $3,000

In addition to this large, wonderful lithograph, the winner is invited for a two-night stay at Robert Rauschenberg's beach house on Captiva Island (Florida), and tours of Rauschenberg's and Darryl Pottorf’s studios on their Captiva compound. he winning bidder will have dinner with Rauschenberg, Pottorf, and their gallerists Jane and Henry Eckert at the enigmatic Mad Hatter restaurant. (Airfare not included.) Courtesy of Robert Rauschenberg, Darryl Pottorf, and Eckert Fine Art, Florida.

(Estimated value of lithograph: $3,500)
Total Lot Value: Inestimable

This package includes dinner for 4 with former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent (who brims with stories about baseball, and also his time as chairman of Coca-Cola and Columbia Pictures) and a tour of MASS MoCA’s galleries and LeWitt building (under construction). (Dinner also includes 4 great wines: Shafer Hillside Select 2001 (WA 99), Kistler Cuvee Catherine Pinot Noir 2002 plus two rare French white burgundies). Plus you’ll spend 2 nights (2 rooms) at the luxurious Porches Inn at MASS MoCA (“one of the coolest new hotels in the world,” — Conde Nast Traveller), with massages at Tsubo Massage. We’ll even throw in tickets to North Adams’ semi-pro baseball team, the Steeplecats, where you might see the next Jeter. (To be redeemed 6/1-9/30/08) Courtesy of Fay Vincent, Mezze Catering, The Porches Inn, Tsubo Massage, Kristen Johanson, John and Jid Sprague, and MASS MoCA.

Total Lot Value: Inestimable

Diana Levinson
String Theory, 2007
Etching and Aquatint
22 × 16 inches
Framed

Barry Levinson is the Academy Award winning writer/director of such classic films as Diner, Rain Man, and Good Morning Vietnam. Tonight we are auctioning off an autographed copy of the 1980 shooting script from Diner, which was the first of a series of films set in the Baltimore of Levinson’s youth. Accompanying the script is an abstract print by Diana Levinson. Diana has exhibited at the Los Angeles Art Show and The Butler Art Museum, and her work is in the collections of the Creative Artist Agency, Judy and Michael Ovitz, Lisa and Dustin Hoffman, and Wendy and Martin Mull. Gift of Barry and Diana Levinson.

(Estimated value of Diana Levinson etching: $1,500)
Total Package Estimated Value: $4,000

Two guests will join MASS MoCA’s VIP trip to Sundance January 24-28, 2008, seeing choice films and meeting directors and writers. We’ll stay at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort tucked into the canyons above the fray of Park City (“Top 100 World’s Best Places to Stay” — Conde Nast Traveller) and each guest receives a spa massage and one activity (downhill or cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or yoga). The package includes 4 nights at the Resort, 4 breakfasts, 4 dinners, numerous screenings, and VIP festival credentials. Winner also will receive the first public copy (signed) of the script for Barry Levinson’s most recent film, What Just Happened?, starring Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, and Sean Penn, which is a likely Sundance selection. (Airfare not included.) Courtesy MASS MoCA and Barry Levinson.

Estimated Value: $7,500

Contemporary Palimpsest (Maternal Nocturne: Clearing Storm MASS MoCA #66-E), 2007
Polished mixed media on envelope over Chuck Close daguerreotype.
4 × 9.25 inches
Framed

In a 2005 profile, Fortune magazine called Stephen Hannock “the most accomplished and well-connected painter you’ve never heard of.” Since then, word is getting out about his luminous vistas with text, and his canvases are prized by collectors (Steve Tisch, William Lauder, and Tom Brokaw, among others) as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Art (Boston), and the National Gallery of Art (where he’s one of few contemporary artists in the collection.) In 1998, Hannock became the first museum-collected artist to win an Oscar — he created the “Painted World” for What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams. The Whitney recently acquired an “envelope” painting similar to the work offered here, which is painted on an actual mailed business envelope from the Tribeca Film Festival. The painting is executed over a Chuck Close daguerreotype. Gift of Stephen Hannock.

Estimated Value: $25,000

Untitled Production Still from Beneath the Roses, Summer 2007
Digital Inkjet Print: Ed. 1/1 (with one Artist’s Proof)
12 × 18 inches

Gregory Crewdson works within a photographic tradition that combines the documentary style of William Eggleston and Walker Evans with the dream-like vision of filmmakers such as Stephen Spielberg and David Lynch. His elaborate, haunting photographs are highly sought-after, and have been acquired by museums including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MoMA, and the Whitney. In addition to the production still (shot in Pittsfield, MA) the winner will receive a specially-designed autographed boxed edition of Crewdson’s Beneath the Roses book (to be published by Harry N. Abrams) and a walk-through with Gregory of his upcoming show after it opens in New York (April 4), L.A. (April 17), or London (April 25), followed by lunch. (Winner chooses location; travel not included.) Gift of Gregory Crewdson.

(Estimated print value: $8,000)
Total Lot Value: Inestimable

Sky (Over the North Atlantic at 35,970 feet, October 29, 2007), 2007
48 × 48 inches

Spencer Finch, whose first retrospective, What Time Is It on the Sun?, is currently on exhibit at MASS MoCA, blends scientific method and a poetic sensibility in his artistic practice. His work is in the collections of the High Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, Museum für Moderne Kunst, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, among others.

Estimated value: $25,000

The Bridge of Years; Bascule, 2007
Ink and pencil on Denril
13 7/8 × 17 inches

“Something unusual happened at the opening reception for Matthew Ritchie’s exhibition at Andrea Rosen Gallery. All around the crowded room people actually looked at the paintings.” dArt International, 2002

Matthew Ritchie explores a self-created cosmological system through his work — an endless and complex landscape where various ideas and concepts can coexist. He draws upon a vocabulary of scientific notations, cartoon characters, mythology, biblical tales and pulp fiction to illustrate the workings of his alternate universe. His work is featured in the collections of the Whitney, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. MASS MoCA hosted Ritchie’s sweeping solo exhibition Proposition Player in 2004. Courtesy of Matthew Ritchie and Andrea Rosen Gallery.

Estimated Value: $20,000

Enjoy a 7-night stay in a stunning 2 bedroom, 2 bath slope-side townhome offering ski-in ski-out luxury at the exclusive Cedar Creek in Whistler, British Columbia. The accommodations are architecturally spectacular with a rock-faced wood burning fireplace, terrific kitchen and outdoor hot tub. Step out your door onto Blackcomb’s Cruiser run, or sit back and watch the incredible mountain scene unfold from your floor to ceiling windows. (Airfare not included; to be redeemed by 10/31/08.) Courtesy of Jack and Susy Wadsworth.

Estimated Value: $7,000

Robert Mangold
Column Structure XVI (study), 2007
Pastel and pencil on paper
22 1/2 × 25 3/8 inches

Sylvia Plimack Mangold
Pin Oak Crown, 2006
Aquatint and Drypoint: Ed. x/34
17 3/4 × 23 × 3/4 inches

Sol LeWitt
Schematic for Muybridge II, 1964/1969
Published in 1970 by Multiples, Inc., New York, NY.

The centerpiece of this special package, one that chronicles a close friendship between artists, is an exquisite drawing by Robert Mangold, a beautiful print by Sylvia Mangold and an early Sol LeWitt photo/schematic print. In addition to these three works, the winning bidder is invited to visit the studios of Robert Mangold and Sylvia Plimack Mangold in New York’s Hudson Valley, and to see where a large scale cement block sculpture by Sol LeWitt is being installed on their rural property. Also included in this lot is a private tour of the Yale University Art Gallery’s newly-renovated Louis Kahn building with museum director Jock Reynolds, which includes a private viewing of selected drawings and prints by Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Sol LeWitt, and Chuck Close in the Gallery’s Duffy Study Center, to be followed by dinner for six guests with Jock and his wife Suzanne at Ibiza on High Street in New Haven. Gift of Robert and Sylvia Mangold and Jock Reynolds and Suzanne Hellmuth.

(Estimated Value of Robert Mangold drawing: $30,000)
(Estimated Value of Sylvia Mangold print: $3,500)
(Estimated Value of Sol LeWitt multiple: $1,400)
Total Lot Value: Inestimable

Tour the Long Island City studio of sculptor Don Gummer (whose massive stone work Primary Separation is installed at MASS MoCA) and enjoy dinner at Tom Colicchio’s flagship restaurant Craft with Don and his wife, Academy Award winning actress Meryl Streep, one of the smartest, most interesting screen legends of our time. Dinner includes 6 hard-to-find, spectacular wines: Shafer Hillside Select 2001 (WA 100), Kistler Cuvee Elizabeth Pinot Noir 2002, Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder 2001, Pichon Lalande 2000 (WA 97) Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille 2006 (WA 94-96) and Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard 2005 (WA 95-97). (Dinner gratuity not included.) Courtesy of Don Gummer and Meryl Streep, Tom Colicchio and Craft Restaurants, and Kristen Johanson.

Total Lot Value: Inestimable

If you have questions about any of these auction items, you may call Jennifer Thompson at 413.664.4481 x8100 or email jennifer@massmoca.org.