NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the forthcoming Design auction featuring a curated selection of important design from across the 20th and 21st centuries. Featuring an enhanced virtual experience and livestreamed via custom-built salesrooms in London and New York on July 29, Phillips will telegraph the excitement and energy of a live sale to collectors worldwide. Showcasing more than 120 works hailing from important collections including the Estate of Claire Frankel alongside remarkable works of French and Dutch design the sale is highlighted by designers including Alberto Giacometti, Jeroen Verhoeven, Jean Prouvé, Wendell Castle, Jean Dunand, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, Studio Job, Charlotte Perriand, Ron Arad, Shiro Kuramata, Ingrid Donat, Harry Bertoia, Peter Voulkos, and George Nakashima amongst others.
Cordelia Lembo, Phillips’ Head of Department, said “We are thrilled to present our signature mix of iconic design alongside the work of emerging designers, offering a compelling picture of design across the 20th and 21st centuries and offering our collectors a sense of discovery that is unique to Phillips. Furthermore, 2020 has proven to be a year where we’ve seen a greater importance placed on our domestic environments and we’ve seen sustained interest in design around the world.”
Phillips presents important design across all categories including furniture, lighting, sculpture and ceramics. Highlighting the sale are two rare and remarkable lamps by the renowned 20th century sculptor Alberto Giacometti. The Écossais table lamp, circa 1935, is crafted from plaster and features a stylized figure that comes to life through the play of shadow and light across the pristine white surface.” Tête de Femme, designed circa 1934, is fabricated from cast bronze and has a beautiful rich patina.
Also highlighting the sale is the iconic “Cinderella” Table by Jeroen Verhoven, one of the most innovative and sought after designers of the 21st century. Verhoven became a nearly overnight success with the debut of the “Cinderella” table produced from 2004 – 2007. The deconstructed CNC-cut birch plywood table form is complex—from different vantage points, the table takes on entirely unique shapes. Just as the Cinderella fairytale is a story of transformation, the table transforms based on the viewer’s perspective. To construct the table, Verhoeven began by drawing the silhouettes of a baroque table and a bombé chest, iconic furniture forms from the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. He then used computer software to merge the silhouettes into one three-dimensional form. By combining these two forms, Verhoeven simultaneously injected himself into a centuries-long history of exquisite artistry and craftsmanship while also heralding a new vision for the future of design. The “Cinderella” table belongs to the permanent collection of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Phillips presents a curated selection of ceramics positioning emerging ceramists such as Seiji Kobayashi alongside well-established names such as Lucie Rie and Peter Voulkos.
Eleven works by Lucie Rie and Hans Coper come to Phillips from the journalist Claire Frankel’s Estate. Frankel began acquiring Rie’s work during the early 1980s and the sale celebrates this modern British potter. The collection includes one lot, Ovoid pot with disc, circa 1965, by Hans Coper, with whom Rie worked closely with for more than thirty years.
