NEW YORK, NY.- Twenty-four works from The Estate of Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom will be sold in Bonhams auctions in New York and Los Angeles, from April through November 2021. Leading the group is Fairfield Porter’s (1907-1975) Yawl in the Channel, a magnificent landscape which will highlight the American Art Sale in New York on May 20. The painting is estimated at $700,000-1,000,000.

This masterwork by Porter, one of the leading representational American painters of the mid-20th century, was painted in the final two years of his life. The colorful landscape presents the artist’s mature painterly technique while still imbuing his own emotion, thoughts, and feelings into the work. The painting is a fantastic example of his commitment to a direct approach to the canvas and belief in the ability of paint itself to bring life to a scene.

Bonhams Specialist, Aaron Anderson, commented: “A prized worked in the collection of famed artist, arts philanthropist, and retail pioneer Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom since 1992, Yawl in the Channel is a masterful and important contribution to American art. This historic painting is an outstanding example in Fairfield Porter’s oeuvre. Likely a representation of Great Spruce Head Island surrounding the Porter family home, it brilliantly and beautifully conveys a strong sense of place and reflects the artist’s insistence on the relevance of authentically lived experiences as an important subject matter in contemporary American art.”

Widely recognized for her philanthropic endeavors, Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom was an esteemed collector and champion of arts and culture through and through. In 1950, she married real estate developer Henry T. Segerstrom and throughout the 1960s, she developed both her art historical knowledge, working as a docent at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, now known as the Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, California, as well as her own artistic practice, studying as a pupil to American Scene painter Roger Kuntz (1926-1975).

In 1967 the Segerstrom family opened South Coast Plaza, the still-largest shopping complex on the West Coast of the United States. Mrs. Segerstrom subsequently co-owned and operated several luxury fashion boutiques within the complex. Yet her interest in promoting the arts never wavered; in the 1970s she introduced her husband to the work of artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), resulting in the commission of Noguchi’s highly celebrated California Scenario (1982, South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, California), a 1.6-acre integrated landscape composition made of seven massive structural elements.

Later in life, Mrs. Segerstrom moved to Los Angeles, earning a BFA from Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. She eventually established a studio in the LA Arts District. For the rest of her life, she began splitting her time between Los Angeles and Paris, France, creating and exhibiting her paintings, prints, and jewelry. A member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art's Director's Circle and the Museum of Contemporary Art's Directors Forum, Mrs. Segerstrom leaves behind a legacy as both an accomplished multidisciplinary artist as well as a leading patron of the Southern California arts community.

Additional highlights from The Estate of Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom:




Post-War & Contemporary Art: Made in California, April 14, 2021, Los Angeles.

• Claire Falkenstein (American, 1908-1997), Untitled, circa 1970, copper with glass, 14 3/4 x 21 x 14in, Estimate: $20,000-$30,000.

Impressionist & Modern Art, May 13, New York.

• Dame Barbara Hepworth (British, 1903-1975), Helius, 1956, from an edition of 7, bronze with green patina, 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 8in, Estimate: $100,000-$150,000.

American Art, May 20, 2021, New York.

• Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), View of Islands, 8 3/4 x 14 1/8in (22.2 x 35.9cm), Executed in 1965, Estimate: $8,000-$12,000.

Prints & Multiples, September 29, 2021, Los Angeles.

• Various Artists The MoCA Portfolio, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1999-2000. The Complete Set of Six Signed, Dated and Numbered Various Media Prints (Some in Colors) Contained in Original Red Cloth-covered Portfolio Box Designed by Frank Gehry. Artists and Titles: Vija Celmins, Untitled (Spider Web); Brice Marden, L.A. Muses; Ed Ruscha, Pico, Flower, Figueroa; Ann Hamilton, Written; Martin Puryear, Untitled; and Richard Serra, MoCA Print. Estimate: $25,000-$35,000.