New York | +1 212 606 7176 | Darrell Rocha | Darrell.Rocha@Sothebys.com
Dan Abernethy | Dan.Abernethy@Sothebys.com
Sotheby’s to Offer
Property from the Celebrated Collection of
Lolo Sarnoff
TO BE AUCTIONED ACROSS A
SERIES OF SALES IN SPRING 2015
Featuring Impressionist & Modern Art,
Chinese Works of Art and Important Porcelain
NEW YORK, 21 April 2015 – Sotheby’s is honored to
announce that it will present Property from the Collection
of Lolo Sarnoff across several sales in New York and
London throughout the spring of 2015. The selection of
work on offer – spanning Impressionist & Modern Art,
Chinese Works of Art and important French Faience
porcelain – follows Sotheby’s legendary six-day, 700 lot
auction in 1978 of the collection of Lolo Sarnoff’s stepfather, Robert von Hirsch.
Warren Weitman, Chairman of Sotheby’s Americas,
commented: “It is a great privilege for Sotheby’s to present
works from this extraordinary collection. Lolo Sarnoff had
an exceptional eye and keen intelligence, qualities that are
Pablo Picasso
Le Hibou noir
1952
Estimate $800,000 / 1.2 million
evident throughout the collection. The refinement and sophistication of her step-father, celebrated
art collector Robert von Hirsch, can be seen in the salon-style display of paintings and works on
paper throughout her home. Nearly every important movement of Impressionist and Modern art is
represented, in addition to a remarkable assemblage of German, Dutch, and French Faience
animals, birds and trompe l’oeil wares, the core of which was acquired by her maternal grandfather
Louis Koch. The collection also includes fine Chinese jades and snuff bottles believed to have been
collected by her father, Willy Dreyfus. We look forward to introducing a new generation of collectors
to the taste and connoisseurship of this extraordinary family.”
LOLO SARNOFF – A LEGACY OF COLLECTING
Lolo Sarnoff and her family had a remarkable and
distinguished heritage of collecting. Her maternal
grandfather, Louis Koch (1862 – 1930) co-founded the
House of Koch and was appointed jeweler to the Court
of Frankfurt in 1883. Louis Koch’s daughter, Martha
(1892 – 1965) married banker and art collector Willy
Dreyfus (1885 – 1977). Their daughter Lolo was born in
1916 in Frankfurt where she spent the first two decades
The Koch/Dreyfus family, circa 1925
of her life. In 1936, Martha moved to Switzerland and
later remarried Robert von Hirsch, a friend from her
youth in Frankfurt.
Upon his death in 1977, von Hirsch left an extraordinary collection of
Impressionist & Modern Art, Old Master Paintings, Medieval and
Renaissance Works of Art, Furniture and Porcelain. Lolo, together
with her brother, Richard Dreyfus, fulfilled their father’s wish to
circulate his art on the market by consigning the collection for auction
at Sotheby’s London in June of 1978. The “white-glove” sale series
(100% sold-by-lot) consisted of 700 lots and lasted six days. A record
total of $32 million was achieved including 53 world auction records.
Lolo acquired works from this historic sale and received many others
by bequest from the von Hirsch estate, the majority of which
Lolo Sarnoff in her studio,
2005
Photograph © 2005
Katherine Lambert
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remained in her home in Maryland until her passing last year.
An accomplished sculptress in her own right, Lolo exhibited internationally since 1969, and a number
of her pieces appear in private and public collections around the world. Lolo was not only an artist
and collector, but also a dedicated philanthropist. Arts for the Aging (AFTA), an organization to help
people with dementia lead fuller lives through art, was the natural evolution of her passions for art,
science and philanthropy.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SARNOFF COLLECTION
IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART – MAY 2015
Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art on 5
May will feature works from the Sarnoff Collection including
two sculptures by Pablo Picasso. Le Chat is among the most
idiosyncratic and arresting sculptures executed by the artist
during the final years of World War II – the life-sized sculpture
is fiercely animated and poised to leap (left, est. $2/3 million).
Le Hibou noir appeared in the von Hirsch sale and was
acquired by Lolo Sarnoff in 1978. Additional property from the
von Hirsch Collection on offer in May will include works by Paul
Cezanne and Pierre-August Renoir.
The Day Sale on 6 May will feature a comprehensive offering of
additional artwork from the collection spanning from the late19th through to the mid-20th centuries, and representing
primarily French and German movements. Highlights include:
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Danse, Étude pour le Moulin de la
Galette from 1876 (est. $700/900,000); Georges Braque’s
Légumier from 1924 (est. $100/150,000); and Marc Chagall’s
Bouquet
avec
les
amoureux
from
1949
(right,
est.
$350/450,000).
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ASIA WEEK – MARCH 2015
The first offerings from the collection have already
been enthusiastically received by collectors. On 17
March during the Asia Week series of sales the Da
Guan Tang Bao: An Important Imperial Jade Seal,
Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period soared over the high
estimate of $1.5 million to sell for $4,450,000 anchoring the highly successful Inscriptions: History
as Art sale. The seal was one of approximately 1,800 the Qianlong Emperor had made for himself
from various materials, but is distinguished by its artistic and historical connections to the
Emperor’s southern tours. Other Sarnoff Collection highlights included A Celadon Jade 'Three
Rams' Carving, Qing Dynasty, 18th century, which also soared over to the high estimate to sell for
$322,000.
UPCOMING AUCTION CALENDAR
Property from the Collection of Lolo Sarnoff
will appear in the following Sotheby’s auctions this spring:
Prints
New York, 1 May 2015
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
New York, 5 May 2015
Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
New York, 6 May 2015
Impressionist & Modern Art
New York, 27 May 2015
Old Master Paintings
New York, 4 June 2015
Fine Books & Manuscripts
New York, 12 June 2015
Old Master Drawings
London, 8 July 2015
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*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium and prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
Images are available upon request
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