As May's Marquis Auction house draws, the main houses are launching their own top lots to inspire buyers' enthusiasm, even as tariffs swing markets and investment shocks. The season's outstanding shipments include nine abstract masterpieces composed of SID and Anne Bass, part of their highly anticipated 20th Night Sale. Selected major works by groundbreaking artists such as Mark Rothko, Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Morris Louis and Gino Severini, all at auction after living in harmony with the couple’s design and architecture in the huge Fort Worth, Texas.
“We are excited to showcase art from the bass house this spring. This collection brings together the best works of art, architecture, design and style and passes through the cross-section of the best names in modern art,” Rachael White Young, 20 20Th Christie's New York Christe told Changever. “The series tells the quality of each work and the unique and elegant marriage of art and architecture within the space.”
The story of the bass house
The couple commissioned the bass houses from American architect Paul Rudolph in the early 1970s as “a prolific career in Rudolph and one of the great achievements of American architecture.” It is the architect's largest and most ambitious single-family residential project. The Beth House has admired legendary architects for years. Sid first met Rudolph's work at Yale, where Rudolph designed the university's art and architecture building. Anne's appreciation of art and architecture while studying art history and Italian literature at Vasa College before marrying a Texas oil tycoon.
Determined to commission Rudolph to design the future home, the couple spent a whole year drafting a letter to make their request. Rudolph accepted the condition that the house must be regarded as a comprehensive work of art and that the architecture and artwork were carried out in the dialogue, completing and enhancing the architectural and design characteristics of the project. It is worth noting that there were only 28 bass at that time.
Rudolph provides a savage symphony of floating planes, minimal color and clean amount, a structure that is the same as observation. Natural light plays a key role in the exquisite orchestration of the relationship between light and space between blank space and the entire area, and the building structure is designed to maintain an organic and open relationship with its surroundings.
Installation View, Mark Rothko (1903-1970), No. 4 (Two Leaders) [Orange Plum Black]1950-51, in the piano room of the bass house. Photography by Martien Mulder
One of the highlights of the bass house series that Christie will offer in the evening sale is the two central monument canvas hanging in the living room, Gamma UPSILON Morris Louis, estimated at $20,000-30,000, Firuzabad III Frank Stella ($100,000-2 million). The collection contains other large works, including nearly eight by 15 feet Blue black Elsworth Kelly (estimated: $40-6 million), dominates the sports room, and Anne's love Dansuse By Gino Severini (EST. $150-2.5 million) sat on her desk, paying tribute to her lifelong ballet dedication – she took classes almost every week until she passed away.
More meditation abstractions come from two original Agnes Martins: Untitled #11 ($35,000-5,500,000) and Untitled #2 ($15,000-2,500,000), both sides of the piano. Together, these works express Anne's reputation for sophistication and rigorously meticulous taste, which she has been a collector and patron for decades.
The deal died after his death in April 2020. She divorced Sid Bass in 1988, ensuring that the largest divorce settlement in Texas at the time secured more than $200 million. Although she quit the Association Tour in the 2000s, she remains a force for cultural philanthropy, on the boards of the Fort Worth Museum of Art, the New York City Ballet, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the New York Botanical Gardens, and donated her own Couture fragments and donated her own Couture fragments to be found in the Metropolitan Museum Art Art Art of Costume Institute.
A portion of Anne's collection has been offered at Christie's auction in 2022, totaling $363.1 million, exceeding the $250 million pre-sale estimate and comes with white gloves, with 149% of the plots above the undervalued. Leaded by the iconic $75.9 million Claude Monet Soleil Couchant Le Parlement (1903),,,,, Sales set twelve new records at the time, including Edgar Degas danseuse de quatorze ans, That earned $41.6 million. At the time, Max Carter, head of Impressionism and Modern Art, described Anne H. Bass Collection as “the pinnacle of the artist, the pinnacle of taste, the pinnacle of modern collections.”
Other notable works in Christie's headlines in May
This latest top consignment is linked to other headlines from Christie, including Monet Peupliers au bord de l'epte, crépusculewill be During the 20th century evening sale of Christie on May 12, an estimate of up to $30 million was offered, with an estimated $50 million. The painting has excellent origins and remains in the Durand-Ruel family until 1955 and has been held in a private collection for the past 60 years. Listing the lineup is Remedios Varo's Rare Canvas of 1955 Revelación (El Relojero)and one of Andy Warhol's most controversial and political works, Large electric chair (Orange), an estimated charge of nearly $30 million from Matthys-Colle Collection.
The same week Christie will also auction another version of René Magritte L'Empire des Lumières Piet Mondrian of Barnes & Noble and his wife Louise founder Leonard Riggio and Piet Mondrian in 1922 were created by Piet Mondrian, which was won this season by Christie’s other major consignment sales, which will be offered in the dedication to lead the 20th and 21st century art auction series. Meanwhile, the auction house announced 200,000-300,000 portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat Baby Prosperity Starting from his most coveted period, the 1980s made its debut with a 21st century evening sales highlight in Christie’s New York on May 14.
As the total number of auction houses continues to decline over the past two years, according to the latest Basel and UBS reports, hit 25% last year alone, with these first launches Tariff Marquee sales going to be a key test in the art market. As of now, it is clear that auction houses are competing fiercely to ensure competition for the highest goods, as only the highest quality plots continue to perform well in an increasingly selective and cautious buyer environment.
