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SEAGRAM
20th-century treasures of a landmark corporate collection
By Meredith Etherington-Smith
Phyllis Lambert, daughter of Samuel Bronfman, was living in Paris in 1954 when she was sent an image for the proposed design of the skyscraper her father was planning to build for Seagram's corporate headquarters on Park Avenue. In a long, closely argued letter, she strongly rejected the scheme. She returned to New York, where Bronfman entrusted her to choose the architect. After six weeks of research, she had the vision to commission Mies van der Rohe, Bauhaus pioneer and a creator of the International style, to design the building. With Philip Johnson, and Lambert as Director of Planning, Mies's skyscraper, enclosed in a bronze coloured glass and bronze metal skin, made architectural history.
The tower, completed in 1958 is set back in its own granite plaza, and with the renowned Four Seasons restaurant occupying its lower floors. It is a famous masterpiece, whose materials are its sole embellishments. But, under the rule of the Bronfman family, embellishment of another kind also made the Seagram Building special—its corporate and public art collection.
These were formed through the energy and vision of Phyllis Lambert, working with curators at MoMA and Philip Johnson, to acquire and commission works of art. She has stated that 'in public spaces, sculpture and painting were, in essence, part of the building itself.' She selected works of art for the public spaces to enhance the aesthetic spirit of the building via the creations of the generation of artists contemporary with the skyscraper. The collection thus includes works by Joan Miró, Fernand Leger, Mark Rothko, Larry Rivers,Robert Rauschenberg and Pablo Picasso.
There were, in effect, seven separate Seagram collections, of which Christie's is selling at auction the paintings, prints and tapestries from the 1950s. Other properties are subject to private sale, notably a much-loved New York landmark, Picasso's great stage curtain for Diaghilev's 1919 ballet, Le Tricorne. This has hung since 1960 in the great glass-enclosed walkway that runs between the Four Seasons' bar room and its elegant pool room.
Another Seagram collection which is to be sold privately is the 'Drawings by Sculptors', representing the work of two decades of conceptual and minimalist sculptors. Formed by David Bellman with Lambert, the collection focuses on the thinking process behind art, rather than the art itself. These are working or preparatory drawings of great art historical value and fascination by environmental sculptor Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, filmmaker and artist Michael Snow and sculptor Vito Acconci.
Known primarily as a distiller of spirits, the Seagram Company formed a unique and appropriate collection of American and European drinking vessels from the 17th through to the 19th centuries. Again, with the support and encouragement of Lambert, these were assembled between 1957 and 1961 under the guidance of Olga Raggio, now Distinguished Research Curator of European Arts at the Metropolitan Museum. The collection of over 300 containers for wines and whiskies is also to be offered privately by Christie's.
Looking back over the history of the Seagram building and its Corporate Collection, which she did so much to form, Lambert commented: 'The Seagram building is the recognized high point of modernism, both as architecture and in its urban stance. But it is also more—it stands as a cultural institution with its collections, its exhibitions, its program of public art. The company became known for its sense of responsibility to the public "in New York and the rest of the world."'
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MARK ROTHKO (1903-1970)
Sale 1232, Lot 35
Brown and Blacks in Reds, 1957
Oil on canvas
Estimate: $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
To be sold 14 May 2003, Post War and Contemporary Art (Evening Sale)
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JOAN MIRO (1893-1983)
Sale 1229, Lot 31
Peinture, 1952
Oil on canvas
Estimate: $400,000 - 600,000
To be sold 7 May 2003, Impressionist & Modern Art (Evening Sale)
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LARRY RIVERS (1923-2002)
Sale 1232, Lot 41
The Accident, 1957
Oil on canvas
Estimate: $200,000 - 300,000
To be sold 14 May 2003, Post War and Contemporary Art (Evening Sale)
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PABLO PICASSO
Sale 1226, Lot 545
Buste au corsage à carreaux (B. 849; M. 308), 1957
Lithograph
Estimate: $15,000 - 20,000
To be sold 29 April 2003, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Prints
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