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Event date 5月20日 -
Event location 紐約
Henry ‘Hank’ S. McNeil, Jr. was a curator of art, ideas and the natural world. Renowned for assembling one of the world’s most important collections of Minimalism, his life was replete with the masterworks of Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt and their peers. The magic of McNeil’s collection lay in his ability to live so beautifully among these extraordinary objects — artworks typically encountered in institutional settings. McNeil’s Philadelphia home is renowned as much for its warmth and serenity as it is for the supreme quality of the works within.
Works from the Henry S. McNeil Jr. collection will tour globally before being sold at Christie’s New York in our May 20th/21st Century sale series.
Highlights
DONALD JUDD (1928-1994)
Untitled, 1969
Donald Judd’s relentless pursuit of clarity finds potent expression in his masterpiece stack, Untitled (1969). This is undoubtedly the most important work from Judd ever to come to market. Composed of 10 rectangular units cantilevered in a vertical column from floor to ceiling, the work unites two of Judd’s most visceral and celebrated materials — copper and red Plexiglas — into a mesmerising, spatially commanding presence. The interplay of glowing copper and translucent red Plexiglas generates shifting visual effects, transforming Judd’s austere geometry into an unexpectedly sumptuous experience. The combination of these two most sought-after materials exists in only two Judd stacks, and the present work is the only example in private hands. Distinguished by its chromatic radiance, monumental scale and pivotal early date, the work announces a rapturous fusion of material, space and colour within a single iconic form.
SOL LEWITT (1928–2007)
Wall Drawing #1112, Square with Broken Bands of Color, 2003
The crowning treasure of a lifetime of patronage and friendship between McNeil and Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #1112, Square with Broken Bands of Color (2003) is among the artist’s most spectacular works. LeWitt’s wall drawings represent a pivotal shift in the definition of art. They were conceived through written instructions, rather than the action of the artist’s hand. By allowing others to interpret his directions, LeWitt emphasised that the concept, rather than the execution, is the true artwork. Wall drawings are evolving, collaborative acts of creation, demonstrating how conceptual rigour can coexist with aesthetic richness and experiential depth. Few, if any, radiate with such mesmerising joy as this work.
DAN FLAVIN (1933–1996)
the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi)
the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi) is Dan Flavin’s definitive breakthrough — the electric moment when he transformed the medium of light into a fully autonomous artwork. This marked the very first time any artist realised this concept, and McNeil’s is the first in the edition. Installed as a single gold fluorescent lamp set at a 45‑degree angle — what he called ‘the diagonal of personal ecstasy’ — the piece declares itself with immediate force. Its radiant glow, inspired partly by Flavin’s encounter with the luminous grounds of Russian icons, creates an aura stripped of mysticism and charged with optical intensity. Flavin soon recognised its kinship with Brancusi’s Endless Column, with both works achieving a distilled visual unity that gestures toward boundlessness. In this diagonal, Flavin discovered fluorescent light’s sublime potential, catalysing his subsequent practice.
CARL ANDRE (1935–2024)
66 Copper‑Carbon Corner, 2006
Carl Andre’s 66 Copper‑Carbon Corner is a beguiling example of the artist’s core sculptural language. Introducing pure carbon as a medium — an element as old as the universe yet decidedly futuristic — the work transcends age. This shift followed Andre’s 1970 visit to Japan, where traditional Zen gardens, in a state of constant evolution, influenced his thinking. Seeking substances more chronologically ubiquitous, he integrated carbon to extend his exploration of temporal presence. Andre’s sculptures simultaneously function as sites for a bodily, sensory experience. In 66 Copper‑Carbon Corner, this interplay becomes strikingly clear, uniting material variability with Andre’s foundational spatial logic.