Collector, scholar, friend: Herbert Lust’s life in art

‘No one lives in a vacuum, but rather swims with broken limbs in a complex pool built from countless ripples,’ wrote Herbert Lust. These words, used to describe the interconnectedness of human experience, offer a fitting lens through which to view his own life in art. Lust's journey from Indiana to a Fulbright scholarship in Paris and a later career on Wall Street was shaped by a succession of meaningful encounters, friendships and fortunate turns. Throughout, Lust believed in the power of intellect, curiosity and a dash of luck.

Though he left teaching literature to pursue a career in finance, Lust never abandoned his intellectual endeavours. He became an accomplished scholar, writer and collector, building one of his generation’s greatest collections of modern and contemporary art and drawing on his literary background to write extensively on Alberto Giacometti, Hans Bellmer and Robert Indiana, among others.

Lust learned to distrust his immediate reactions to contemporary art, instead seeking to understand the how and why behind great artists’ achievements. What distinguished him, however, was not only his curiosity and wit, but the enduring friendships he formed with many of the artists in his collection.

‘It is rare to encounter a collection of the breadth and quality of Herbert Lust’s,’ says Vanessa Fusco, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s. ‘It is rarer still to encounter a collection that tells such a powerful human story. Beyond the individual masterpieces and retrospective depth of certain artists, the collection tells a story of intellectual curiosity, deep personal relationships and a lifetime devoted to discovery.’

As a collector, scholar and friend, Lust assembled an extraordinary group of works that illuminate the pivotal creative chapters of the last century. From Giacometti to Alexander Calder, Indiana to Mary Bauermeister and Bellmer to Frank Stella, Lust’s collection reflects decades of sustained engagement with the artists represented within it. This November, Christie’s will offer masterpieces from Herbert Lust: Collector, Scholar, Friend. The sale series will begin with the New York November marquee week, with artworks included in the 20th Century Evening Sale and a dedicated Herbert Lust Collection Day Sale. Subsequent sales will take place in New York, London and Paris.

In the company of artists

Beyond the individual masterpieces, the collection tells a far richer story: one of intellectual curiosity, deep personal relationships and a lifetime devoted to discovery. While studying in Paris in 1949 on a Fulbright scholarship, Lust was introduced to a rich community of artists and writers. It was during this time that his devotion to art was ignited.

A chance encounter with Alberto Giacometti followed by an invitation to the artist’s studio led to a lifelong friendship and, ultimately, one of the most expansive collections of Giacometti works in the world. In his memoir honouring his friend and their time together, Alberto Giacometti: Friendship & Love, Lust wrote of their first encounter, ‘He electrified me. When we were introduced he stared at me straight in the eye, a voyage that explored, reasoned, debated, attacked and caressed all at once.’

The cornerstone of Lust’s collection was Giacometti’s Figure, demie grandeur (no. 2). One of the earliest known full standing bronzes from the post-war period, the sculpture captures the artist’s great love, Isabel Delmar. Here, her features are delicately articulated in a dark bronze, and her hair is pulled back into an elegant chignon. The work is a masterful example of Giacometti’s standing figures. ‘In no bronze does Alberto depict better a man’s love for a woman,’ writes Lust. ‘She is love, tenderness, courage and majesty incarnate, a weightless queen in an invisible kingdom.’

Lust’s collecting was also informed by the practices of Gertrude Stein, one of his literary heroes. Through his friendship with her partner Alice B. Toklas, Lust was schooled on Stein’s pioneering patronage of avant-garde creators. He subsequently used funds from his modest Fulbright grant to purchase an Yves Tanguy painting, one of his first major acquisitions.

From there, Lust built a distinguished collection of Surrealist holdings. Tanguy’s painting Qui répondra? (1948) exemplifies Lust’s fascination with the movement and showcases the artist’s dreamscapes where genres are blurred to brilliant effect.

Lust also built one of the most significant collections of Hans Bellmer works, including Jointure de boules (La Poupée) (1934-1936), the artist’s largest and most important 1930s construction in private hands. The assemblage is emblematic of the Poupée, Bellmer’s defining contribution to the Surrealist movement. In breaking down and reconstructing the female form, Bellmer aimed to provoke and investigate the nature of desire. This work was also his singular contribution to the legendary 1936 Exposition Surréaliste d'objets at Galerie Charles Ratton in Paris.

Widening the lens

Lust’s wide-ranging collection also included works by American masters like Stella, Calder and Indiana. He was introduced to Calder by Giacometti in 1961, and just four years later acquired his first mobile by the artist. He continued to collect works by Calder across media including Pomegranate Pods, a vibrant 1946 painting that highlights his exploration into organic shapes and plant forms.

But it was not until a chance encounter with Robert Indiana at a society gathering hosted by the du Pont family that Lust’s predilection for European art was truly challenged. Indiana asserted that Calder was not ‘really an American’ and was outraged by Lust’s reluctance to collect American art. A spirited debate ensued and gave way to an enduring friendship.

Lust ultimately acquired more than 30 works by Indiana, including important examples such as FOUR (1965) and LOVE (1975). The artist’s Lust Family Portrait (AMOR/LOVE/EROS/LUST) (1995), inscribed ‘For Virginia and Herbert Lust,’ remains a testament to their relationship. Lust also championed the artist in other ways. As his friendship with Indiana deepened, he produced catalogue essays on the artist’s work. His collecting and scholarly pursuits were always intertwined, and his writing helped to advance appreciation for Indiana’s contribution to American art. Later, during a period when Indiana’s reputation had waned, Lust’s wife, Virginia, mounted a major exhibition of his work at her gallery, helping to renew interest in the artist’s contributions to Pop art.

Through Virginia’s gallery, Lust also forged meaningful relationships with artists such as Frank Stella. A centrepiece of his collection is Stella’s early masterpiece Les Indes galantes (1962) from the Mitered Mazes series. Rejecting the conventions of Abstract Expressionism, Stella embraced reductive, minimalist shapes. In the series, he created square canvases with bright bands of colour radiating out from the centre. Les Indes galantes, made after Stella’s journey to Europe in 1961, is one of just four large-scale Mitered Mazes. All three others are held in the permanent collections of major museums. The title refers to Jean-Philippe Rameau’s 18th-century French opera-ballet, one of many cultural invocations Stella makes in the titles of his work.

These diverse encounters with artists and the cultural histories behind their work were central to Lust’s collecting approach. Through insatiable curiosity, sophisticated scholarship and deep friendships, Herbert Lust redefined what it meant to be a collector. He reflected that, ‘A collector is never anything more than a shadow for the artist.’ This sentiment captures the spirit of his collection and his fascination with the artists, ideas and histories behind the works he championed.