Rauschenberg And Fontana Highlights Of Sotheby’s Auction Of Hoglund Collection

Rauschenberg

Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale in London on February 10 will feature works by artists like Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg and Jean Tinguely. The works up for auction are from the Hoglunch collection, that started in Sweden’s midcentury cultural heyday. Beginning January 21, in New York, Sotheby’s will preview these and other works from its upcoming London sales. The Hoglund collection also includes rare, important works by artists such as James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg, the works were acquired from pre-eminent galleries such as Leo Castelli and Sonnabend, or directly from the artists.

Anna-Sinta Malmborg Hoglund and Gunnar Hoglund, were both medical doctors, and were known as voracious collectors in Sweden in the 1960s and ’70s, when that country was a major cultural hub. Postwar prosperity in Sweden contributed to a thriving art scene, which was further fuelled by the Moderna Museet, founded in Stockholm in 1958, and headed by Pontus Hultén, who helped draw early attention to important artists like Andy Warhol.

The Hoglunds began collecting art as students, but in 1958, but when Picasso’s Guernica toured to Sweden and was exhibited in an old military drill hall – while the Moderna Museet was being constructed – the Hoglund’s passion for collecting was ignited, never to diminish.

The top lot to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s is Fontana’s ‘Concetto Spaziale’ (1965), which is estimated at $7.5 to $10 million (£5 to £7 million). The work was acquired by the Hoglunds the year after its creation. Another of the highlights include a Rauschenberg Untitled (small oil on canvas #4) (1963) that is estimated at $1.2 to $1.8 million (£800,000 to £1.2 million), and finally John Chamberlain’s Swans-52 (1976), which is estimated at $529,000 to $681,000 (£350 to £450,000). Highlights will be on view at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters, but only until Friday January 23.

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