Alberto Giacometti Buste de Diego (Aménophis) was conceived in 1954 and cast before 1956.
(estimate: $6 million–8 million).
Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Sotheby’s New York announced it will offer the collection of Chicago philanthropist Jerome H. Stone over a series of auctions this spring. Stone assembled the collection over the course of the 1950s and ’60s with the help of his wife Evelyn. It consists of blue chip works by artists such as Fernand Leger, Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti, Juan Gris, and Marc Chagall, that together are expected to bring in more than $40 million.

Stone, who built his family business, Stone Container Corporation, into a national multi-billion dollar corporation, and later founded the International Alzheimer’s Association, often bought from leading dealers including Pierre Matisse and Sidney Janis. The works have not been seen in public for more than four decades. The highlights will be shown at Sotheby’s exhibitions in Hong Kong and London prior to the New York sales.

Fernand Léger La Roue Bleue, État Définitif (1920)
(estimate: $8 million–12 million).
Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Eleven works will be offered in Sotheby’s evening Impressionist and modern sale on May 5. Among the highlights is Fernand Leger’s La Roue Bleue, état définitif, (1920) which Stone acquired in the early 1950s from Sidney Janis Gallery. Sotheby’s experts described it as “a gleaming symbol of technological progress in a time of rapid industrialization.” The work is estimated to sell for $8 million–12 million. (See Sotheby’s To Offer Pristine Roy Lichtenstein Painting and $140 Million Picasso Is World’s Most Expensive Painting At Auction.)

Joan Miró L’Oiseau encerclant de l’or éntincelant la pensée du poète (1951)
(estimate: $6 million–9 million). Photo: 2015 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Also on offer is Joan Miró’s L’Oiseau encerclant de l’or éntincelant la pensée du poète (1951) described as “a fantastical composition” that exemplifies the expressive potential of abstraction. It carries an estimate of $6 million–9 million.

Giacometti’s bronze Buste de Diego (Aménophis) has been in the Stone collection for more than 50 years, having been acquired in 1956 (estimate: $6 million–8 million). Another work by Giacometti, a 1950 painting  titled Pommes Dans L’atelier, depicting the artist’s studio, is estimated to sell for $3.5 million–5 million.

Other works from the Stone collection will be offered at Sotheby’s day sales of Impressionist and modern art, day sales of contemporary art, and a Paris contemporary art auction in June. (See The Art Money 20: Which Artists Have Performed Best At Auction Since 1995 and Goldman Sachs Chair John C. Whitehead Collection Goes to Christie’s).