Classicism to Contemporary: The Collection of Ashton Hawkins & Johnnie Moore
On September 27, 2014, Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, will be offering a selection of art, objects and furniture from the collection of Ashton Hawkins and Johnnie Moore, from their homes in New York City and Athens, New York. Amassed over fifty years, this collection spans the centuries, including 18th and 19th Century Russian silver, paintings and bronzes, Victorian and Modern furniture and Contemporary works of art and photography. Included in the collection are works by Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Paul Cadmus, Richard Avedon, Alfred Stieglitz, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney.
Ashton Hawkins, Esq., began collecting art as a teenager and maintained a long and important relationship with the art world through his legal career as Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Counsel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. Mr. Hawkins traveled the world, socializing on behalf of the Museum with artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, David Hockney and Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as social luminaries Jackie Onassis, Lillian Hellman, Jane Engelhard and Brooke Astor. Mr. Hawkins served as chairman of the Dia Center for the Arts and the Alliance for the Arts. He currently sits on the Boards of the World Monuments Fund, the Municipal Art Society, and the New York Studio School, and he serves as a Special Consultant and Secretary of Christie’s American Advisory Board.
The Collection represents the eye and taste of Mr. Hawkins and his husband, Johnnie Moore, with an emphasis on the classical nude form in bronzes and paintings juxtaposed with contemporary interpretations of these genres. Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Moore have been strong supporters of young and emerging artists, including several Hudson Valley artists. There are many examples of new, fresh takes on classical landscape and portrait painting in the collection. Furniture and objects purchased over the years compliment the fine art and round out the collection, including Russian silver cigar boxes, Grand Tour bronzes after the Antique, and Neo-Gothic furniture. Taken as a whole, the Collection represents a personal interpretation of art history from the classic to today, together with objects representing years of travel around the world. The result is a wholly-personal and well-curated collection that has filled the owners’ homes in Manhattan, Patmos, and the Hudson Valley.
Highlights of the Sale include Arthur Parton, Cows Wading in the River, oil on canvas from 1875; Paul Cadmus, Aviata (Kite Flyer-Fire Island), drawing from 1941-42; Ed Ruscha, Sin, screenprint in colors from 1970; The Geldzahler Portfolio, lithographs, etchings and screenprints from 1998; after Giambologna, bronze, Hercules and Antaeus; after Vincenzo de Rossi, bronze, The Dying Adonis; a variety of Russian Silver and Niello Trompe L’Oeil cigar boxes, 19th Century; A Neo-Gothic Carved Oak Church Pew from the Limelight nightclub; German Art Deco, Bronze, Athlete; German Art Deco, Bronze, Falcon.
Sale preview begins September 12, 2014. A fully-illustrated color catalogue will be available online September 11, 2014.
The sale will take place Saturday, September 27, 2014, at 11am.
