The Facts
Bonhams will present a dedicated single-owner sale, "Brancusi: The Legacy," on November 18 at its U.S. flagship galleries at 111 West 57th Street in New York, featuring five bronzes by Constantin Brancusi from a private collection. The collection, acquired directly from the artist's estate in the 1980s and 1990s and never before offered at auction, is expected to fetch $25 million. The works span motifs Brancusi first conceived between 1917 and 1937, including a sleeping head, an abstracted portrait, a fragmented torso, and an animal form. The bronzes were cast posthumously by the Susse Foundry between 1973 and 1991, authorized by Brancusi's sole universal legatees, Alexandre Istrati and Natalia Dumitresco. The sale precedes Bonhams' 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale later that day.
The Signal
Leading the collection is "Torse de jeune homme" (conceived 1922, estimate on request), one of Brancusi's few treatments of the male figure. Other highlights include "La jeune fille sophistiquée (Portrait de Nancy Cunard)" (estimate $3.5–5.5 million), "La Muse endormie II" (estimate $3–5 million), "Tête abstraite (Tête de femme)" (estimate $3–5 million), and "Tortue" (estimate $2–4 million). Bonhams noted the timing aligns with MoMA's major Brancusi exhibition, and its Post-War & Contemporary Art sale will include paintings by Istrati and Dumitresco. The sale represents a rare opportunity to acquire multiple Brancusi bronzes at auction from a single collection, offering collectors a concentrated view of the artist's formal evolution across two decades.
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- Artists: Constantin Brancusi, Alexandre Istrati, Natalia Dumitresco, Nancy Cunard
- People: Ralph Taylor, Andrew Huber
- Auction Houses: Bonhams
- Museums: MoMA
- Locations: New York
- Prices: $25 million, $3,500,000 – 5,500,000, $3,000,000 – 5,000,000, $2,000,000 – 4,000,000
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