Sotheby’s to Offer Important Fine & Decorative Arts From the Hascoe Family Collection

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s announced that we will offer property from the Hascoe Family Collection, assembled by Norman and Suzanne Hascoe over years of passionate collecting. The Collection is highlighted by its important American furniture and Czech modernist art, which will anchor dedicated sales in New York and London, respectively. In addition, the Hascoes’ spectacular residence on the waterfront in Greenwich, Connecticut is currently being offered by Sotheby’s International Realty.

Norman & Suzanne Hascoe
Norman and Suzanne Hascoe are remembered for their buoyant, cheerful and energetic spirit, easily inspiring friendships all over the world, and for their shared dedication in their quest for objects of beauty and cultural significance across a wide spectrum. Their discerning eye and passionate focus is reflected in a wonderful waterfront home in Greenwich, CT filled with a collection built from the finest examples of the art and antiques they loved. Their dedication and enthusiasm in their philanthropic and civic endeavors was felt by everyone who knew them.

Important American and English Furniture, Fine & Decorative Arts – New York 23 January 2011
Sotheby’s sales series begins with an auction featuring the Hascoes’ important collection of American furniture. The Hascoe Family Collection boasts supreme examples from each of the major furniture-making centers of Colonial and Federal America. Their passion for both beauty and exemplary craftsmanship is apparent throughout works by noted furniture makers such as John Goddard, Samuel McIntire, John Welch and Eliphalet Chapin. Additional works offered in this sale include fine examples of English furniture, American silver and carpets, as well as paintings and other fine art.

The furniture is highlighted by an assemblage of 24 New York Chippendale Tassel-Back Dining Chairs, one of the Hascoes’ most remarkable collecting achievements in Americana. This group originated with the Hascoes’ purchase of a celebrated eagle’s-head carved mahogany armchair and two side chairs at Sotheby’s in 1984. The set had been part of the furnishings of the St. Croix Danish Government building (armchair est. $100/300,000; pair of side chairs est. $40/80,000). Also featured in the Collection is the Colonel Guy Walker Queen Anne Companion High Chest and Dressing Table, a rare matching pair with exceptional provenance that epitomizes mid-18th century Boston Baroque (est. $200/500,000).

Important Old Master Paintings – New York 27 January 2011
Selected masterworks from the Hascoe Family Collection will be amongst the highlights of Sotheby’s January auction of Important Old Master Paintings in New York. The Hascoes were avid collectors of works from the Dutch Golden Age and their collection reflects a keen eye and distinctive taste. Almost every genre of Netherlandish art is represented: still life, Dutch and Italianate landscapes, townscapes, peasant scenes, allegories, satire and historical pictures. Among the highlights is Dirk van Delen’s Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, in which the artist imagines a magnificent and outlandish palace, the architecture of which is his true subject (est. $200/300,000). Additional highlights include works from Marten van Heemskerck, Jan van Os, and other Dutch painters. Several French artists are also featured in the Collection, including a pair of stunning landscapes by Jean Baptiste Pillement, one of which depicts a view of the Tagus River in Portugal.

American Indian Art – New York May 2011
Several important works in the Hascoe Family Collection by Paul Pletka will be featured in Sotheby’s May sale of American Indian Art in New York. Pletka is a neo-surrealist painter living in Santa Fe, whose inspiration comes from his fascination with Native American costume, lore and artifacts. His works from the Collection are led by A Lesson in the History of Pioneer Life, an apotheosis of all that transpired in the history of western artists who have pictured Native Americans since the 19th century (est. $60/80,000). The Hascoes set a record price for Pletka when they acquired this work at Sotheby’s 1998 auction of The Collection of Stanley & Linda Marcus.

Important Czech Art – London 13 June 2011
In June, Sotheby’s will hold the second dedicated sale of the Hascoe Family Collection. This London auction will be devoted to what is unquestionably the finest and most important collection of Czech modernist paintings, sculpture and works on paper outside the Czech Republic. Norman and Suzanne Hascoe’s foresight, intellectual curiosity and determination over a 25-year collecting span produced a remarkably complete survey of Czech painting and sculpture from the first half of the 20th century. This auction will offer the most exciting group of Czech works to come to market for more than a decade, and highlights will be shown in New York, Paris, Moscow, Vienna and Prague throughout the spring of 2011 in anticipation of the sale.

The core of the Czech paintings from the Collection revolves around the leading figures of Emil Filla and his fellow Osma artists, who were at the forefront of international Cubism, and František Kupka, who played a seminal role in the development of abstraction in the first half of the 20th century. Highlights from these artists include Filla’s enigmatic cubist masterpiece Still Life with Pipe of 1912 (est. £100/150,000) which counts among his earliest Cubist compositions, and Kupka’s Movement, a tour de force of early abstraction painted between 19l3 and 1919 (est. £500/700,000).

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