Fields of Vision

Christie’s presents the private collection of the late artists Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason

May 18, 10 a.m.

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On May 18, Christie’s will be offering rare and important works from the collection of modern painters Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason. The married artists—Kahn died in 2020, Mason in 2019—had a one-of-a-kind art collection that included many personal works that related to their artist friends or artists they dearly admired. The sale, Fields of Vision: The Private Collection of Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason, will take place immediately before the spring American art sale at Christie’s in New York City. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Autumn Leaf with White Flower, 1926. Oil on canvas, 20 x 9 in. Estimate: $3/5 million

“It’s a special collection of art because almost every artist represented in their collection was someone Wolf Kahn or Emily Mason knew personally, or had a personal connection to their artwork,” says Christie’s American art specialist Paige Kestenman. “The couple was very connected to the New York art world, as well as the art community in Vermont, but always maintained their own artistic perspective and it makes their work, and the work they purchased, arresting and immediately recognizable.”

The sale will feature 30 lots on May 18, with an additional 80 lots available at an online sale that opens on May 6 and runs through May 20. Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason in their studio in Venice, Italy, in 1958.

One of the works in the main sale is Georgia O’Keeffe’s Autumn Leaf with White Flower (est. $3/5 million), a narrow 20-inch tall piece from 1949. The couple knew O’Keeffe, though they were not close to her. The work was purchased in the 1970s after Kahn’s first sold-out show. “They were flush with funds after a successful solo show, so they went out and purchased this beautiful O’Keeffe piece,” Kestenman says. “Wolf Kahn later corresponded with her about why he purchased the piece. It hung in their living room in New York City.”Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), Cups II, 1957. Oil on canvas, 205/8 x 24 in., signed with the artist’s initials and dated lower left: ‘RD 57’; signed, titled and dated again verso: ‘R Diebenkorn Cups II 1957’. Estimate: $500/700,000

Wolf Kahn (1927-2020), Down East Sunset #1, 1997. Oil on canvas, 52 x 72 in., signed lower right: ‘W. Kahn’; signed again verso. Estimate: $50/70,000

Another major work in the sale is Richard Diebenkorn’s 1957 oil Cups II (est. $500/700,000). After traveling to California in 1960, the couple became friends with Diebenkorn who was teaching at University of California, Berkeley at the time. The work was created during a pivotal period for the artist. “Cups II is still very much representational. You can see the arrangement of lines and fields of color, which would go on to be much more distilled in his Ocean Park series,” the specialist says. “The diagonals at the edges of the painting are wonderful and they were looking forward to the important aspect of the artist’s later career.” Kahn and Diebenkorn later corresponded and they discussed the work, and a scan of the correspondence will be included with the lot. Emily Mason (1932-2019), Aquifer, 2010. Oil on canvas, 56 x 52 in. Estimate: $10/15,000

Elsewhere in the sale is Charles Demuth’s 1918 watercolor and pencil Cyclamen (est. $50/70,000), which was a gift from Mason to Kahn, and Milton Avery’s 1949 oil Interior with Yellow (Est. $120/180,000). Kahn and Mason had many connections to Avery and were frequent guests at his home.

Fields of Vision also presents work by Kahn and Mason, both known for their abstract and color field work in the second half of the 20th century. Included in the sale is Kahn’s Down East Sunset #1 (est. $50/70,000) and Mason’s gorgeously colored Aquifer (est. $10/15,000). —