Displaying items by tag: arthur and anita kahn

This November, Christie’s will present an unrivalled selection of paintings and sculpture by some of the titans of twentieth century art. From Andy Warhol’s opulent Four Marilyns to Cy Twombly’s sublime Untitled, and Louise Bourgeois’ monumental Spider to Lucian Freud’s magnificent portrait The Brigadier –the very best examples of Pop, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism and Conceptual Art are represented. The role of the collector is also honored, with a selection of Pop works from the Miles and Shirley Fiterman Collection, works of Arte Povera from the Collection of Ileana Sonnabend and the Estate of Nina Sundell, and an impressive grouping of works by Alexander Calder from the Arthur and Anita Kahn Collection.

There was a Calder sculpture on a tabletop, a Calder on a bookcase, and a Calder mobile hung from the ceiling.

When there was no room left to hang the Picasso or Matisse drawings in the Kahns’ Riverside Drive home on the Upper West Side, the couple stacked artworks on the floor, against the wall.

Over five decades, the Kahns — Arthur, a successful dentist, and his wife, Anita — built an art collection that seemed to fill every inch of their Manhattan apartment, initially a two-bedroom that grew as they combined it with the apartment next door.