Important Estates Auction
A highlight of the sale is lot 247, three Alexander Calder wall sculptures. The Calder sculptures were commissioned in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firm of Curtis & Davis to adorn the walls of the new Mardi Gras themed Sazarac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel. According to Nathaniel Curtis, upon seeing the Calder works, Seymour Weiss, the hotel’s legendary owner, rejected the sculptures and refused to pay for them. Both Nathaniel Curtis and Arthur Davis were so embarrassed, they split the artist’s fee themselves and divvied up the sculptures. The three masks being offered at Neal Auction Company were installed at Nathaniel Curtis’ home on Marquette Place in New Orleans until recently.
Neal Auction
4038 Magazine St.
New Orleans, Louisiana
