In November 2018, Christie’s will present Property from the Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson as a highlight of 20th Century Week in New York. The Anderson’s collection stands as one of America’s most legendary assemblages of Post-War and Contemporary art, demonstrating over half a century of scholarship and dedication by Harry ‘Hunk’ and Mary ‘Moo’ Anderson. Encompassing approximately 200 lots, the present grouping represents a poignant representation of the Andersons’ collecting vision, ranging from Post-War and Contemporary to Impressionist and Modern Art and Prints and Multiples to American Paintings. The selection will be sold over several auctions beginning with the Evening and Morning Sales of Post-War and Contemporary art in November followed by an Online Only sale in December.  Highlights include consummate examples from artists including David Smith, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Vija Celmins, Martin Puryear, Philip Guston and Jasper Johns as well as Pablo Picasso and Alan D’Arcangelo. The pre-sale estimate for Property from the Collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson is in the region of $30-50 million.

Highlights from the Anderson’s collection will be on view at Christie’s flagship gallery in Beverly Hills from September 12-22. The dedicated exhibition will be free and open to the public. Please click here for more information on the exhibition.  

Barrett White, Executive Deputy Chairman, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Americas, remarked: “Hunk and Moo Anderson not only collected the ‘best of the best,’ but sought to build meaningful, lasting connections with the artists whose work enriched their lives. As a couple, they formed nuanced understandings of the artists that appealed to them, and only acquired their most instrumental examples. Each lot within the present grouping demonstrates the Anderson’s inherent ability to choose works that captured artists at their very essence, from the glistening pools of David Hockney’s California landscapes, to the dynamic interplay between form and space in David Smith’s towering sculptures.”

Inspired by a single visit to the Louvre Museum in the 1960s, the collection has come to encompass the very best in creative expression, providing a stimulating intellectual outlet for not just the Anderson family, but the countless students, scholars, and museum-goers who have benefitted from the Anderson’s profound generosity. Passionate and genuine, the Andersons have always valued the growth and vitality of their collection above any desire for renown or celebrity. “Probably no private collection,” wrote San Francisco Chronicle critic Kenneth Baker, “illustrates the course of American art since World War II better than that of… Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson.”

The Andersons strongly believe that they are merely “custodians” of a body of work that belongs to the world. To this end, they have devoted their efforts to showcasing the collection via private tours of their home, as well as through extraordinary bequests to museums and cultural institutions. As Moo Anderson has stated, “To enjoy art, I feel you must share it.”

In 2011, the Andersons made headlines when they donated some 121 masterworks—anchored in the work of the New York School—to Stanford University, constituting one of the most significant donations of fine art in American history. Following the Stanford gift, the Andersons began to embrace the work of younger, emerging artists, which Moo Anderson continues to collect.

The depth and quality of the Anderson’s collection is a testament to not only Hunk and Moo Anderson’s curatorial vision, but to the power of art to impact people. “Each painting has been an event in our lives,” Hunk Anderson once remembered, “and luckily they’ve always been happy events.” Indeed, the spirit and joy of Hunk and Moo Anderson lives on in each work within their collection, a tangible legacy that continues to inspire.