Fine Prints from the Collection of Dr. And Mrs. Herbert Gursky, Great Falls, Virginia
Hindman is excited to offer works from the Collection of Dr. And Mrs. Herbert Gursky in our Prints & Multiples auction this September 21. The quality and breadth of the seventy-two lots presented here is a testament to the passion that Herbert and Flora Gursky had not only for collecting but also for their life and work.
Dr. And Mrs. Herbert Gursky
Flora Gursky, born in Brooklyn, New York, was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Columbia University. While at Columbia, majoring in Biology and Marine Biology, she met and went on to marry Dr. Herbert Gursky in 1958. Herbert was lecturing on Physics at the time that he met his future wife and surely their keen interest in science and curiosity for all things around them helped to fuel their passion for modern art.
Lot 27 | Cy Twombly (American, 1928-2011) | Roman Notes II, 1970 | Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000
Dr. Gursky completed his PhD in Physics at Princeton University in 1958 and became one of the most respected astrophysicists of his time. His primary research interests were in the area of X-ray astronomy. Importantly, in 1961, he was a member of the group in Cambridge, Mass, that made the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. From there he went on to be a leader in his field, not only through his research, but also through his ‘ability to distill and seize the most important nuggets from any research program and envision its application to a variety of new problems and directions.’[1]
Lot 31 | Josef Albers (American/German, 1888-1976) | A group of four prints from Die Oberfläche (Attic; Silent; Opalescent; Chrysoprase), 1965 | Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000
It is no surprise, when looking at the collection, that minds such as Flora’s and Herbert’s would find the universe of Modern art so intriguing. Their collection reads as a roster of the great artists of the Modern era from the minimalist approaches of Frank Stella and Josef Albers to the defined California aesthetic of Ed Ruscha and Wayne Thiebaud; from the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and Pierre Soulages to the fantastical landscapes of Enrico Baj, Claes Oldenburg, and Niki de Saint Phalle. Many of these artworks, when first acquired, were by little-known artists who became memorialized in the canon of art history well after Gursky’s acquisition. There is a true passion for art, a deep knowledge of its past and present, and a mark of keen connoisseurship present in the Gursky’s well-curated collection which we are honored to present here.
[1] Doschek, George; Dahlburg, Jill, “Obituary: Herbert Gursky, 1930-2006,” Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, December 2007, v.39, no. 4, p. 1060.
Featured Image: Lot 19 | Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997) | Modern Head #2 (from the Modern Head series), 1970 | Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000