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Sotheby's Contemporary Art, inc. The Collection of Gordon Watson, June 2006

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Contemporary Art including the Collection of Gordon Watson, Sotheby's June 2006

305pp, small-format (quarto) sale catalogue, densely-illustrated and very substantial - 348 lots illustrated in full colour. Catalogue notes. Includes:

The Estate of Peter Cochrane.
Works by Banksy, Damien Hirst, Michael Landy, Lucian Freud, Andy Goldsworthy, Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, Sam Taylor-Wood, The Chapman brothers, Christo and many others. Drawings by Martin Disler. Additional notes on Disler and Gordon Watson.

This catalogue is in Very Good condition, with slight shelfwear. The spine is uncreased and the interior clean, tight and unmarked. The front cover shows some very light wear.

THE WATSON LOOK

by Mary Barone

  
A celebrated arbiter of taste, the dealer Gordon Watson held court for 27 years from his Fulham Road Gallery, a well-known landmark in London and a magnet for celebrities and high-profile names from all over the world, ranging from Mick Jagger and Elle Macpherson to decorators such as Chester Jones, David Mlinaric and Peter Marino. Watson stood firmly at the cutting edge of style with a constantly changing eclectic mix of 20th-century objects -- furniture, ceramics, glass, sculpture, jewelry, paintings, photographs, rugs, and Islamic and Indian works of art -- most of it procured on his ceaseless travels around the globe. In May of 2006, Sotheby’s London offered the contents of Watson’s shop and its storerooms and unseen pieces from his warehouses and private collection in a series of exceptional single-owner sales that realized a combined total in excess of £2.7 million.

In an effort to sustain the exuberance and intense interest surrounding these sales and to create a new taste for all things 20th century, Sotheby’s once again sought the Watson "look" for a sale titled "20th Century Decorative Arts Selected by Gordon Watson" and held at Sotheby’s New Bond Street salesrooms on Sept. 26, 2007. The auction totaled $2,885,241, with 176 of 284 lots finding buyers.

Watson’s diverse trove spanned eight decades of 20th-century design, including French Art Deco furniture from masters like Pierre Chareau, Paul Dupre-Lafon and Jacques Adnet, as well as Venetian glass by Carlo Scarpa and Fulvio Bianconi and marble pieces by Angelo Mangiarotti.

Price: £18.00

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