GLEN COVE, N.Y. — Roland NY will present a very rare auction opportunity when it offers the highly anticipated collection from the estate of world-renowned New York architect and designer Thierry Despont on Saturday, April 6. The complete catalog is now open for review and bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
Despont (1948-2023) lived in a 10,000-square-foot Tribeca townhouse at 182 Franklin Street that recently sold for $25 million, and Roland’s sale features more than 200 lots of ‘rare and highly curated’ pieces from the late designer’s collection. Included is artwork, furniture, rare books, and sculptures which have never appeared at auction previously.
Architectural Digest called Despont “the designer of choice for titans of industry.” He rose to fame when he worked on the 1986 renovation of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, crown, and stairways. He also oversaw the restoration of the Woolworth Building. In other engagements, he built houses for Bill Gates, Conrad Black, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Douglas.
Choice pieces include a Thierry Despont mixed metal sculpture featuring a moon-form disc on a vise and stand, exhibited at Marlborough Gallery in New York in 2008. It carries an estimate of $10,000-$15,000.
An 18th-century portrait painting of author and poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), attributed to Joseph Highmore (1692-1780), is another top lot. The work has an inscribed label on the verso bearing a date of 1728, with an additional label for art dealers Scott & Fowles, who were in business on Fifth Avenue in New York from 1905 to 1943. It is estimated at $2,500-$3,500.
Likely connected to Despont’s restoration of the Statue of Liberty is Lady Liberty, an abstract of polished Belgian black marble, signed and dated by sculptor Benoit Luyckx (b. 1955-). It is estimated at $1,500-$2,500.
Despont clearly loved mid-century modern furniture. Two key items include a Le Corbusier LC4 easy chair estimated at $1,000–$1,500 and a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Knoll Barcelona daybed with a chrome base and black leather seat, which has an estimate of $1,000-$1,500.
