Enfilade

Installation Views: the music room, the blue parlor, and the primary bedroom of Ann and Gordon Getty’s San Francisco residence
(Photograph by Visko Hatfield © 2022)

◊   ◊   ◊   ◊   ◊

From the press release for the upcoming sales (with six online sales having already begun and additional information available here):

The Ann and Gordon Getty Collection
Christie’s, New York, October 2022
Part 1 | Important Pictures and Decorative Arts, Evening Sale, 20 October 2022 #21604
Part 2 | Old Master, 19th- and 20th-Century Paintings, 21 October 2022, #21605
Part 3 | English and European Furniture, Porcelain, and Silver, 22 October 2022, #21606
Part 4 | Chinese Works of Art, English and European Furniture and Decorative Arts, 23 October 2022, #21607

The legendary Ann & Gordon Getty Collection will be sold at Christie’s through a series of landmark auctions beginning October 2022. A symphonic tour-de-force of masterpieces drawn meticulously from history’s most esteemed collections and from one of America’s most storied interiors, The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection stands alone in its quality, rarity and beauty. Nearly 1,500 superlative works of decorative and fine arts will be offered by Christie’s from the couple’s San Francisco residence. Continuing the Gettys’ lifelong commitment to philanthropic causes, proceeds from the sales this October, which are expected to achieve as much as $180 million, will benefit the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts, devoted to the support of arts and science organizations. Designated beneficiaries will include leading California-based organizations with whom the Gettys have had a longstanding relationship, including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Berkeley Geochronology Center, and the Leakey Foundation.

Gordon Getty commented: “Though she left us far too soon, I know Ann would be proud that her exquisite eye and unmatched dedication to craftsmanship and scholarship are being shared with the world, and that the philanthropic planning around our art collection is being realized. These sales are a continuation of the longstanding philanthropic goals of the Getty family first established by my father, J. Paul Getty.”

Ann Getty’s intellect, curiosity and masterful feel for assemblage guided the Gettys in curating a world-renowned museum-quality collection across their Californian houses, including the very finest examples of English and European furniture, Asian works of art, European ceramics, Chinese export porcelain, silver, European and Asian textiles, and Impressionist and Old Master paintings. Vivid, daring, and steeped in history, the Collection evokes the golden age of England’s great houses; the fabled Grand Tour; the exotic tastes of the European courts; the feats of women adventurers, such as Isabella Bird in India and Gertrude Bell in the Middle East; and the vibrant intellectual circle of the Blue Stockings in the mid-18th century, such as Mary Delany and Queen Charlotte. Ann Getty masterfully styled each of their residences with distinctive details, themes, and layering. The Collection encapsulated the couple’s intellectual curiosity about the arts, music, science, and travel. Every object was hand-picked with a deep appreciation of its beauty and the artisanship that went into its creation.

The full press release is available here»

A video tour is available here»