20 | 21 Art 
25 March 2020
20 | 21 Art 
293

Rosamond Berg 1931–2018

Spring Air Dust

1985
mixed media box construction of wood, fabric, string and feathers, in artist's frame 24 h × 32 w × 3½ d in (61 × 81 × 9 cm)
estimate: $800–1,000
result: $1,000
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Signed and titled to verso ‘Spring Air Dust 24 x 32 Rosamond Berg’.
provenance: Acquired directly from the artist | Allan Stone Collection, New York
exhibited: Accumulation, 13 February - 3 April 2010, Allan Stone Gallery, New York

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Unsung Heroines 1967 – 1996

Women Artists from the Allan Stone Collection

The present lot is among the powerful selection of works by women artists from the Allan Stone Collection. Not only was Allan Stone a pioneering supporter of Abstract Expressionism and emerging artists, he also celebrated works by women who were forging new ground in the world of art, often without the support or recognition of the larger art community. Driven by personal experience and the need for expression, these women created inventive works exploring politics, gender roles, storytelling, abstraction and art history.  

He could make a visual decision very quickly. It was like love at first sight. He trusted his instincts.

Lorraine Shemesh

The Visionary Eye of Allan Stone

Allan Stone; Allan Stone Gallery, New York, c. 1975. Images courtesy of the Allan Stone Collection


Founded in 1960 by art dealer Allan Stone (1932–2006), the New York gallery known today as Allan Stone Projects has been admired for over half a century. Celebrated for its eclectic approach and early advocacy of pivotal artists of the 20th century, Allan Stone Gallery was a leading authority on Abstract Expressionism, the New York dealer for Wayne Thiebaud for over forty years, and showed the works of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Joseph Cornell, John Graham and John Chamberlain. Stone also promoted the work of a younger generation of artists that were in conversation with other artists in his collection, working in the mediums of assemblage, collage and new modes of abstraction. In addition to modern masterworks and contemporary art, Allan Stone also collected and exhibited international folk art, Americana and important decorative arts and industrial design.

Rosamond Berg 1931–2018

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Rosamond Berg's assemblage box constructions are comprised of many small, hand-dyed cloth pouches; their repetition and weight imply a gathering of powerful substances, lending her works a haunting, spiritual presence. Titles such as Autumn Light Dust show a concern for the ephemeral nature of seasons and materials. The underlying rhythm and sense of ritual suggests a potent energy stored away in these quietly charged objects.

Berg was born in Brewster, New York and received a BFA from Cornell University in 1954. After graduating, she spent a year in Rome as a professor's assistant at the American Academy. Her first exhibition was at Allan Stone Gallery, New York, in 1977 and she has since exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers. Her work is held in the collections of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., and the Neuberger Museum, Purchase. Berg lived and worked in New Canaan, Connecticut until her death in 2018.

Auction Results Rosamond Berg

Rosamond Berg

Blue Memory Dust

estimate: $600–800

result: $4,375

Rosamond Berg

Watch Hill Summer and New Wave (two works)

estimate: $400–600

result: $2,600

Rosamond Berg

Dust From January

estimate: $800–1,000

result: $2,250

Rosamond Berg

Autumn Flight Dust

estimate: $500–700

result: $1,500

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