When avid art collectors and entrepreneurs Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson decided they wanted to share their art collection with the world, they didn’t open a private museum or gallery. Instead, they opened a hotel. Their 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky became one of the first boutique hotels in the U.S. to merge contemporary art with hospitality, showcasing the couple’s world-class collection with thoughtful, rotating exhibitions of works by some of the most influential artists of our time. Many of the pieces guests enjoyed—first in Louisville and then in Bentonville, Chicago, Cincinnati, Durham, Lexington, St. Louis and Kansas City—were acquired at the artists’ debut shows, reflecting Brown and Wilson’s passion for supporting the work of emerging talent.
Now, a capsule selection of works from their vast collection will be offered for sale by Christie’s on October 1 in a single-owner presentation during the bi-annual Post-War to Present auction in New York. A month later, Christie’s will put a significant historical piece by François-Xavier Lalanne, Les Chameaux (1974), on the block in the 20th Century Evening Sale during the auction house’s Fall Marquee Week. The two wooly camel-shaped sofas, which have a high estimate of $6,000,000, have been off the market for twenty years and were previously exhibited in “Les Lalanne,” the artists’ 2010 retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Highlights of the October sale include iconic works by Titus Kaphar, Simone Leigh, Bisa Butler and Mickalene Thomas; uniquely dressed sculptures by musician Nick Cave; and a remarkable early work by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, 11 AM Monday (2011), acquired at her first-ever show, fresh from the studio. Most of the works in Christie’s ‘Selections from the Collection of Laura Lee Brown & Steve Wilson’ presentation haven’t been on the market since they were acquired by the couple.
“My art form has become creating spaces for other artists, and I have loved doing that,” said Wilson, who went to art school. Brown was already a collector when they met. In speaking with Observer, Wilson made it clear that while the primary goal of the collection has always been to support emerging artists, they are very independent in their decisions and tastes. Unlike some married collectors, they don’t seek consensus. “We both buy separately, but we also buy together when we’re at an art fair,” he said. “When a piece moves one of us, the other one does not object.”
Their collecting activities have largely been focused on 21st-century and living artists—the name 21c Museum Hotel is a reflection of that. But he concedes that change is inevitable: “I think that all artists, of course, were contemporary in their time, but artists are also always recording history. Our collection has evolved based on the times and the available works.” One thing they never do is collect based on what they think will increase in value in the future. What they’re passionate about is supporting new talent; “if they make it, it’s fabulous,” he says. The unspoken subtext is that it’s okay if they don’t as long as they have something to say.
“We both look for something that moves us,” he clarifies. “Laura Lee likes to say in the heart of the gut, but we’re also looking for artworks that provoke and make people think about things. We gravitate to art that brings up complex issues and questions.”
Julian Ehrlich, one of the auction specialists behind the upcoming Christie’s sale, told Observer that the intention was to take a selection of works from the couple’s incredibly large collection that would represent a cross-section of the artists they were buying early on in their careers. “This selection of twenty artworks highlights how experimental and bold they have been with their collecting. We have paintings, works on paper, photos, multimedia works, sculptures, installations and works that can be incorporated into performance. It really touches all aspects of contemporary art, and it reflects, too, of the most relevant artists working today who really are contributors to our sort of shared social and creative dialogue.”
As to why the 21c Museum Hotel founders are selling a portion of their art collection, Wilson explained that it’s less about ‘out with the old’ than ‘in with the new.’ Parting with a selection of artworks will allow the husband and wife team to support emerging and overlooked artists whose careers will be bolstered by the exposure. “We want to focus on the fact that we are here to help emerging artists,” he said. “We never expected those artists to reach a level of success where the pieces were becoming so valuable. We have over 5,000 pieces in the collection, and this is just a small percentage. It’s going to be hard as we are going to miss those, but at the same time, we are excited for the future and the artists we will discover and be able to support next.” And that, he added, is at the core of their collecting philosophy.
Christie’s Post-War to Present sale will also include works from the collection of Robert Shimshak and Marion Brenner and the Rosa de la Cruz collection. The auction house will host a dedicated presentation of works from Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson’s collection at its Rockefeller Center galleries from September 24 through September 30.
