The Collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf Goes up for Auction in New York

James and Marilynn Alsdorf, pictured in Miami in 1950. Photograph courtesy of the consignor

For renowned Chicago collectors and philanthropists James and Marilynn Alsdorf, collecting art represented a unique opportunity for exploration, adventure, and the pursuit of beauty. ‘We looked for objects,’ Marilynn said, ‘to delight our eyes and our souls.’ Over the course of their four-decade marriage, the couple assembled a remarkable collection of artworks and objects spanning all eras and areas of the world.

‘The Alsdorf Collection is an example of cross-category collecting at its finest,’ says Christie’s Chairman of the Americas Marc Porter. ‘It is crowned by masterpieces in the collecting realms of antiquities, works on paper, European and Latin American art, and Indian and Southeast Asian art.’ In addition, some of the biggest names of modern and contemporary art are represented, including René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Joan Miró and Jean Dubuffet, among others.

Selected works from The Alsdorf Collection were offered as part of the 20th Century Week sales in November at Christie’s in New York. A further selection spanning Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, among others, will be offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I and Part II on 24 September.

Two of Chicago’s most important cultural patrons

Married in 1952, James and Marilynn Alsdorf built a life that was centred on art, philanthropy and family. ‘As a couple, my grandparents were the picture of elegance, and they had impeccable taste, but to their family and many friends they were known for their warmth, wit, and humour,’ recalls Bridget Alsdorf, the couple’s granddaughter.

‘Studying and collecting art was their all-consuming passion, and it took them all over the world. Their spirit of adventure was unique; they went places that few collectors at the time were curious and confident enough to explore.’

One such place was India, which they visited for the first time in 1968. It was during this trip that they met former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and French novelist and Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, a close friend of the art dealer Robert Rousset, from whom they had acquired their first work of art in 1955. The Alsdorfs’ love of Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan art informed their early collection in the 1960s, at a time when such works were largely undervalued.

As their interests diversified, so did their collection. ‘They were not strategic in their collecting,’ recalls Bridget. ‘They were guided by what fascinated them and gave them pleasure, by knowledge and instinct. They were an incredible team.’

As well as being great collectors, the Alsdorfs were loyal supporters of museums and cultural institutions across Chicago and the wider United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. James Alsdorf served as Chairman of the AIC from 1975 to 1978, and Marilynn sat on various committees.

In 1967, the Alsdorfs joined other prominent Chicago collectors, including, Edwin and Lindy Bergman and Robert and Beatrice Mayer, in founding the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, an institution to which they would provide extensive financial and personal leadership.

After James’s passing in 1990, Marilynn, who was known as ‘the queen of the Chicago arts community’, collected works by René Magritte, Wassily Kandinsky and Frida Kahlo, among others.

She continued to build upon her husband’s legacy in art and philanthropy, making a transformative bequest to the AIC in 1997 (which was celebrated with a landmark exhibition: A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection) and funding a curatorial position in Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the AIC in 2006. That same year, Marilynn was presented with the Joseph R. Shapiro Award from the Smart Museum of Art.

Collection highlights

Asian Art Week in the autumn of 2020 at Christie’s in New York will include works from the collection spanning Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, Furniture & Decorative Art, Japanese Art, Chinese Paintings and Chinese Works of Art.

A rare gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani, Nepal, Licchavi Period, 9th-10th century. 9½ in (24.1 cm) high. Estimate: $60,000-80,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Among the treasures offered in the Sacred and Imperial Part I on 24 September are a rare gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani dating to the 9th-10th century (above), and a rare and magnificent 11th-century bronze figure of Shiva as Vanquisher of the Three Cities (Shiva Tripuravijaya) from South India (below).

A rare and magnificent bronze figure of Shiva Tripuravijaya, South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola period, early 11th century. 32⅜ in (82.3 cm) high. Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

During the first century and a half of Chola rule in India (c. 855-1280), representations of Shiva as Vanquisher of the Three Cities, holding a bow in his upraised left hand and an arrow in his lowered right hand, were revered by Chola kings. 

Devotional bronze icons such as the present example were usually worshiped during temple rituals. The power inherent in images of Shiva as a mighty warrior and conqueror was an important symbol for Chola rulers, who were themselves actively seeking to expand their territory.

Another standout work from Part I is a rare larger than life-size marble head of Buddha dating to the Sui dynasty (550-618 AD). This head is more sensitively modeled than those of earlier sculptures of the Buddha and thus less mask-like. 

Lot 809. A very rare and important marble head of Buddha, China, Sui dynasty (AD 550-618). 11¾ in (29.9 cm) high. Estimate: $500,000-700,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The soft, oval face with a serene expression, conveyed by subtly incised arched eyebrows above the large, rounded eyelids of the downcast eyes, and a small chin below the well-delineated mouth set in a subtle smile, with elongated, pendulous earlobes, below the curled hair and ushnisha.

Provenance: The Collection of David David-Weill (1871-1952), Paris, acquired prior to 1925.
Confiscated from the above by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi occupation of Paris and transferred to the Jeu de Paume, 28 June 1943 (ERR inventory no. DW 2492).
Repatriated to France, 4 March 1946, and subsequently restituted to David David-Weill.
Sotheby's London: The D. David-Weill Collection, 29 February 1972, lot 14.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 12 February 1979.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Literature: O. Sirèn, Chinese Sculpture, 1925, reprinted 1998, vol. II, pl. 333.

Exhibited: London, Eskenazi Ltd., June 1978, no. 21. 

Like virtually all early Buddhist sculptures of stone and wood, it would have been originally embellished with brightly coloured mineral pigments. 

Other notable highlights include a Qianlong-period (1736-1795) guan-style pear-shaped vase, covered with a greyish-blue glaze suffused with a golden crackle. Made in the Yongzheng (123-1735) and Qianlong periods (1736-1795), this form of vessel was primarily used for holding wine. Also offered is an album of landscapes and calligraphy attributed to the Ming-dynasty painter and poet Zhang Ruitu (1570-1641) from 1625.

Lot 818. A Guan-type Hu-form vase, China, Qianlong six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). 7¾ in (19.7 cm) high. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Well potted with pear-shaped body tapering to a broad cylindrical neck, flanked by a pair of animal-head handles suspending fixed rings, covered overall with a greyish-blue glaze suffused with a golden crackle, the foot rim covered with a brown dressing.

Provenance: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired prior to 1990.

Part I also features a large bronze figure of Uma, which comes fresh to market for the first time in more than thirty years; and a 15th-century Ming-dynasty gilt-bronze sculpture representing the White-Robed Guanyin, the graceful bodhisattva of compassion. 

Lot 810. A very rare gilt-bronze figure of white-robed Guanyin, China, Ming dynasty, 15th century. 10⅛ in (25.6 cm) high. Estimate: $400,000-600,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September 2020 at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The deity finely cast seated in rajalilasana (royal ease) wearing a long flowing scarf, a beaded necklace, and loose robes that spread gracefully around the figure seated on a mat of leaves that forms the base.

Provenance: Ettington Collection, Jerusalem.
Dr. and Mrs. Otto Schneid Collection, Haifa.
Dr. and Mrs. A. L. Ofseyer Collection, Ontario, Canada.
Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York 5 November 1977, lot 40.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Although frequently depicted in Buddhist paintings of the Song (960–1279 AD), Yuan (1279–1368 AD), and Ming (1368–1644 AD) eras, the White-Robed Guanyin was rarely portrayed in sculpture. In the present figure, she is elegantly seated on a mat of leaves, draped in long robes.

Part II spans Chinese Works of Art and paintings, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art, as well as Japanese art and European decorative arts and fine art.

Lot 845. A blue and white ‘Dragon’ dish, China, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735). 7⅛ in (18.2 cm) diam. Estimate: $30,000-50,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part II on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Finely decorated in the center with a writhing five-clawed dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl and on the exterior with a frieze of two striding dragons chasing flaming pearls, all within line borders.

Provenance: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired prior to 1990.