Jean Dubuffet "Monument with the Standing Beast." Image courtesy of Flickr.

When Ruth Horwich, a fixture in Chicago’s art community for over fifty-five years, passed away in July 2014, she left behind an extraordinarily diverse and deeply personal art collection. Horwich and her husband, Leonard, began collecting art in the late 1950s, often focusing  on unknown and emerging artists. The couple amassed a fascinating collection that included works by Chicago Imagists, European Surrealists, and self-taught and folk artists. They also acquired many notable pieces by Robert Matta, Alexander Calder, and Jean Dubuffet.

In addition to growing her collection, Horwich was dedicated to providing key support to many Chicago art institutions. She served on the twentieth-century painting and sculpture committee at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as the exhibitions committee at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Horwich was also involved with the Hyde Park Art Center, one of the oldest alternative art spaces in Chicago, for over forty years. As the chair of the Center’s board, Horwich was able to share her knowledge and indulge her passion for supporting and mentoring local artists, including Jim Nutt and Ed Paschke. Horwich also enriched local institutions -- loaning her and Leonard’s collection of Calder mobiles and stabiles to the Museum of Contemporary Art and donating Dubuffet’s Monument with the Standing Beast to the city’s James R. Thompson Center.

Works from Horwich’s unique collection will be offered during Christie’s First Open Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art on March 6, 2015, in New York. In addition to works by Nutt, Paschke, John Chamberlain, Llyn Foulkes, and Andy Warhol, the auction will include pieces of jewelry by Calder. Although best known for his mobiles and outdoor sculptures, Calder was also an accomplished jewelrymaker. Many of the works offered were first exhibited in a legendary exhibition of Calder’s jewelry at the Willard Gallery in New York in 1940.

The sale at Christie’s will feature approximately 350 lots, which represent the full spectrum of post-war and contemporary art. The goal of the First Open auction is to present an array of works by sought-after artists, but with price points that are accessible to a wide range of collectors. With low estimates ranging from $8,000 to $750,000, The sale will feature works by blue chip artists such as Dubuffet, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Oscar Murillo, and Sterling Ruby. Highlights include Warhol’s drawing Triple Dollar Sign (estimate: $750,000 to $950,000); Kusama’s Infinity Nets TWGZ (estimate $350,000 to $450,000), a painting from her acclaimed and long-running Infinity Nets series; and Mustangs (estimate $250,000 to $350,000), a photographic print of a painting that Gerhard Richter completed in 1964.

According to a press release from the auction house, “The sale is the perfect opportunity to discover emerging artists and explore lesser-known works by established artists.” All of the works offered in the First Open sale will be exhibited before the auction at Christie’s Rockefeller Center Galleries from February 28, 2015, to March 3, 2015.