Ali Banisadr (b. 1976 in Tehran, Iran. Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY)

al-kimia, 2025

Lithograph in seven colors on Rives BFK paper

14 3/4 x 11 in. (37.5 x 28 cm)

Edition 30 of 60, plus 20 artist's proofs and 3 printer's proofs

Signed and numbered by the artist

Printed at ULAE Studio, New York

Published by Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Ali Banisadr is currently the subject of a landmark exhibition at the KMA- the artist's first major museum survey. His complex, expansive paintings are rich with figurative allusions rooted in autobiographical narratives, sonic recollection, invented stories, world history, collective memory, and mythology. Banisadr creates complex, turbulent worlds whose syncopated rhythms corral a multitude of references from art history as well as allusions to our own tempestuous times.

This limited-edition print was created for the KMA to commemorate Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist.

The artist has been the recipient of numerous international solo and group exhibitions at: Asia Society, New York (2021); Museo Stefano Bardini & Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2021); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford (2020); Benaki Museum, Athens (2020); Gemaldegalerie, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); 55th Venice Biennale (2013) Saatchi Gallery, London (2009); and the Queens Museum of Art, NY (2008), among others. Banisadr's work is featured in public collections including: Buffalo AKG Art Museum; British Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Het Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, Netherlands; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Enjoy an elaborate Persian Feast for 20 people at the New York residence of collectors and art patrons Roya Khadjavi and Massoud Heidari. This sumptuous dinner will include passed Persian hors d'oeuvres, a home cooked buffet dinner of various Persian dishes prepared by the host, and assorted Persian and French desserts. A selection of spirits, red and white wines, as well as both sparkling and still water, will also be available. 2 wait staff will assist the hosts. Guests will be able to take home 10 copies of Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller's award-winning cookbook Persian Feasts: Recipes & Stories from a Family Table.

Dinner from 7:00-11:00pm. Date to be mutually agreed upon between the winning bidder and the donor within the periods of April 24 - May 10, 2025, and September 10 - October 10, 2025.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Shen Wei (b. 1968 in Hunan, China. Lives and works in New York, NY, U.S.A. and Paris, France)

Mindscape #1, 2024

Watercolor on Chinese paper

7 7/8 x 11 3/8 in. (20 x 28.9 cm)

Unique

Signed and dated: "Shen Wei 2025.2.18"

Shen Wei is an internationally renowned choreographer, dancer, director, and visual artist. He served as a performer with the Hunan State Xian Opera Company from 1984-1989. In 1991, the artist became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first of its kind in China. In 1995, Shen Wei moved to New York City for a fellowship from the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab and subsequently founded Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York at the American Dance Festival in 2000. His company has toured to over 140 cities across 30 countries and received over 23 commissions from the American Dance Festival, BAM Next Wave, Dutch National Ballet, Edinburgh International Festival, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Kennedy Center, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Lincoln Center Festival, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, Teatro di San Carlo, and the Shanghai International Festival among others. Shen Wei was the lead choreographer for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Artist has been the subject of international solo museum exhibitions including at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Museum of Art and Design at Miami Dade College, and the Shanghai Power Station of Art. He has been the recipient of an Asian Cultural Council John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, Dance Magazine Award, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur "Genius" Award, Nijinsky Emerging Choreographer Award, Samual H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement in choreography, and a US Artists Fellow award. The artist's dance technique "Natural Body Development" has been widely taught in universities and dance conservatories.

The artist is the subject of a forthcoming exhibition Shen Wei: STILL/MOVING in Fall 2026. The exhibition, a joint presentation between the Katonah Museum of Art and The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, will illuminate the full scope of the artist's practice, offering viewers rare access to his paintings, works on paper, new choreographic works, and video highlights of the Shen Wei Dance Arts repertoire.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Courtesy of the artist

An exclusive private portrait commission with Jonathan Becker. The winning bidder enjoys a private sitting with renowned photographer Jonathan Becker. Commission includes sitting and two 16 x 16 in. (40.6 x 40.6 cm) prints of different images.

Jonathan Becker, one of the great visual storytellers of our time, has photographed some of the most well-known figures in the twentieth century including artists Ed Ruscha and Cindy Sherman, writers Arthur Miller and Eudora Welty, musicians David Bowie and Mick Jagger, among others. A protege of legendary Parisian photographer Brassai and a longtime contributor to Vanity Fair, Vogue and Town and Country magazines, he is one of the premier chroniclers of contemporary society.

Becker has been the subject of numerous international solo exhibitions including at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid, Savannah College of Art & Design, and the Hunstville Museum of Art. In 2024, the artist was the subject of a retrospective exhibition Jonathan Becker: Lost in Time at the Katonah Museum of Art.

Date, and studio or portrait sitting location to be determined between winning bidder and the Artist.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Image copyright: Jonathan Becker

Lyle Ashton Harris (b. 1965 in Bronx, NY. Lives and works in New York, NY)

The Bather, 2018

Dye sublimation print on aluminum

36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Edition 1 of 3

Signed: Indelible Black Sharpie on verso

Lyle Ashton Harris has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photography and collage to installation and performance art. His work explores intersections between the personal and the political, examining the impact of ethnicity, gender, and desire on the contemporary social and cultural dynamic. Harris has been widely exhibited internationally, including most recently at the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah (2024); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2020); Hayward Gallery, London (2019); Migros Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2019); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); Whitney Biennial (2017); Bienal de Sao Paulo (2016); Busan Biennial, South Korea (2008); 52nd Venice Biennale (2007).

Harris is represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Perez Art Museum, Miami; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Tate Modern, London, UK; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain; Migros Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland, among others.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Courtesy of the artist

Signed 1975 Patti Smith Horses LP

Horses is the iconic debut album of legendary performer, author, recording and visual artist, and 2025 KMA Gala honoree Patti Smith. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NYC and released by Arista Records on November 10, 1975, this eight-track album is a triumphant amalgam of avant-garde poetry and rock 'n' roll. It has gone on to become a trailblazing icon within the punk rock genre and has inspired generations of artists including Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, and R.E.M., among others. In 2009, Horses was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation into the National Recording Registry as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" work. In her own words, Smith notes of the album "I was young, but I felt our cultural voice was in jeopardy and needed an infusion of new people and ideas. I didn't feel like I was the one. I didn't consider myself a musician in any way, but I was a poet and performer, and I did feel that I understood where we were at, what we'd been given, and where we should go, and if I could voice it, perhaps it could inspire the next generation."

Patti Smith's extensive achievements as a performer, author, recording and visual artist are acknowledged worldwide. The artist has released thirteen albums; is a four-time Grammy nominee, and a Golden Globe nominee. Among her many other accolades, Smith was named "Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres" from the French Ministry of Culture in 2005 and in 2007 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2010, Smith was awarded the prestigious National Book Award for her bestselling memoir, Just Kids. She was also honored by ASCAP with the Founders Award in 2010 and was the recipient of Sweden's 2011 Polar Award. In 2020, Smith received the literary service prize from PEN America and the Wall Street Journal acknowledged her as a Literature Innovator. She has been the recipient of many academic awards from institutions including Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Trinity College, Dublin, and in May 2022 received the Doctor of Humane Letters from Columbia University.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Courtesy of the artist

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989)

Patti Smith, 1988 (printed 1990)

Silver gelatin print

Paper/mount: 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)

AP 2/2 from an edition of 10 + 2 AP

With the photographer's Estate stamp, signed and dated by Michael Ward Stout, Executor, in ink on the reverse of the flush mount

Robert Mapplethorpe's vast, provocative, and powerful body of work has established him as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Born in Floral Park, Queens, the artist received his formative training at Pratt Institute where he studied drawing, painting, and sculpture, and began creating mixed media collages and constructions. It was during this period that the artist first met Patti Smith. In 1970, Mapplethorpe began producing Polaroid photographs. After acquiring a Hasselblad 500 camera in 1975, his photographs extended to portraits of his friends and acquaintances in the arts and the S&M community. It was also in 1975 that Mapplethorpe shot the cover for Smith's now iconic Horses album. Through the 1980s, the artist became known for the formal and technical mastery of his sublime yet provocative photographs depicting portraits, still lives, nudes, and flowers. In 1988, there was a major retrospective of Mapplethorpe's work at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Beyond the art historical and cultural significance of his work, his legacy lives on through the work of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Established in 1988 by the artist, the Foundation promotes photography at the institutional level, by supporting museums that exhibit photographic art, and funds medical research in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Mapplethorpe has been the subject of numerous international solo and group exhibitions including: Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy (2023); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2019); Fundacao Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2018); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2016); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2016); Grand Palais, Paris, France (2014); Tate Modern, London (2014); Modern Art Museum, Oxford (2009); Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy (2009); State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (2004); Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Tokyo (1996); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1992); National Portrait Gallery, London (1988); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1988); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1983); Palazzo Fortuny, Venice (1983); Kunsthalle Basel (1981); The Kitchen, New York (1977), among many others.

The Artist's work is in the public collections of: The Art Institute of Chicago; Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; Broad Museum, Los Angeles; Brooklyn Museum; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art; Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Portrait Gallery, London; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Tate Modern, London; Uffizi, Florence; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among many others.

Absentee bids are being accepted for this auction lot. To place an absentee bid, please contact Jennifer Lima: jlima@katonahmuseum.org or call the KMA Development office at: 914.767.2979.

Image: Patti Smith, 1988 Copyright Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Courtesy of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation