As New York's November auction season approaches, Christie's and Sotheby's are competing for a notable estate sale: the remaining art holdings of collector Herbert Lust, estimated at about $60 million.
Lust, who died in May at age 99, had already donated hundreds of works to museums over the years. Even so, his estate is now offering roughly 300 pieces, with most expected to appear in day sales and a smaller group positioned as headline lots.
At the center of attention is a major sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, widely seen as the top lot in the group. The collection also includes works by Robert Indiana, Mary Bauermeister, Frank Stella and Hans Bellmer, reflecting the wide range of Lust's taste and long engagement with postwar art.
Lust built his collection over decades, combining a sharp eye with deep personal connections across the art world. He was especially devoted to Giacometti, later describing the artist as a lifelong favorite. His holdings also included significant groups of works by Indiana and Calder, alongside one of the strongest Bellmer collections in private hands.
Sotheby's appears to have an advantage after years of cultivating a relationship with Lust and his collection. In 2017, the house presented 27 Indiana works from his holdings, and in 2019 it filmed him at his Greenwich home surrounded by art. Christie's, meanwhile, remains in the race as both houses position themselves for one of the season's more distinctive consignments.
The sale highlights how major collections continue to shape the global art market, where provenance, rarity and curatorial vision can elevate a work far beyond its material form. In the years ahead, estates like Lust's may play an even larger role in defining which artists and movements capture the market's attention.
