A Joan Mitchell diptych and a rare stack by Donald Judd: our pick of the May auctions

"Plain comes from the later part of Joan Mitchell's career. The diptych was acquired directly from New York's Robert Miller Gallery just two days after the opening of Mitchell's first solo exhibition there in October 1989, and has remained in the same private collection since. It is now offered from the collection of Tina Hills, the late newspaper executive who played a key role in shaping Miami's art scene, including the transformation of the Miami Art Museum into the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2013. Hills died late last year, aged 103."

"Diptych paintings from later in Mitchell's career are widely represented in major international museum collections. In March, another Mitchell diptych, La Grande Vallée VII (1983), sold for HK$137m ($17.6m) with fees at Sotheby's Hong Kong, making it the most valuable work by a woman artist sold at auction in Asia and breaking the artist's regional auction record."

"This untitled "stack" by Donald Judd from 1969 leads Christie's spring evening sale of post-war and contemporary works. The sculpture consists of a vertical progression of ten blocks in copper and red Plexiglas, a rare and coveted combination. That pairing is only known to exist in two Judd stacks, and this is the only example left in private hands, Christie's says."

"Dating from the late 1960s and widely considered the most significant of Judd's career, the piece was formerly installed in the Philadelphia home of the late Tylenol heir Henry S. McNeil Jr, who accumulated what Christie's calls the foremost collection of Minimalist art. The auction house estimates that the collection will sell for more than $30m and the sta"

Plain (1989) is a Mitchell diptych from the later part of her career, acquired directly from Robert Miller Gallery two days after the gallery’s first solo exhibition for Mitchell in October 1989. The work has remained in the same private collection and is now offered from the collection of Tina Hills, a newspaper executive influential in shaping Miami’s art scene and the transformation of the Miami Art Museum into the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2013. Hills died at age 103. Later-career Mitchell diptychs are widely represented in major international museum collections, and another Mitchell diptych, La Grande Vallée VII (1983), sold for HK$137m with fees at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Untitled (Stack) (1969) by Donald Judd is a vertical progression of ten blocks in copper and red Plexiglas. The copper-and-red Plexiglas pairing is known to exist in only two Judd stacks, and this is the only example left in private hands. The work is considered among the most significant of Judd’s career and was formerly installed in the Philadelphia home of Henry S. McNeil Jr, a major collector of Minimalist art.

Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events