The collection of artworks will be sold at auction on November 16 and included works by Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Patti Smith, and other artists.
The renowned novelist, rebellious style icon, and chronicler of 1960s California, Joan Didion, passed away in December of last year at the age of 87. She spent her final years in New York City, and in two weeks, Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, will auction off the furnishings of her Upper East Side apartment.
The auction catalogue has an excellent selection of visual art in addition to a typically stylish collection of vintage furniture, desk accessories, plate ware, typewriters, and (and a pair of Celine tortoise-shell sunglasses). The artwork Didion selected to surround herself with, which ranged from amateur photography to pieces by Richard Diebenkorn and Robert Rauschenberg, walked a fine balance between the extremely personal and elegant.
Numerous family portraits are also included in the collection. Didion is shown holding her daughter Quintana Roo in two photographs taken by Vogue photographer Annie Leibovitz in 1989 and 2003, as well as playing cards with her husband John Gregory Dunne, his brother, and son. That year, Dunne passed away later. Dunne encircles Didion in their New York City apartment in a portrait by Mary Ellen Mark. At the age of 43, Didion is portrayed by painter Les Johnson in a different portrait.
Additionally, there are framed images from the author’s daughter Quintana Roo, who passed away in 2005, at her inheritance. The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), Didion’s heartbreaking tale of the aftermath of her husband’s death and the little family’s battle with Quintana Roo’s poor health, including details on her daughter’s sickness. Only a few months after Quintana Roo’s untimely death at the age of 39, the memoir was released.
The author’s connection to her hometown of Sacramento is highlighted in some pieces, while others demonstrate her standing as a nationally recognised icon of California in the 1960s and 1970s. After Didion’s collection of short tales on California living, Slouching Toward Bethlehem (1968), was released, photographer Julian Wasser took a number of pictures of the author for Time magazine. The classic photos show Didion driving a Stingray Corvette, smoking a cigarette, wearing a long, loose-fitting dress, and having her hair down.
A few pieces in Didion’s collection allude to more general tendencies in the second half of the 20th century’s art world, while others provide a window into the author’s personal life and relationship with her own stardom. Prints by Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, and a photograph by Patti Smith with the inscription “To Joan with love” will be offered for sale among pieces by other well-known artists. The most expensive item in the auction is a print by Richard Diebenkorn, a significant cultural figure in the San Francisco of the 1950s that Didion so brilliantly captured.
The profits from the auction will support the treatment and research for patients with movement disorders at Columbia University. Joan Didion battled Parkinson’s disease in her final years. Through donations to the Sacramento Historical Society and the Sacramento City College award for women in writing, the sale will also assist her city.
The auction will take place at 11 a.m. on November 16 at Stair Galleries, and the pieces will be displayed in an exhibition beginning on November 4.
