Most of us may not be able to afford major artworks, but we can still browse online (or in person – Coronavirus allowing) auctions and get inspired by the pieces or the collections on sale.
Sotheby’s at the moment has got a wonderful auction of pieces from Hester Diamond's collection (live auction on 29th January). Divided in two parts it is a celebration of the indomitable and visionary art collector who died in January last year.
The auction dedicated to her features indeed a bit of everything you may want from life – from Old Master paintings and sculptures to interior design pieces and minerals. Diamond was into Bernini and Dosso Dossi as much as she was into Bill Viola and, since she was the mother of the Beastie Boys' Mike D. Hearst, the auction also features some original memorabilia from the band (the seller's proceeds from the Beastie Boys memorabilia lots offered in this sale will benefit the Good Eats Program).
Looking for bold and fun pieces? Dror Benshetrit's electric blue "Peacock" chair (manufactured by Cappellini, Italy) will inspire you wonderful shapes with its undulating felt ruffles. But if you love colours, check out Diamond's mineral collection.
Diamond boasted a technicolor "natural art" installation in her house, with the stones and rocks displayed on custom-made open air shelves in bright colours that matched the shades of the minerals.
If you check her collection – that features rare rhodochrosite and smoky quartzes, Colombian emerald crystals, calcites and azurites, polychrome tourmalines, and a wide variety of pyrite crystal forms amongst others, plus Chinese fluorite, calcite and pyromorphite finds and a wide assortment from the family of beautiful Indian zeolites including vivid cavansite, delicate scolecite and impressive apophyllites - you will easily realise she didn't buy the pieces according to any geological principle, but she bought the ones that caught her eye for their colours and aesthetics and she also loved rare and significant sizes.
Among the most inspiring pieces there is an impressive rhodochrosite stalactite slice from the now exhausted Capillitas Mine in Andalgalá, in the province of Catamarca, Argentina, characterised by vivid colours – from translucent pink to red – and cross sections of several intergrown stalactites.
Then there are a Chinese rhodochrosite in a rich pink-red colour from the Wutong Rhodochrosite Mine, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, and a fine Sicilian euhedral sulphur in intense lemon yellow from the Racalmuto Mine in the Agrigento province, Sicily, Italy.
The vibrant colours of these minerals reflect Hester Diamond's passion for art, life and beauty: in a documentary accompanying the auction the interviewer asks Diamond, "Do you think you have gotten bolder as you have gotten older?". She quickly answers, "It's how I have lived and will live for as long as I live."
Entitled "Fearless", a word that perfectly describes Diamond, a woman who didn't follow trends but followed her own mind, Sotheby's auction is not just inspiring for the works on sale, but also for the lively personality of this unique collector.