Frances Lasker Brody

The auction wars are heating up as Christie’s and Sotheby’s battle for an estimated $100 million to $150 million worth of artworks from the estate of Frances Lasker Brody, said to be up for grabs for the big ticket May New York auctions.

Brody, a Los Angeles based philanthropist who died in November 2009 at the age of 93, was patron of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Huntington Library. She was the daughter of Chicago advertising mogul Albert Lasker, and wife of real estate developer Sidney Brody.

Brody House, photo: Julius Shulman, via USC Image Collection

She lived in a celebrated modernist house, adorned with a leafy 1953 ceramic 12-foot long Matisse tile mural, The Sheaf, expected to be donated to LACMA.

Dealers say it was long thought that some of the collection would be donated to LACMA. Sidney Brody was a former LACMA trustee, president and board chairman, whose 1983 memorial service was held at the museum according to a New York Times obituary.

A quick search of the museum’s collection database reveals not much by way of Brody gifts, aside from a named gallery, and a 1903  Pierre Bonnard painting, some Bonnard lithographs and a group of photo-lithographic  prints by David Douglas Duncan. Yet it appears the creme of the collection will be sold.

Sources familiar with the Brody collection say it includes a 1932 Picasso of a reclining woman — think Steve Wynn’s Le Reve — tagged $40 million to $60 million, and  Giacometti’s Grand Tete de Diego, worth around $15 million to $20 million.

Cut out study for "Sheaf", via LACMA on Fire

Brody was involved in a 1966 Matisse retrospective at UCLA and her estate is said to include a major nude oil, along with other lesser works, including  bronzes and drawings.

The auction houses submitted proposals in December, according to a market source, and the deal will likely go to whichever house provides the juiciest financial package.

Another potential factor: Brody’s daughter, Susan Lasker Brody, previously worked at Sotheby’s, according to a dealer source.

Market sources speculate that this may be the deal to implode Sotheby’s and Christie’s declarations that they are out of the guarantee business, and no longer doling out buyer premium give backs, where the seller receives a cut of the buyer’s fees.

While the Brody deal may be the season’s prized collection for publicity, market share and company momentum, it’s unclear how profitable it will be for the victor.

The Brody lawyers will be analyzing results of this week’s Impressionist and modern auctions in London, adding a layer of drama to the near term results.