Ettore Sottsass marble table, est. $10,000-$15,000 at Los Angeles Modern Auctions

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

The estate of California collector Max Palevsky, a tech guru with a keen eye, continues to sell on March 6 at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. Pavlesky, who died last year at the age of 85, owned extravagantly art-stocked homes in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs and Malibu. Offerings include 1980s Ettore Sottsass furnishings, tagged with what appear to be lowball estimates.

Pricier Palevsky artworks, including paintings by Fernand Leger and Richard Lindner, sold last fall at Christie’s. (See prior coverage here).

Palevsky highlights, from the Malibu property, include a custom-made Sottsass marble entry table (est. $10,000 – $15,000), a Sottsass headboard with built-in nightstands (est. $2,000 – $3,000), and four Murano glass windows (est. $10,000 – $20,000). All  Palevsky goods are sold without reserve.

The sale also includes works from James Byrnes, LAMCA’s first curator of modern art, who held the post from 1946 to 1952. While at LACMA he purchased the museum’s first Jackson Pollock (for approximately $400) and Josef Albers paintings.

Byrnes is selling around 50 lots, including an Alexander Calder black and white drawing of a mobile  (est. $15,000 – $20,000), a 1946 silver Harry Bertoia brooch (est. $5,000 – $7,000) and a warm-hued crayon drawing by Roberta Matta (est. $3,000 – $4,000).

Ettore Sottsass headboard, est. $2,000-$3,000 at Los Angeles

Harry Bertoia brooch, est. $5,000-$7,000, at Los Angeles Modern Auctions