Outstanding Results Achieved for An American Icon: Property from the Collection of Joan Didion

Sale total of $1,920,700.00 achieved in the historic sale [at Stair Galleries] of fine art and personal property from the collection of literary icon Joan Didion.

Lot 2, Brigitte Lacombe (b. 1950): Two Portraits of Joan Didion, Two gelatin silver prints, 1996. Sold for $17,000

Fueled by passionate interest in Didion's personal property, bidders from around the world vied for every lot in the sale, with intense bidding on Didion's sunglasses, books, and fine art. Auction records were achieved for photographs by Brigitte Lacombe (Lot 2), Patti Smith (Lot 13), and Julian Wasser (Lot 12), as well as for prints by Ed Ruscha(Lots 40, 41, and 42), Vija Celmins (Lot 39), and Cy Twombly (Lot 95). Paintings by Willard Dixon (Lot 19 & 21), William Padien (Lot 17) , and Leslie Johnson (Lot 4), also set auction records for these artists.

Lot 5, Pair of Celine Faux Tortoiseshell Sunglasses. Sold for $27,000.

All proceeds of the sale will be donated to two charities chosen by the Didion family in her honor: Patient care and research of Parkinson's Disease and other movement disorders at Columbia University/Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and the Sacramento Historical Society for the benefit of Sacramento City College scholarship for women writers.

"We are delighted with the results of this special sale. It's been an honor working with the collection and we are so pleased that the proceeds will be benefitting two important charities that represent Joan Didion in both her hometown of Sacramento, and in New York City where she spent the end of her life" said Colin Stair, president of Stair.