The superb collection of Oceanic art from Polynesia and Melanesia formed by the late Murray Frum and his family is the most significant group to come to market in the last 30 years, with a variety of objects from across the island nations at all ranges of the market. Sotheby’s is honoured to offer this collection of approximately 70 works for sale in Paris on 16 September 2014.
A group of rare precontact Polynesian pieces form the heart of the collection. There are simply no comparable examples on the current market of many of the objects featured. Frum and his family were fortunate to be buying with the eye of a great connoisseur over a period of 50 years, and through the period when many great objects first appeared on the international market. The names of some of the most celebrated collectors feature prominently in the Frum collection, giving it a distinguished, historical provenance: James Hooper, Harry Beasley and Kenneth Webster, as well as the great British artist and collector Jacob Epstein.
