Kicking off the season, New York’s Showplace will stage its Spring Important Fine Art and Design auction next month.

The sale features a dynamic range of art, furniture, decorative arts, timepieces, as well as jewelry. Selected from across periods and movements, the auction includes works by numerous, art historically pivotal artists, from Ai Weiwei and Louise Nevelson to Raoul Dufy and Stuart Davis, just to name a few.

Below, we dive into a number of the auction’s top lots, set to go up for sale on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

Ai Weiwei, Colored Vases (2014)

Ai Weiwei, detail of Colored Vases (2014). Est. $60,000–$80,000.

Comprised of a set of eight vessels, Ai Weiwei’s Colored Vases feature Neolithic vases enrobed in industrial paint drip glaze. The traditional silhouettes of the vases juxtaposed with the bright pigments speak to the artist’s interest in the often-irreconcilable dichotomies found within culture and society, and penchant for iconoclasm. While any pattern or details on the vases was obscured by the paint, they are nevertheless there, a potent metaphor for history which, though no longer visible, is nevertheless ever-present.

Gaston Lachaise, Egyptian Head (1922)

Gaston Lachaise, Egyptian Head (1922). Est. $15,000–$25,000.

French sculptor Gaston Lachaise initially studied decorative art before enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts at the turn of the 20th century to study sculpture. His early career saw him working for famed Art Nouveau designer René Lalique as a modeler before he immigrated to the United States, where he ultimately settled in New York City. Lachaise developed a distinctive form of figuration and became best known for his female nudes and portraiture, which were voluptuous and conveyed a sense of energy and unflinching confidence.

Suzan Frecon, Red Painting Continuation (1983)

Suzan Frecon, Red Painting Continuation (1983). Est. $30,000–$60,000.

American painter Suzan Frecon is best known for her abstract oil paintings and works on paper that largely operate as meditative studies of shape and color. The scope of her explorations into these tenets of the medium can be found in the subtle details of her work, such as matte pigment used next to glossy, or delicate fluctuations in saturation and opacity. Red Painting Continuation (1983) exemplifies this refined approach to composition. Where at first the work appears a straightforward monochrome, upon closer inspection it contains a world of various textures and shades.

Raoul Dufy, Les jetees de Deauville-Trouville (ca. 1930)

Raoul Dufy, Les jetees de Deauville-Trouville (ca. 1930). Est. $60,000-$80,000.

Associated with Fauvism, Impressionism, Cubism, and the greater evolution of Modernism itself, French artist Raoul Dufy was a prodigious artist who worked across a range of mediums—though his bright paintings of natural landscapes and other outdoor scenes have remained his most famous. Employing cacophonous color, his compositions, like that seen in Les jetees de Deauville-Trouville (ca. 1930), take on a dream-like quality, which reflects his inclination for psychological and emotional explorations over technical ones.

Ivon Hitchens, Still Life, Garden… (ca. 1935)

Ivon Hitchens, Still Life, Garden… (ca.1935). Est. $40,000–$60,000.

A prominent member of the London Group in the 1930s, an artists’ society that offered exhibiting opportunities outside of the Royal Academy, Ivon Hitchens made a name for himself through his panoramic landscapes and still lifes. His unique method of using blocks of color as well as portions of his canvas untouched make his technique as much a subject of his compositions as the subject itself, giving visual insight into his mode of execution. Exhibiting regularly throughout his life, his renown reached its zenith in 1956, when his work was featured in the Venice Biennale within the British Pavilion.

New York Showplace’s Spring Important Fine Art and Design auction will be held Thursday, May 1, 2025.