Jeff Sayre - 50 Jeff Sayre Illustrations for Geoffrey Beene - Capsule Auctions

February 16, 2023

Fashion, Art, and Design

Lot 8

American (XX/XXI)

50 Jeff Sayre Illustrations for Geoffrey Beene (1970-74)

Medium

mixed media (graphite and ink on unlined 3-ringed notebook paper)

Dimensions

each: 11 x 8 1/2 inches

Additional Info

The Hawaiian-born, California-raised Jeff Sayre graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as a scholarship Pre-Med student, followed by two years of graduate work in human genetics, with a view to going into scientific research, at which point he decided to change careers totally. As a teenager he had started to paint seriously, very much influenced by the work of Morris Louis and Francis Bacon. Then a chance introduction to a prominent Seventh Avenue manufacturer led to his enrollment at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, again on a scholarship.
Immediately upon graduation from FIT, Sayre went to work for Geoffrey Beene to assist the designer in creating the Beene women's couture collections in 1971, 1972, and 1973. He stayed with Mr. Beene for three and a half years, and then decided to move to Paris to devote himself to his painting and sculpture. However, there he met prêt-à-porter designer Christian Aujard who persuaded Jeff to design his new men's collection which was a huge success.

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Estimate: $1,200 - $1,800

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About this Lot

Description

50 fashion illustrations by Jeff Sayre, showcasing distinctly early 1970s designs

Frame Information: unframed
Provenance: Property From the Estate of Geoffrey Beene. Proceeds from this item to benefit the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Condition: overall good condition, some with very gentle creasing

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The Estate of Geoffrey Beene

Image for Collection The Estate of Geoffrey Beene

Geoffrey Beene was an icon of the American fashion scene: as the New York Times put it, "fashion editors ran out of superlatives to describe Mr. Beene's high-wire act." Just a year after founding his firm in 1963, Beene was awarded the prestigious Coty American Fashion Critics' Award. This would be one of eight Coty awards given to the designer over the course of his life, more than any other designer has received to date. Over the next four decades, Beene built on his reputation as a one-of-a-kind designer, producing acclaimed lines of women's and men's clothing, accessories, and perfume. In 1976, he became the first American designer to show a collection in Milan, Italy.

Two years after Geoffrey Beene's death in 2004, the Geoffrey Beene Foundation was established in his honor. The mission of the Foundation is to support critical philanthropic causes, the most important being the establishment in 2006 of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Since its creation in 2006, the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center has served as a nucleus for revolutionary new research approaches in preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer.

Proceeds from this item to benefit the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering.