The Tatti Family | February 6, 2025
The Tatti Family has been at the center of the art world for three generations, casting, conserving, creating, and collecting. They have been artists, art historians, fabricators, and foundrymen, and have helped create and conserve diverse masterworks throughout much of the 20th century.
Alexander “Poppy” Tatti in his workshop
Steve Tatti with two scuptures in the process of being restored
The Tatti Family Collection is a singular testament to the close working relationships that artists and artisans have. Many of the unique works in this auction were tokens of friendship and appreciation from important artists to the Tatti family. They tell a story of the invaluable place occupied for decades by Alexander, Steve, Nick, and Zach Tatti.
According to the Tatti Art Conservation website, Alexander Tatti, Steve’s father, was the first Tatti to work in Restoration and Conservation and began his career as a foundryman and art fabricator in New York. Alexander’s brother, Benedict Tatti, was an art educator and renowned modernist in his own right, studying at the Art Students league as an apprentice to William Zorach. At that time, Alexander Tatti had taken over the Basky Foundry, in the Kip’s Bay area, which was then a light industrial area and a hotbed of sculptural creativity. Benedict was something of a bohemian, and “hung out” with many of the local art world luminaries.
Steve Tatti remembers that as a child he would see Zorach, Isamu Noguchi, Chaim Gross, Boris Lovet Lorski, Louise Nevelson and others hanging around the studio with Uncle Benedict. Uncle Benny was Jane Canfield’s sculpting instructor, His father cast Brenda Putnam’s work. The list goes on and the stories are endless.
The more than 100 lots of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and unique terracotta and plaster works by many of the most important artists of the 20th century on offer here tell some of these stories. They are witness to the invaluable collaborations at the heart of much of twentieth century art.
Alexander “Poppy” Tatti working on a large scale restoration
World-Class Consignments and Exceptional Results