Samuel M. Kootz was a New York City art dealer who played a key role in promoting American modern art over four decades, establishing the Kootz Gallery in 1945, which famously first showcased the Abstract Expressionist painters as a school. The gallery’s 1949 exhibition, The Intrasubjectives, featured major artists like Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Kootz also had close relationships with Pablo Picasso and Pierre Soulages, both of whom he represented and promoted in the U.S.

Dr. Joyce Lowinson was a pioneering psychiatrist in substance abuse treatment. She held key roles at Beth Israel, Bronx State Hospital, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1997, she was appointed by President Carter to the President's Strategy Council on Drug Abuse Prevention and Drug Traffic Control. Dr. Lowinson was the lead editor of Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook and received numerous honors, including the Norman Zinberg Award from Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry.

The present lot is dedicated to Joyce by the artist, who maintained a close relationship with the couple.