Doyle Sells Klein Receipts From Pincus-Witten Collection
The November 12 New York sale offers 90 lots from the collection of critic Robert Pincus-Witten and Leon Hecht.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Fine Art
Doyle will auction 90 lots from the collection of the late critic and curator Robert Pincus-Witten and his husband, textile designer Leon Hecht, on November 12 in New York. The sale is led by Yves Klein's 1959 Receipt Book for Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility (Series 5) and includes six works by the artist.
Why it matters
The sale brings to market a collection assembled by a longtime art critic and a Broadway textile figure, offering collectors access to Klein material tied to a notable personal archive. Klein's receipts, which record gold payments for intangible artworks, remain among the more conceptually unusual objects in postwar art.
The sale comprises 90 lots, with six Yves Klein works led by a 1959 receipt book specifying 320 grams of fine gold. Final hammer prices and total sale proceeds were not yet available ahead of the November 12 auction.
The players
Doyle
Doyle is a New York auction house known for selling fine art, jewelry, and rare books across multiple specialist sales.
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist associated with monochrome painting and the conceptual Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility series.
Robert Pincus-Witten
Robert Pincus-Witten was a critic, curator, and longtime professor at Queens College who died in 2018.
The details
Doyle's Important Fine Art auction begins at 11 a.m. on November 12. Buyers of Klein's receipts historically paid in gold for empty zones of artistic sensitivity, and property from the collection will also appear in Doyle's November 13 jewelry sale and November 24 rare books sale.
Timeline
1959: Yves Klein creates the Receipt Book for Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility.
2018: Robert Pincus-Witten dies.
November 12: Doyle Important Fine Art auction at 11 a.m. in New York.
November 13: Doyle Fine Jewelry sale includes property from the collection.
November 24: Doyle Rare Books, Autographs, and Maps sale includes property from the collection.
Market Landscape
Klein's Zones receipts, which documented gold payments for an intangible artwork, have become a recurring object of interest in the postwar market. This sale places a rare group of them in front of collectors as the market continues to reassess conceptual works from the late 1950s.
Collectors and museum buyers can bid in person or online through Doyle's November 12 sale. Those interested in the rest of the collection can follow the November 13 and November 24 sales for additional lots.
The takeaway
Klein's gold-for-void receipts remain a rare intersection of conceptual art and tangible commerce, and collections like this one keep that history visible to new buyers.
What happens next
Doyle's Fine Jewelry sale on November 13 and Rare Books sale on November 24 will also offer property from the collection.
Further reading
For more on the art market, explore Fine Art coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by artnet News.
