Dallas Auction Gallery to Auction Derrill Osborn’s Lifetime Bovine Collection Oct. 14 Fashion Icon’s Passion for Cows brings new meaning to “Year of the Ox”
News-Antique.com - Sep 30,2009 - DALLAS (Sept. 2009) – He once dressed John F. Kennedy, Jr., and presided over the hallowed halls of Neiman Marcus. Now Derrill Osborn will bring his unique lifetime collection of “art de la vache” to an auction hosted by Dallas Auction Gallery on Oct. 14. Osborn’s collection boasts more than 500 cows whose origins span the globe and several centuries. Represented among the herd are Staffordshire, majolica, flow blue, Black Forest carvings, 19th and 20th century bovine oil paintings as well as fashionable treasures Osborn has amassed over the years.
Osborn, who retired in 2002 from a 40-year career in fashion that concluded with 23 years at the helm of Neiman Marcus’s men’s fashion division, helped shape decades of fashion trends, including the three-piece suit. A notable fashion icon, his style advice has been quoted in the likes of GQ, Esquire and Vogue. Osborn possesses a flair for the dramatic often exemplified by his eccentric personal style, fascination with red and green as a color combination, and, of course, his collection of cow-themed antiques and art. Aside from cows, Osborn’s passions also extend to carnations, his signature boutonniere.
“It is a rarity to find a collection so passionately and lovingly assembled over a lifetime – particularly one with such an interesting theme,” said Scott Shuford, president of Dallas Auction Gallery. “It is our great honor to host Mr. Osborn’s collection. The combination of hundreds of cows and the drama and glamour of Derrill Osborn is already generating interest in the event.”
The vast collection, toured by garden clubs and featured in the pages of home magazines in recent years, has moved from Osborn’s Oak Lawn town home to Dallas Auction Gallery’s preview room where visitors are already gearing up for the fall auction.
“I am sending the best of the world’s bovine out to seek new homes,” Osborn said. “I was too fortunate in having worked for the grand Neiman Marcus. The position took me around the world where much of the auction pieces were purchased. There will never be another like this.”
Osborn collected the bovine art for nearly 50 years from across the globe – from China to Germany to New Mexico to the Lonestar State. A few highlights from the collection include:
• Gift from Versace: A pair of Empire-styled armchairs featuring a vivid Atelier Versace Medusa print on balloon seat cushions – the material was a personal gift from Versace to Osborn.
• Unique Staffordshire: A Staffordshire sculpture “Bull-Beating” depicting a bull fighting off two dogs.
• Classic Cow Painting: An 1858 painting of a cow in landscape by British artist William Henry Davis.
• 5,000 Cows: Donna Cook’s depiction of the Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive in oil on canvas depicts half of the 10,000 herd. Inspiration came from a 19th century photograph taken by William H. Jackson, the “father of Yellowstone National Park.” These cattle were owned by a Charles Goodnight who bestowed the photograph to V. W. "Vic" Young, because his father John Young
