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Four Unique Works by Charles White Debut at Auction

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The highlight of our October 5 auction of African-American Fine Art is a series of unique works by Charles White that have never before appeared at auction. We spoke to our Director of African-American Fine Art, Nigel Freeman, about the pieces.

 

 

Lot 38: Charles White, Take My Mother Home, pen and inks, 1957. Estimate $250,000 to $350,000.

 

What can you tell us about the collector? 

The owner, a private collector from California, has collected figurative and African-American fine art for 50 years. The works from his collection in this sale include the four unique Charles White works, Richmond Barthé’s bronze The Awakening of Africa and Aaron Douglas’s oil painting Mollie. Charles White has always featured prominently in his collection. The works we will offer epitomize three of White’s major stylistic periods: his early works of the 1940s from Chicago, his 1956 mid-career move from New York to Los Angeles, and finally the late 1960s work.

 

 

Lot 68: Charles White, I Have A Dream Series, #11 (Study for the Wall), oil on board, 1968.
Estimate $35,000 to $50,000.

 

How common is it to find an original work by White? How about four?

Extremely uncommon! These scarce and high-quality works have a wonderful exhibition history. The two drawings (above) were in the important exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976. We have only once had a comparable group of unique Charles White works for auction. Ten years ago, three ink drawings were in our  sale of the Golden State Mutual Life collection in October of 2007.

Where do these works fit into his oeuvre?

The figure and drawing is central to all of Charles White’s work, beginning with his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago to his social realist murals to his large scale drawings. Take my Mother Home was made by the artist in mid-career form and at the apex of his practice in his 1940-50s period in ink drawing. The earlier 1940s works are more social-realist in content and have an expressive stylization. White famously exaggerated the forearms and physicality of his figures to reflect the heroic nature of working African-American men and women. The later work shows a refinement of his realism and an experimentation with materials like oil paint in drawing.

 

Lot 14: Charles White, Untitled (Seated Woman), oil monotype, circa 1939. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

What does Take My Mother Home mean?

The title is both descriptive and culturally symbolic. White used a Spirituals song title to describe a poignant scene of a mother and son in the dilemma of African-Americans caring for their elderly and references the pathos of the same-titled spiritual, popularized by Harry Belafonte at the time. “Take my mother home” in the song refers to Jesus and Mary. The lyrics say Jesus was heard saying “take my mother home” during the Passion and when he was crucified – “then I will die easy.” Belafonte and White were friends–in fact, the drawing first belonged to Belafonte.

 

 

Lot 15: Charles White, Untitled (Nude), oil monotype, circa 1939.
Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

Anything else you’d like to add about these pieces?

Two upcoming major exhibitions — Charles White: A Retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Charles White – Leonardo da Vinci, curated by David Hammons at the Museum of Modern Art — in 2018 make the timing of this offering significant. There has not been a drawing of this caliber at auction since Work in 2011 so this could set the market for the artist just as his work is regaining national prominence.

 

For more information, browse the full catalogue.

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Records & Results: 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings

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We opened our fall season with a marathon sale of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings, breaking multiple records and earning more than $2.6M. The September 19 auction offered 635 examples of fine and museum-quality works, many of them originals, to a crowded hall of bidders.

 

Lot 338: Pablo Picasso, Françoise sur fond gris, lithograph, 1950.
Sold September 19, 2017 for $125,000.

 

The top lot of the sale was a large black-and-white lithograph by Pablo Picasso of Françoise Gilot, titled Françoise sur fond gris, 1950, which sold after breakneck bidding to a buyer on the phone for $125,000. Of the 49 works by the master offered in the sale, 75% found buyers, for a total of $389,590. Additional highlights included the color linoleum cut Les Banderilles, 1959, and the aquatint Femme au fauteuil II: Dora Maar, 1939, each of which sold for $27,500. A run of Madoura ceramics by Picasso also performed well, led by the platter Mat Owl, 1955, at $11,250.

 

Lot 527: Salvador Dalí, Elephant Spatiaux, watercolor, 1965.
Sold September 19, 2017 for $60,000.

 

The sale featured a cavalcade of original and unique works by marquee artists, led by Elephant Spatiaux, a 1965 watercolor by Salvador Dalí in his signature style, at $60,000. Lyonel Feininger’s atmospheric watercolor Space, 1954, reached $47,500. A portrait in pencil by Diego Rivera of his friend Ralph Stackpole, probably based on an earlier photograph, exceeded its high estimate to sell for $40,000, while Paul Klee’s pencil-and-ink Durch Poseidon, 1940, reached $30,000.

 

Lot 370: Henri Matisse, Jeune femme à la coiffure hollandaise, regardant des poissons, etching, 1929. Sold September 19, 2017 for $22,500, a record for the work.

 

The sale broke several long-standing auction records for works by important artists. Henri Matisse’s etching Jeuene femme à la coiffure hollandaise, regardant des poissons, 1929, exceeded its previous record by nearly $15,000, selling for $22,500. A late cubistic color aquatint and etching by Georges Braque, Hommage à J.S. Bach, 1950, more than doubled its previous record at $11,875. Three records were set for works by Thomas Hart Benton, with additional records achieved for works by Yves Tanguy and Jacques Villon.

 

Browse the catalogue for complete results. The next sale of Prints & Drawings at Swann Galleries will be Old Master Through Modern Prints on November 2, 2017. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Todd Weyman at tweyman@swanngalleries.com.

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Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript Americana

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Hoards of history-lovers came out to attend the preview for our auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana on September 28. The sale featured a trove of unique material, much of which had never previously been seen on the market. Department Director Rick Stattler said, “This sale emphasized quality over quantity. At 325 lots, it was one of the smallest Americana sales we’ve ever done, but the total hammer was the best of our past four Americana sales, and it finished above the top of its estimate range.”

 

Lot 166: Missionary archive of Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond, Minnesota, 1833-93. Sold September 28, 2017 for $112,500.

 

The top lot in the sale was an archive of 245 letters that spanned nearly a century by early frontier missionaries in Minnesota, which was sold to a private collector for $112,500—triple the pre-sale estimate, and the highest price ever realized for an archive at Swann. Collectors also won a first-edition Book of Mormon for $37,500, and a New Hampshire broadside proclaiming the end of the American Revolution for $22,500.

 

Lot 190: E. Radford Bascome, two cyanotype albums documenting the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge, 1897-1903. Sold September 28, 2017 for $30,000.

 

A burgeoning section of photographic works performed exceptionally well, with a set of cyanotype albums compiled by E. Radford Bascome, chronicling the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge, 1897-1903, reaching $30,000, above a high estimate of $6,000. McClees’ Gallery of Photographic Portraits… of the Thirty-Fifth Congress, 1859, was one of the first photographically illustrated books published in the United States; it was purchased for $11,250.

 

Lot 311: Fernando de Cepeda & Fernando Alfonso Carrillo, Relacion universal…, Mexico, 1637. Sold September 28, 2017 for $12,500.

 

Latin Americana was successful in this sale, led by a pair of early manuscripts by Baja California missionaries that brought $27,500 and $11,250, respectively, and Fernando de Cepeda’s rare 1637 book on Mexican engineering, which brought $12,500. Among the earliest examples of printing in the Americas are legal power-of-attorney forms printed in sixteenth-century Mexico: a previously unknown example, printed circa 1572, brought a record $2,000. All but one of the lots in this section found buyers, earning $115,272 and exceeding the high estimate for the run.

 

Lot 26: Medical journal kept by surgeons aboard the Continental frigate Deane and other vessels, 1777-88. Sold September 28, 2017 for $27,500.

 

Institutions bid actively throughout the auction. The biggest prize was a medical journal kept aboard the frigate Deane during the American Revolution. Additional institutional purchases included the papers of naval surgeon Pierre St. Medard, an early manuscript cookbook from Mexico and a logbook of an 1804-16 seal-hunting expedition off the coast of Antarctica.

Browse the catalogue for complete results. The next sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Rick Stattler  at rstattler@swanngalleries.com.

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Do You Speak Photography?

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This post was written by our Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks, Daile Kaplan.

 

Photography is ubiquitous in visual culture. Whether you prefer contemporary works by Alec Soth or classical photographs by Ansel Adams, artists who employ this popular art form distinguish between the electronic or digital image — as on this page — and the physical, finished photograph.

 

Lot 272: Ormond Gigli, Girls in the Windows, NYC, chromogenic print, 1960, printed later. Estimate $14,000 to $18,000.

 

Shooting a photograph can feel spontaneous, but it is the result of thoughtful choices: framing, lighting, subject matter, composition, et cetera. Creativity and imagination are key to developing a unique artistic style. Similarly, there are numerous aesthetic decisions involved in the realization of a photographic print, the three-dimensional object.  For example, an artwork’s size results in an immediate experiential and spatial relationship while the print’s palette or tonal qualities create mood or atmosphere.

 

Lot 278: Jan Saudek, The Story of Flowers, series of six hand-colored silver prints, circa 1987. Estimate $3,000 to $4,500.

 

Everyone loves taking a quick peek at cell phone images, but making or looking at art requires a commitment of time. Slowing down to engage with a photograph offers the viewer a meaningful experience, a deeper understanding of an artist’s approach to image-making and, ideally, new insights into oneself. By recognizing the physicality of the photographic object we begin to see color and black-and-white photography differently, as a tangible art form that is not unlike painting and sculpture.

 

Lot 49: Margaret Bourke-White, U.S.S. Airship Akron, World’s Largest Airship, silver print, in original duralumin frame, 1931. Estimate $3,000 to $4,500.

 

For more inspiring photographs, browse the catalogue for our October 19 auction of Art & Storytelling: Photographs & Photobooks.

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The First Accounts of Captain Cook’s Fateful Voyage

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A transportive highlight in our October 17 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books is the rare complete set of first editions detailing Captain James Cook’s voyages around the world.

 

Lot 285: James Cook, Complete set of first editions of the Southern Hemisphere, South Pole and Pacific Ocean Voyages, London, 1773-84. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

The handsome set of nine volumes, published serially, provides the foundation of modern knowledge of the Pacific, and is a cornerstone of the literature of travel and exploration. The tomes  feature the original tan morocco binding with black and red accents. Each contains multiple folding maps and engraved plates depicting some of the sights and novelties Cook encountered on his final three journeys.

 

Otahiete, an island in French Polynesia.

 

Cook’s first circumnavigation began in 1764 aboard the ship Endeavor. He set off for Tahiti and the Southern Hemisphere, ostensibly to observe the transit of Venus across the sun, an event visible only from that part of the world. He was also given a secret military agenda, in a sealed document to be opened after the astronomical wonder had taken place. According to The History Channel, “Cook carried sealed orders instructing him to seek out the ‘Great Southern Continent,’ an undiscovered landmass that was believed to lurk somewhere near the bottom of the globe.” He did not find evidence of such a landmass, though he did circle New Zealand, proving that the country is an archipelago.

The BBC notes that “Endeavor arrived in Tahiti in April 1769 where [they were] able to observe the transit of Venus. Endeavor continued on to New Zealand, and then sailed along the length of Australia’s eastern coast, which had never before been seen by Europeans. Cook claimed it for Britain and named it New South Wales.”

 

A “Man of New Zealand”

 

Cook and his crew of some hundred men returned to England in 1771 and publication of the first three volumes began shortly thereafter, in 1773. By this time, he had already embarked on his second circumnavigational voyage (1772-75), during which he was supposed to gather information about the South Pole. Engravings in the books show Cook’s men shooting at walruses, which they called “sea horses,” in what appear to be insufficient coats.

 

Cook’s men hunting “sea horses” in the Antarctic.

 

A human sacrifice in Otaheite.

 

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-80) sent him back to the Pacific, where he was tasked with finding a passage through the Arctic ice cap. Between the ice floes and the generally terrible conditions, his crew began to mutiny and he was forced to turn south. His two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery, approached Hawaii’s Kealakekua Bay, where the locals received them with much fanfare. On Valentine’s Day in 1779, they returned to the harbor for safety from a storm. The conversation came to fisticuffs and Cook was killed. His crew completed the circumnavigation and the series was finished.

Explore the full catalogue.

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Magnum Photographs: 70th Anniversary

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The following post was written by Keavy Handley-Byrne of our Photographs & Photobooks department:

Magnum Photos, founded as a cooperative agency in 1947, is perhaps the most well-known photographic collective in the world. Through the Magnum photographs included in our October 19 auction of Art & Storytelling: Photographs and Photobooks, a viewer can clearly see the “human connections” invoked by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a founder of Magnum, indicating a global community of which we are all a part.

 

Lot 78: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Valencia, Spain, silver print, 1933, printed 1990s. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

Lot 79: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sunday on the Banks of the Marne, silver print, 1938, printed 1980s. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.

 

Diana Flatto, a specialist in Swann Galleries’ Prints & Drawings department, recently co-curated a survey entitled Framing Community: Magnum Photos 1947-Present, and writes in the publication of the same name:

Whether they visit foreign countries or probe their own neighborhoods, these photographers capture moments through which the viewer may make sense of the photographer’s perspective on any given time and its people. … Nostalgia may be understood as homesickness, or “unsatisfied desire.” In these cases, the desire is for connection and an understanding of community. While the groups portrayed vary in location and scope, the desire for the unattainable is universal.

 

Lot 201: Elliot Erwitt, Paris, silver print, 1989. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.

 

Lot 143: Cornell Capa, Bolshoi Ballet School, Moscow, silver print, 1956, printed 2003. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.

 

The breadth of the Magnum philosophy allows for loose concepts to lend themselves to beautiful visual connections. Displayed together in our preview exhibition, a viewer can see reflections of Burt Glinn’s photograph of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick in Inge Morath’s photograph from the Mask Series, a collaboration with Saul Steinberg.

 

Lot 180: Burt Glinn, Andy Warhol with Edie Sedgwick and Chuck Wein, silver print, 1965, printed circa 1990s. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.

 

Lot 174: Inge Morath, Saul Steinberg Mask Series: People in Their Car, silver print, 1961, printed 1980s. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

This year marks the Seventieth Anniversary of the founding of Magnum, a landmark event commemorated by multiple exhibitions, including the above-mentioned Framing Community: Magnum Photos 1947-Present at Hunter College Art Gallery (through November 26th). Others include Women Seeing Women at Staley-Wise Gallery (Summer 2017) and the comprehensive Magnum Manifesto at the International Center of Photography (Summer 2017).

 

Lot 279: Ernst Haas, Rose, dye transfer print, 1970, printed 1999.

 

A seventy-year legacy within the young medium of photography is something to celebrate, and we could think of no better way than displaying Magnum photographs as their own salon of human connection.

 

The display of Magnum works in our October 19th auction of Art & Storytelling: Photographs & Photobooks.

 

Browse the full catalogue.

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Marvel at Early Aviation Posters from 1910

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The development of manned flight from hot air balloon to heavier-than-air machines was recorded and disseminated to the public via promotional posters. Some of the most influential works from this crucial time in the history of aviation will be coming to auction in our October 26 sale of Rare & Important Travel Posters.

In 1910, seven years after the Wright Brothers took to the air, aviation expositions began to pop up all over Europe. One of the most important such festivals was held from June 19-26 in Rouen, France, in which twelve airplanes were aloft simultaneously (imagine that!).

The Grande Semaine d’Aviation, as it was called, was primarily advertised by two posters issued the same year, both emphasizing the sheer impossibility of a person sailing through the clouds.

 

Lot 140: Charles Rambert, Grande Semaine d’Aviation / Rouen, 1910. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.

 

Charles Rambert‘s exuberant poster emphasizes new technology outpacing the old. The gargoyles atop the famous spires of Rouen Cathedral–one of which is engulfed in scaffolding–recoil as they see a pilot whiz by.

 

Photomontage of Leon Morane swooping around the Rouen Cathedral. Courtesy of Le Blog de Rouen.

 

In a curious instance of life imitating art, one of the more memorable moments of the event was when the pilot Leon Morane “caused a sensation by flying around the venerable cathedral in the heart of the city,” according to the catalogue for The National Air & Space Museum – Smithsonian Institution’s 2000 exhibition titled Looping the Loop: Posters of Flight

 

Lot 141: Georges Villa, Grande Semaine d’Aviation Rouen, 1910. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

In Georges Villa‘s interpretation of the event, several flying machines, their wings illuminated by the fiery orange of the setting sun, soar above Rouen Cathedral and the city’s winding river and hills. In the center of the image is the personification of flying machines and the “Spirit of Flight” herself, perhaps intended to remind viewers of Joan of Arc, who was famously executed at Rouen in 1431.

Browse the full catalogue.

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Records & Results: African-American Fine Art

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Four works exceeded $100,000 at our sale of African-American Fine Art on Thursday, October 5. A wealth of unique paintings, drawings and monotypes distinguished the sale of approximately 150 lots, nearly all of which were executed in the last century.

 

Lot 4: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight into Egypt, oil on canvas, circa 1910. Sold October 5, 2017 for $341,000.

 

An important nocturne by Henry Ossawa Tanner titled Flight into Egypt, circa 1910, was the highlight of the sale. The subject was a favorite motif of the artist’s, who took several trips to the Holy Land and was deeply inspired by the experience. The large oil painting was purchased by an institution for $341,000.

 

Lot 48: Norman Lewis, Untitled (Procession Composition), oil on marbleized slate, 1960. Sold October 5, 2017 for $233,000.

 

Works by Norman Lewis performed well, selling through the entire run of eight. These were led by an unusual 4.5-foot length of marbleized slate, adorned with small, stylized figures: Untitled (Procession Composition), 1960, sold to a collector for $233,000, above a high estimate of $150,000. Additional highlights by the Abstract Expressionist included a 1960 untitled oil painting on paper, and Sunset, 1951, another oil painting on paper ($21,250 and $15,000, respectively). Of the eight works by Lewis in the sale, only one was a print: the lithograph Untitled (Umbrella), 1945, nearly quadrupled its high estimate to sell for $18,750.

 

Lot 88: Sam Gilliam, Rubiyat, acrylic and flocking on beveled canvas, 1973. Sold October 5, 2017 for $191,000.

 

All but one of the seven offered works by Sam Gilliam found new homes. Each represented dramatically different stylistic periods in the artist’s oeuvre. A beveled-edge canvas from 1973 titled Rubiyat more than doubled its high estimate to sell for $191,000. Not Spinning, 2001-04, a plywood collage with acrylic paint, was one of the most contemporary works in the sale: it reached $57,500.

 

Lot 20: Elizabeth Catlett, War Worker, tempera, 1943. Sold October 5, 2017 for $149,000.

 

War Worker, 1943, is the second painting by Elizabeth Catlett ever to come to auction. The tempera on paper portrait exemplifies the artist’s work from her New York period. It reached 149,000, above an estimate of $90,000, a record for a painting by the artist. All but one of the eight works by Catlett offered in the auction sold. Two bronze busts, Glory, 1981, and Cabeza Cantando (Singing Head), 1960, found buyers for $40,000 and $27,500, respectively.

 

Lot 39: Richmond Barthè, The Awakening of Africa (Africa Awakening), cast bronze, 1959. Sold October 5, 2017 for $87,500, a record for the artist.

 

A new auction record was established for Richmond Barthè, whose 1959 cast bronze sculpture The Awakening of Africa (Africa Awakening) reached $87,500. Stevedore, a cast bronze on marble base modeled by the artist in 1937 and cast in 1985, was sold for $75,000.

 

Lot 31: Hughie Lee-Smith, Untitled (Youths on a Lakeshore), oil on board, 1952. Sold October 5, 2017 for $93,750.

 

All three dramatic oil paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith sold for more than $50,000 each. Untitled (Youths on a Lakeshore), 1952, dates to the artist’s time in Detroit, and was purchased by a collector for $93,750. A later cityscape, Interlude, 1991, reached $55,000.

Browse the catalogue for complete results.The next auction of African-American Fine Art at Swann Galleries will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Nigel Freeman at nfreeman@swanngalleries.com.

 

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Works from Will Barnet’s Estate at Auction

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American artist Will Barnet is known for his intimate, foreshortened views of women with cats, but his oeuvre, spanning nearly a century, reveals a diverse and multifaceted artist who transcended stylistic trends. Coming to auction for the first time are works from Barnet’s estate, with examples from each of his major stylistic periods, in our November 2 sale of Old Master Through Modern Prints.

 

Lot 392: Will Barnet, Silent Seasons–Summer, color lithograph, 1974.
Estimate $1,000 to $1,500.

 

The selection of prints is especially notable for its wealth of rare examples of Barnet’s early social realist work, produced for the graphic arts division of the WPA, Federal Art Project in New York, producing lithographs and etchings of factory workers, farm laborers and urban dwellers. His street views of New York’s working poor reflect the popular Ashcan School style epitomized in the work of George Bellows and John Sloan.

 

Lot 364: Will Barnet, Fulton Street Fish Market, lithograph, 1934.
Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

Barnet began to experiment with abstraction in the 1940s. He never broached the barrier into full-on abstraction, always leaving some hint of figuration in the composition. During an October 26 talk at Swann Galleries, the artist’s daughter Ona Barnet recalled that her father would take her through art museums why every painting is abstract.

 

Lot 376: Will Barnet, Strange Bird, lithograph, 1947. Estimate $1,200 to $1,800.

 

Barnet’s abstraction became more expressive through the 1950s, incorporating gestural forms into his works. Images like Play, 1952, show his attention turning more toward the domestic scenes and home life for which he would become known.

 

Lot 378: Will Barnet, Play, color lithograph, 1952. Estimate $1,200 to $1,800.

 

By the mid-1960s, Barnet’s style had matured. His works were populated with women at rest or playing with domestic animals. Evident are the influences of Renaissance painting, traditional Japanese color woodcuts and American Pop Art. Barnet continued to operate and experiment in this style for the next 50 years.

 

Lot 393: Will Barnet, Woman, Cat and String, color woodcut, 1964. Estimate $1,200 to $1,800.

 

Lot 394: Will Barnet, The Book, color screenprint, 1975.
Estimate $1,000 to $1,500.

 

Lot 353: Will Barnet, Images of Children, complete portfolio with four woodcuts and four etchings, 1982.
Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

Lot 352: Will Barnet, Between Life and Life, color lithograph, 1998. Estimate $1,500 to $2,500.

 

Lot 388: Will Barnet, Celebration, color lithograph, 2005.
Estimate $1,500 to $2,500.

 

For more works from Barnet’s collection, browse the full catalogue.

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The Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Autographs

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Our November 7 auction of Autographs is especially noteworthy for a collection of musical autographs from the estate of Jimmy Van Heusen.

 

Jimmy Van Heusen with Frank Sinatra. Courtesy of NPR.

 

Jimmy Van Heusen was an American composer of popular songs for musical theater, radio, film and television, whose music is best known from performances by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and others. Among his most-loved songs are Love and Marriage, High Hopes and All the Way, the original musical manuscripts for which are featured in the sale. He won four Oscars over the course of his career and was one of the first ten members inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame when it formed  in 1971.

 

Lot 213: Jimmy Van Heusen, Love and Marriage, Autograph Musical Manuscript Signed, twice, circa 1955. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.

 

According to The New York Times, “Sinatra recorded 76 songs by Mr. Van Heusen, more than by any other composer.” The article adds that Van Heusen “played a significant role in the resurgence of Mr. Sinatra’s career after a slump in the early 1950’s. Love and Marriage, … The Tender Trap, All the Way and High Hopes became major hits for the singer, whose albums include generous selections of Van Heusen material.” In addition, the two were close friends and Van Heusen was buried in Sinatra’s family plot.

The Collection includes not only the original musical manuscripts of his own hits, but also many autograph musical quotations and letters by some of the most influential composers of classical music from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here are a few of the classical highlights:

 

Lot 209: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major, Autograph Musical Quotation dated and signed, London, 21 March 1888. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

Above is an Autograph Musical Quotation dated and signed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, showing nine bars from the first movement of Serenade for String Orchestra in C Majorsigned March 21, 1888 in London, where he would perform the piece at St. James’s Hall the following day. Also available is a letter from Tchaikovsky to dramatic agent Edmund Gerson, declining to meet with him because of a “previous engagement” in New York, which we believe to be the opening of Carnegie Hall. In 1891, shortly after this letter was written, Tchaikovsky traveled to New York to inaugurate the opening of Carnegie Hall, where he conducted his Coronation March on May 5, 1891.

 

Lot 145: Johannes Brahms, Academic Festival Overture, Autograph Musical Quotation Signed and Inscribed, in German, three bars from Gaudeamus Igitus,
Mürzzuschlag, July 1888. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000.

 

Lot 150: Frédéric Chopin, Autograph Note Signed, to Mr. Schlesinger, in French.
Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.

 

Lot 180: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Autograph Letter Signed, with an Autograph Musical Manuscript of May Song, to Adolf Friedrich Stenzler,
Düsseldorf, 21 June 1834.
Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

Lot 201: Robert Schumann, Autograph Musical Quotation dated and Signed, four bars from the first act of Genoveva, Leipzig, 29 June 1850.
Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.

 

Lot 203: Dmitri Shostakovich, Autograph Musical Quotation Signed and Inscribed, to Lionel Okvin, in Russian, the opening three bars from Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Moscow, 17 February 1947. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.

 

Lot 207: Igor Stravinsky, Two Autograph Musical Quotations on same sheet, one signed, Rite of Spring and Berceuse from The Firebird, New York, 6 February 1935.
Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

In 1967, Van Heusen donated his collection to Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, NY, where he was a student when it operated as a high school. Proceeds from the sale of the collection will benefit the College.

 

Explore more of the Jimmy Van Heusen Collection in the full catalogue.

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Children’s Literature for Adults

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Children’s literature is a perennially popular genre. We were all children once, and the antics of Willy Wonka and imagination of Max shaped our early lives in a way that few things did. Our November 14 auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature features an especially strong selection of beloved signed first editions that will lead you down memory lane.

 

Lot 73: Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are, first edition, signed and inscribed, with full-length drawing of Max, New York, 1963. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

It is extremely rare to find full-body portraits of Maurice Sendak’s most iconic protagonist, Max of Where the Wild Things AreThis Max graces the inside of a first edition of his story, retaining the original dust jacket with no mention of the Caldecott Medal it would go on to receive.

 

 

 

Lot 49: Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, first edition, signed, New York, 1964. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.

 

The most famous and tasty work from the acclaimed oeuvre of Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964, teaches lessons about greed and integrity. The present copy comes in a custom-made cloth slipcase.

 

Lot 74: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, first edition, signed, London, 1877. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000.

 

It is extremely rare to find signed copies of Anna Sewell’s magnum opus, Black Beauty, a novel told from the perspective of a horse in London’s cab system. The book was intended to highlight the plight of animals and was influential in raising animal welfare standards in Victorian London. Sadly, Sewell died just months after the work was published.

 

Lot 77: E.B. White, Stuart Little, first edition, signed, New York, 1945. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

 

Signed first editions of Stuart Little are hard to find–more so a finely bound presentation copy with an endearing inscription. The present copy is signed, “For Dr. George Waterman – who asked about my preoccupation with mice. Best regards from Andy White.” Though his given name was Elwyn Brooks, the nickname “Andy” was given to him at Cornell.

 

Lot 62: L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, first edition, Boston 1908. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.

 

First editions of L.M. Montgomery’s seminal coming-of-age novel Anne of Green Gables were published in three colors: green, beige and brown. The brown version, seen here, is the least common.

 

Here are a few more highlights to spark your memory:

 

Lot 75: Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends, first edition, first issue, New York, 1974. Estimate $1,000 to $1,500.

 

Lot 55: A.A. Milne, complete set of the Christopher Robin books, first editions, three signed, London, 1924-28. Estimate $10,000 to $15,000.

 

Lot 46: Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, singed limited 25th anniversary edition, deluxe edition, with an original drawing by Carle tipped-in to the cover, New York, 1994. Estimate $1,000 to $1,500.

 

Browse the full catalogue.

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Arthur Luiz Piza

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Arthur Luiz Piza, a Brazilian mixed media artist trained in Paris, leads an ever-growing section of Latin American art in our biannual auctions of Contemporary Art.  An especially unusual piece by the visionary is a highlight in our November 16 sale. The following notes from the catalogue

 

Lot 103: Arthur Luiz Piza, Sans Titre, mixed media on canvas, circa 1964. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000.

 

Piza relocated to Paris in 1951, where he lived and worked for most of his career. During his initial years in Paris, he trained under the master printmaker Johnny Friedlaender, adapting his style to the capabilities and demands of intaglio processes. Following this instruction, Piza began to use thicker plates than was typical for etchings, in order to make deeper, gouged incisions. This resulted in a three-dimensional textural quality in his printed works, as seen in Soleil rouge. He was awarded the National Engraving Prize early in his career, in 1959, for his innovations.

 

Lot 104: Arthur Luiz Piza, Soleil rouge, color etching, 1968.<br

 

In addition to his printed oeuvre, Piza experimented widely with varied media, pushing the boundary between works on paper, painting and sculpture. His collage works from the 1960s, like Sans titre, incorporated anything from traditional material such as colored paper to more radical substances like sand. He worked on all forms of supports, including canvas, wood and cardboard. Piza expanded the technique to a sculpture, moving beyond two-dimensional work to incorporate issues of space and perception in his work. He threaded a consistent visual vocabulary through his prints, collages and sculpture that derived from his interest in netting and spatial relationships.

 

Arthur Luiz Piza, Collage #13, mixed-media collage on wood, 1959.
Sold May 12, 2016 for $40,000.

 

Piza initially exhibited his work in the inaugural São Paulo Bienal in 1951, preceding his move to Paris. Over the years, he exhibited his work at such esteemed venues as the Venice Bienale, Bienal de la Habana and Documenta. Piza’s work is in the collections of many institutions including The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He passed away in 2017 after a lifetime of rich artistic production.

 

Arthur Luiz Piza, Béryl, color aquatint, etching and embossing, 1967.
Sold November 15, 2016 for $1,430.

 

Browse the catalogue.

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Schedel’s Map: The Last View of the Old World

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A historic map shows us where we’ve been, not only geographically but also in terms of the extent of our knowledge, our beliefs and even our technology. Two works coming up for auction in our December 5 sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books illustrate the state of mapmaking in a crucial time in human history, and how knowledge changes the way the world looks.

According to the University of Cambridge’s Library, Liber Chronicarum, more popularly known as the Nuremberg Chronicle is “one of the most important German incunables and the most extensively illustrated book of the fifteenth century.” Through 1,809 woodcut illustrations of events, as well as views and topographies, the work tells the history of the world through the lens of the Bible. It was written in Latin by doctor and humanist Hartmann Schedel, and printed by Albrecht Dürer’s godfather, Anton Koberger, in 1493. Another edition came out later in the same year, translated into vernacular German by George Alt.

The innovative work is set up in such a way that illustrations and text appeared in concert on the same page, and appeared to interact. Two maps were used to illustrate the text: one of the known world, and one of Germany. The map of the world is especially interesting because, being printed in 1493, Christopher Columbus had just barely returned from his journey; it is one of the last maps of the known world to be published without the Americas. Additionally, according to Queens’ College Library, it was “one of only three fifteenth-century maps showing Portuguese knowledge of the Gulf of Guinea of about 1470.”

 

Lot 204: Hartmann Schedel, Das Ander Alter Der Welt, double-page woodcut map, Nuremberg, 1493. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.

 

The map in question presents a Ptolemaic projection of the world, based on the first-century writings of Ptolemy. Beyond its geographical points of interest, the map is flanked to the left by a cast of bizarre characters, including a snake-necked man, that one might expect to find at the edges of the world.

 

Lot 205: Johann Schönsperger, Der Werlt, woodcut map, Augsburg, 1496. Estimate $3,000 to $5,000.

 

In an exhibition of the Nuremberg Chronicles at Vassar College, Professor Ronald Patkus suggests in the catalogue that dwindling sales of the Schedel edition could have been the result of professional undercutting: “Between 1496 and 1500, Johann Schönsperger produced three editions: two in German, and one in Latin. These books followed the Nuremberg printings very closely in terms of both text and illustration, but they were offered in a smaller format (quarto), with smaller type and newly-made illustrations. Schönsperger’s efforts were not illegal because no copyright laws existed at the time, but they reveal the vagaries of early printing, where possibility for one could mean difficulty for another.”

The Schönsperger edition includes a greatly reduced version of Schedel’s world map. Though only about a quarter of the size of the original, the miniaturized map loses little of its detail. However, the left-hand panel of odd creatures is left off.

According to our Maps & Atlases Specialist Caleb Kiffer, “The New World did not appear on a printed map until the publication of Giovanni Conarini’s world map in 1506, showing Cuba and Hispaniola adjacent to Japan. This is known to exist in only one example. In 1507 Johann Ruysch published an engraved world map showing much the same geography, however it had a larger print run as the map is very rare, but still available.”

Browse the full catalogue.

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Daffydils: A Cartoon Festschrift

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Festschrifts, usually academic in nature, can also be jovial. An exceptional example, coming to auction in our December 14 sale of Illustration Art, features contributions from some of the greatest cartoonists of the early twentieth century, in their recognizable styles.

The volume was presented in 1911 to the American cartoonist and humor writer, editor and radio personality, Harry Hershfield. He was well known for his popular radio shows, including “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One” and “Can You Top This?” and for producing his own acclaimed comic strips Desperate Desmond and Abie the Agent. The cartoonists whose work fills the book were primarily employed by William Randolph Hearst’s The New York Journal.

 

Lot 250: Daffydils, festschrift for Harry Hershfield, with cartoons by 18 contemporary artists including George Herriman and Winsor McCay, 1911. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.

 

The cover was designed by veteran cartoonist Tad Dorgan, a social satirist and regular contributor to Hearst’s newspapers. The title, Daffydils, comes from his popular humor column. He was known primarily for his sports writing and cartoons following the activities of various dogs, most famously a fluffy white dog named Judge Rummy. Through his regular columns and cartoons, Dorgan coined numerous phrases still in use today, including “the cat’s meow,” “dumbbell” and “for crying out loud.” It’s not clear why he dropped the second l from the title of the festschrift.

 

Page from Daffydils by George Herriman, showing Krazy Kat and Ignatz.

 

The first page of the book was signed by George Herriman, who included depictions of his most famous creations, Krazy Kat and the mouse Ignatz. The characters break the third wall by referring to their presence in a book intended for a rival cartoonist, but Herriman inscribed the drawing “To Old Kid Hash,” a nickname for Hershfield. 1911 was the same year Krazy Kat and Ignatz earned a weekly place in The New York Journal. Though his work was vastly influential during his lifetime, it was not until 25 years after Herriman’s death in 1944 that his birth certificate was discovered to list him as “colored,” revitalizing interest in his oeuvre.

From The New York Timess review of Michael Tisserand’s book, Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White:

[Charles] Schulz got turned on to “Krazy Kat” right after World War II, he said, and it “did much to inspire me to create a feature that went beyond the mere actions of ordinary children.” Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), whose animal characters strongly resemble Herriman’s, told a biographer, “At its best, the comic strip is an art form of such terrific wumpf! that I’d much rather spend any evening of any week rereading the beautifully insane sanities of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat than to sit myself down in some opera house to hear some smiling Irish tenor murdering Pagliacci.” The iconoclastic Robert Crumb called Herriman the “Leonardo da Vinci of comics,” while the ambitious [Art] Spiegelman argued that Krazy Kat “crossed all kinds of boundaries, between high and low, between vulgar and genteel.”

 

 

Page from Daffydils by Frederick Burr Opper, showing Happy Hooligan.

 

Comic pioneer Frederick Burr Opper contributed to the festschrift with a sketch of his most famous character, Happy Hooligan. Happy premiered in The New York Journal  in 1900.

 

Final page from Daffydils by Winsor McCay.

 

Winsor McCay stands out here for his meticulous Art Nouveau style. McCay’s most famous character was a young boy named Little Nemo, whose fantastical dreams took him on a new adventure in each strip. For Hershfield, McCay illustrated the cartoonist’s daily plight: “I have everything in the world I want except for an Idea!!”

 

Browse the full catalogue for more.

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Ingeborg Willy & the Making of Snow White

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A scrapbook, presumably kept by an inker at Walt Disney Studios, reveals much about the production of Snow White. The album is a highlight in our December 14 auction of Illustration Art. In this video, Specialist Christine von der Linn tells the story of the scrapbook and the woman who most-likely made it, Ingeborg Willy.

 

 

Ingeborg Willy worked at Disney as an inker from 1936 to 1941. Using cotton gloves, she would carefully lay a sheet of celluloid over the graphite drawings and trace the outlines in ink, before the drawings would go to the painters to be finalized.

The materials in the scrapbook span the project from its inception to its accolades in the press after its release. She kept invitations to staff events, newspaper clippings, twenty original drawings and camera directions, as well as photographs of her colleagues and friends, many of whom were fellow inkers in the all-female Ink and Paint Department.

Also in the scrapbook is a single frame of Moviola film. Before the drawings went to the inkers, they were filmed and played on an old projector called a Moviola so that Disney and his lead animators could analyze the movement from one segment to the next. If the segment was not up to Disney’s perfectionist standards, the drawings would be sent back to the animators for corrections. The notes on the detailed sheet in the scrapbook were taken while Disney was reviewing the Moviola footage of the scene, “Love’s First Kiss.” One of the notes reads ‘Round glass – no petals on coffin.’ This suggests that an earlier iteration of the scene neglected to consider the physical realities of objects falling and accumulating on a curved surface, which probably obscured Snow White. The obsessive drive immortalized in these notes encompasses just 22 seconds of screen time.

 

Lot 240: Scrapbook relating to the production of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, presumed to be compiled by Ingeborg Willy, with 20 original drawings, circa 1937. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000.

 

Exactly one week after this auction, December 21st, 2017, will mark 80 years since the film’s premiere in 1937. Snow White was an instant success and earned $8 million dollars during its initial release – an astounding figure for a country in economic turmoil.

Browse the full catalogue. Here’s more on How Disney Cartoons Are Made.

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Records & Results: Early Printed Books

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Our October 17 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books  garnered eager interest from bibliophiles, exceeding the sale’s high estimate and earning more than half a million dollars. In a focused offering with just more than 300 lots, 92% of works found buyers, with particularly active bidding for Bibles, incunabula, and early manuscript material.

 

Lot 163: Aegidius Romanus, Lo libre del regiment dels princeps, first edition in Catalan, Barcelona, 1480.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $50,000.

 

The top lot of the sale was Lo libre del regiment dels princeps, Barcelona, 1480, a Catalan-language guide for princes by Aegidius Romanus, which sold for $50,000, above a high estimate of $15,000, a record for the work. The book, translated from the original Latin by Arnau Stranyol, is especially noteworthy as Catalan-language incunabula appear so infrequently at auction, and this appears to be the fourth work ever published in that language. Another highlight was the first edition in the original Greek of Herodotus’s Libri novem, an Aldine imprint published in 1502, which doubled its high estimate to sell for $30,000.

 

Lot 148: Herodotus, Libri novem, first edition in the original Greek, in an 18th-century binding for the Venetian doge Mario Foscarini, Venice, 1502.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $30,000.

 

Each of the 16 works in a dedicated section of Incunabula sold. Beyond the top lot, highlights included the second edition of Nicolaus Panormitanus de Tudeschis’s Lectura super V libris Decretalium, Basel, 1477, reaching $8,125, and Saint Hieronymus’s Epistolae, Venice, 1488, bound in a leaf from a manuscript choir book ($7,000).

 

Lot 169: Saint Hieronymus, Epistolae, two volumes in one, Venice, 1488.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $7,000.

 

All but one of the 35 offered Bibles found buyers, led by the first edition of the Bishop’s Bible, 1568, the most lavishly illustrated bible in English; the tome replaced the Great Bible for church use, and in the sale nearly doubled its high estimate to sell to a collector for $5,980. Psalterium Romanum, 1576, a sammelband in handsome contemporary binding executed for a nun, also contains a ritual for baptisms and exorcisms, 1581, reached $2,000. One of few twentieth-century works in the sale was the 1913-14 Insel-Verlag limited-edition facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible in full, exuberant color on vellum, which sold for $7,000.

 

Lot 167: Bible in Latin, limited edition facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible, two volumes, Leipzig, 1913-14.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $7,000.

 

A popular section of early manuscript material was led by De claustro animae, a fourteenth-century manuscript in Latin on vellum by Hugo de Folieto, in which he uses the cloister as a metaphor for the soul ($28,750). A vellum leaf from a glossed Psalter in Latin, written in France in the twelfth century, nearly doubled its high estimate to reach $3,000. A beautifully illuminated French vellum bifolium from the calendar of a Book of Hours showing the months of January and June, executed in the later fifteenth century, sold for $5,250.

 

Lot 200: Illuminated vellum bifolium from the calendar of Book of Hours, France, later fifteenth century.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $5,250.

 

Medical highlights included Monstrorum historia, a 1642 collection of descriptions of monsters and medical mysteries, with more than 450 woodcut illustrations. The work was compiled by Ulisse Aldrovandi and published posthumously in Bologna ($7,000). Also of note was the first American edition of Nicholas Culpeper’s The London Dispensatory, 1720, the first herbal, pharmacopoeia and medical book published in colonial America, which sold for $11,250.

 

Lot 203: Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia, first edition, with over 450 woodcut illustrations, Bologna, 1642.
Sold October 17, 2017 for $7,000.

 

Tobias Abeloff, our Specialist of Early Printed Books, noted that “There was unexpected interest in unusual items, such as a scarce 1691 edition of Officium defunctorum, or the Latin Office of the Dead, converted by an eighteenth-century owner into a bizarre personal scrapbook,” which reached $2,375, above an estimate of $100 to $200.

Browse the catalogue for complete results. The next auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Tobias Abeloff at tabeloff@swanngalleries.com.

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Records & Results: Art & Storytelling: Photographs & Photobooks

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On October 19 our sale of Art & Storytelling: Photographs & Photobooks combined works spanning the lifetime of the medium into an auction intended to “highlight the interrelationships between fine art, documentary and vernacular photographs,” according to Daile Kaplan, Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks. Ms. Kaplan has long been an advocate for the inclusion of vernacular works and photobooks in the fine art sphere, and organized the first auctions devoted to those subjects in 2014 and 2006, respectively. She added, “We’re successfully building a new, broader market of crossover and emerging collectors who enjoy discovering the ways in which art tells a story.”

 

Lot 323: Hand-colored salesman’s album for Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, with 86 photographs, circa 1915.
Sold October 19, 2017 for $10,625.

 

Interest in vernacular photography was so high that the opening bid for many works exceeded the high estimate. One of the sale’s biggest surprises was a circa 1915 salesman’s album for the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, containing 86 hand-colored silver prints of pencils, erasers and marketing displays, which sold for $10,625 to an institution, above a high estimate of $2,500. Documentary and photojournalism works were included in this category, with Margaret Bourke-White’s silver print Gold Miners Nos. 1139 and 5122, 1950, for a Life magazine story about apartheid in South Africa, reaching $17,500.

 

Lot 11: John Thomson (credited to), album with 67 albumen prints of South Asia and China, circa 1862-72.
Sold October 19, 2017 for $45,000.

 

The highlight of the sale was an extraordinarily scarce 1862-72 album of 67 photographs depicting South Asia and China credited to John Thomson, which sold for $45,000. Other notable photobooks included Volume X from Edwards S. Curtis’s seminal work, The North American Indian, 1915, and the deluxe limited edition of Ansel Adams’s Yosemite and the Range of Light, 1979 ($12,500 and $20,000, respectively).

 

Lot 292: BAM Photography Portfolio I, complete portfolio with photographs by Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman and others, New York and San Francisco, 1993-2000, printed 2000.
Sold October 19, 2017 for $26,250, a record for the work.

 

Several long-standing auction records were broken for important works, including the complete BAM Photography Portfolio I, 2000, with photographs by Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman and others, which sold for $26,250 to a collector. A new record was also established for Saul Leiter, whose atmospheric chromogenic print Waiter, Paris, 1959, sold for $25,000, above a high estimate of $9,000.

 

Lot 281: Saul Leiter, Waiter, Paris, chromogenic print, 1959, printed 1990s. Sold October 19, 2017 for $25,000, a record for the work.

 

Another highlight was a 1981 printing of Roy DeCarava’s Dancers, 1956, which nearly doubled its estimate, selling to a collector for $37,500. The dramatic work depicts a darkened Harlem dance hall, where one imagines the subject of Horst P. Horst’s 1987 silver print, Round the Clock III, New York, would feel right at home ($15,600, a record for the work). Iconic works by Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Ormond Gigli and Irving Penn were also met with head-to-head bidding.

Browse the catalogue for complete results. The next auction of Photographs & Photobooks at Swann Galleries will be held in February 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Daile Kaplan at dkaplan@swanngalleries.com.

 

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Records & Results: Rare & Important Travel Posters

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Our annual auctions of Rare & Important Travel Posters are destinations in and of themselves. On October 26, we offered more spectacular examples that embodied a century’s worth of technological development.

 

Lot 33: Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, Normandie / Maiden Voyage, 1935. Sold October 26, 2017 for $20,000.

 

The top lot of the sale was Adolphe Mouron Cassandre’s promotional image for the maiden voyage of the Normandie, 1935, one of the most iconic posters of all time. It was purchased by a bidder in the room for $20,000. A fine selection of early ocean liner images opened the sale, as the earliest form of mass leisure transportation. A rare circa-1911 depiction of the White Star Line’s sister ships Olympic and Titanic, likely published before they were launched, reached $9,750.

 

Lot 181: Jean Dupas, Where is This Bower Beside the Silver Thames?, 1930. Sold October 26, 2017 for $12,500.

 

Art Deco works by Jean Dupas for the London Underground performed well, with five of the six offered works finding buyers. Two extremely rare large-scale works from the same series in a different format—Where is this Bower Beside the Silver Thames?, 1930, and Thence to Hyde Park, Where Much Good Company and Many Fine Ladies, 1930 ($12,500 and $10,400, respectively)—were met with great interest by bidders.

 

Lot 207: Hanson Puthuff, The Chief to California / Cajon Pass, circa 1936. Sold October 26, 2017 for $10,625.

 

American posters proved popular, led by The Chief to California / Cajon Pass, 1930, an idyllic mountain scene by Hanson Puthuff, which sold for $10,625, above a high estimate of $6,000.

 

Lot 28: Willem Frederick ten Broek, New York Exposition Mondiale / Holland – America Line, 1938. Sold October 26, 2017 for $9,750, a record for the artist.

 

Several long-standing auction records were broken, both for artists and individual works. Willem Frederick ten Broek’s poster advertising an ocean liner cruise to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, featuring the iconic Trylon and Perisphere against a Deco skyline of lower Manhattan, sold for $9,750, a record for the artist. Making its auction debut was By the North Shore Line, a 1923 advertisement for the Chicago Rapid Transit Company by Ervine Metzl, described by Nicholas D. Lowry, Director of Vintage Posters at Swann Galleries, as “arguably the most progressive American poster artist of his time.” The work reached $9,750, a record for the artist. Additional records went to Earl Horter, whose sepia view of Grand Central Terminal, showing cars zipping across the promenade, 1927, reached a record $6,000. A dramatic circa 1952 image by Frank Soltesz, Fly TWA To and Across America, set a new record for the artist at $6,500. An unusual work by Roger Broders, Alger / La Ville Blanche, 1920, broke its previous record when it sold to a collector for $4,680.

 

Lot 236: Official Yogi Bear Map of Jellystone Park, designer unknown, 1961. Sold October 26, 2017 for $1,375.

 

The biggest surprise of the sale was the Official Yogi Bear Map of Jellystone Park, 1961, showing the locations of such amusing landmarks as “Old Faceful” and “Yogi Has Done Wrong.” Above a modest estimate of $400 to $600, the brightly colored work reached $1,375.

 

Browse the catalogue for complete results. The next auction of Vintage Posters at Swann Galleries will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Nicholas D. Lowry at posters@swanngalleries.com.

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Records & Results: Old Master Through Modern Prints

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A new auction record for any print by American master Edward Hopper was established at our auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints on November 2. The extremely rare etching The Lonely House, 1923, sold for a record $317,000 to a buyer over the phone, above a high estimate of $200,000. The previous record for a print by the artist, set in 2012, was $80,000 lower. It was also the highest price for an etching ever sold by Swann Galleries.

 

Lot 304: Edward Hopper, The Lonely House, etching, 1923.
Sold November 2, 2017 for $317,000, a record for a print by the artist.

 

All three works by Hopper in the sale found buyers. Les Poilus, an extremely rare 1915-18 etching of French infantrymen, reached $42,500, above a high estimate of $20,000, a record for the work.

 

Lot 309: Martin Lewis, Relics (Speakeasy Corner), drypoint, 1928.
Sold November 2, 2017 for $55,000, a record for the work.

 

Swann Galleries holds the top six auction prices for prints by Martin Lewis. In Thursday’s auction, the house beat its own record for Relics (Speakeasy Corner), 1928, one of the artist’s most iconic works. The work sold for $55,000, surpassing the previous benchmark established in 2016.

 

Lot 93: Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait with Cap Pulled Forward, etching, circa 1691.
Sold November 2, 2017 for $65,000, a record for the work.

 

Several additional image records were established, including $65,000 for Rembrandt van Rijn’s Self-Portrait with Cap Pulled Forward, a circa 1631 etching. A record was also achieved for Arbre, 1892, an enigmatic lithograph by Odilon Redon ($47,500).

 

Lot 203: Francisco José de Goya, Los Caprichos, bound volume with 79 etchings with aquatint, circa 1799. Sold November 2, 2017 for $106,250.

 

The important first edition of Francisco José de Goya’s Los Caprichos, circa 1799, lampooning the Spanish aristocracy and clergy, was sold for $106,250. Approximately 300 copies of the bound set of 80 etchings were produced in the first edition, before Goya withdrew the series from sale for fear of retribution. Few survive, as only 27 were sold and most of the rest destroyed; the copy offered lacked only one etching.

 

Lot 393: Will Barnet, Woman, Cat and String, color woodcut, 1964. Sold November 2, 2017 for $4,750.

 

The sale featured a special section of prints from the estate of American artist Will Barnet, 94% of which found buyers. Multiple bidders were on the phones for the duration of the run of 31 works, sending many prices past their estimates. Bidding was especially competitive for three figurative prints of women with pets in the flattened ukiyo-e-esque style for which Barnet is celebrated. Woman, Cat and String, 1964, is especially emblematic of the style: the square color woodcut sold for $4,750, above a high estimate of $1,800. The 1975 color screenprint The Book and lithograph Silent Seasons—Summer, 1974, also performed well ($4,000 and $3,250, respectively).

 

Browse the catalogue for complete results.The next auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints at Swann Galleries will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Todd Weyman at tweyman@swanngalleries.com.

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Records & Results: Autographs

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Our auction on November 7 saw fine results for Autographs by important historical figures in a variety of fields, from government to science to music. The total of $662K exceeded the estimate for the sale as a whole by almost $100,000, as lot after lot hammered above estimate.

 

Lot 209: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major, Autograph Musical Quotation dated & signed, London, 21 March 1888. Sold November 7, 2017 for $27,500.

 

The highlight of the sale was the Jimmy Van Heusen Collection, offering manuscripts by the composer as well as important letters, musical quotations and manuscripts by some of the most influential composers of the nineteenth- and twentieth centuries. Of the 76 lots offered from the collection, 93% found buyers, exceeding the high estimate for the section by more than $70,000. The top lot of the collection was an autograph musical quotation signed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, showing nine bars from the first movement of Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major, 1888, which sold for $27,500, above a high estimate of $15,000. The first autograph musical quotations by Van Heusen ever to come to auction included the drafts for such hits as Swinging on a Star and Love and Marriage ($6,750 and $7,000, respectively). Each of the seven lots by Van Heusen sold well above their estimates, with the working draft of Call Me Irresponsible reaching $9,375, above a high estimate of $2,000. The proceeds from the sale of the Collection will benefit Cazenovia College, which Van Heusen attended when it was a high school.

 

Lot 7: George Washington, Autograph Letter Signed, to his spymaster Benjamin Tallmadge, New Jersey, 1780. Sold November 7, 2017 for $40,000.

 

The top lot of the sale was a letter from George Washington to his spymaster, Benjamin Tallmadge, requesting intelligence at the height of the Revolutionary War. It was written in November of 1780 from his headquarters in Wayne, New Jersey, concerning the British troop numbers and locations on Long Island. It sold for $40,000.

 

Lot 75: Sigmund Freud, photograph by Halberstadt, Signed & Inscribed to Horace W. Frink, 1922. Sold November 7, 2017 for $20,000.

 

A strong selection of autographs by scientists was led by a signed photograph of Sigmund Freud by Halberstadt, signed & inscribed to American psychoanalyst Horace W. Frink, 1922, which sold for $20,000. A pair of photographic portraits signed by Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, reached $12,500.

 

Browse the catalogue for complete results.The next auction of Autographs at Swann Galleries will be held in Spring 2018. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Marco Tomaschett at mtomaschett@swanngalleries.com.

The post Records & Results: Autographs appeared first on Swann Galleries News.

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