Quantcast
Channel: Swann Galleries News
Viewing all 1212 articles
Browse latest View live

Top Lots: Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books

$
0
0
The February 28 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books offered a number of incunabula, early printed editions of Greek plays by Euripides, Pindar and Sophocles as well as illuminated manuscript leaves and scientific texts with stunning illustrations. The top lot of the sale was Juan González de Mendoza's The Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China, London, 1588, which brought $45,600. Another González de Mendoza book, Il Gran Regno della China, which features a very early map of China and Japan, sold for $11,400. 
Juan González de Mendoza, Il Gran Regno della China, first edition, Florence, 1589.
A first edition of The King James Bible, printed in London in 1611, realized $28,800. Other featured bibles and religious texts included a Greek New Testament that belonged to Samuel JohnsonTes Kaines Diathekes Apanta . . . Novum Jesu Christi . . . Testamentum, Frankfurt 1601, a gift from translator John Hoole, which brought $15,600.
The Holy Bible, first edition of the King James Bible, London, 1611.
Among early philosophical texts, a first edition of Baruch Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicussold for $22,800. A controversial text by the Dutch thinker who suggested that philosophy and religion should be independent of one another, the book was banned in the late 17th century. 
Spinoza, Tractatus theologico-politicus, first edition, Hamburg, 1670.

Top Lots: 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings

$
0
0
Swann's March 7, 2013 auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings saw collectors in the U.S. and Europe focusing on works by well-known artists including Picasso, Matisse, Whistler, Hopper and Bellows, all of whom sold well. Among American art Benton Spruance's Riders of the Apocalypse took the top spot. The 1943 lithograph sold for $45,600, an auction record for a print by the artist. 
Benton Spruance - Riders of the Apocalypse
Benton Spruance, Riders of the Apocalypse, lithograph, 1943. 
The highest-selling lot was Pablo Picasso's Tête de Femme (Portrait Stylisé de Jacqueline), a linoleum cut that brought $48,000.
Pablo Picasso  - Tête de Femme
Pablo Picasso, Tête de Femme (Portrait Stylisé de Jacqueline),  color linoleum cut, 1962. 
Unique works also performed well in the auction. Sonia Delaunay's Rayonist Compositionbrought $43,200. The colorful abstract work in watercolor, gouache and pencil once belonged to Gertrude Stein.
Sonia Delaunay - Rayonist Composition
Sonia Delaunay, Rayonist Composition, watercolor, gouache and pencil. 

Notes from the Catalogue: Paul Cadmus's Nantucket Man

$
0
0
Male Nude, NM 276, color crayon r, 1996 (estimate: $18,000 to $22,000)
Among the highlights of Swann's June 13 auction of American Art is a run of works by Paul Cadmus, created in his early 90s and representing the culmination of his career as a master draftsman of the human form—specifically males. 
Male Nude, NM 165, color crayon drawing, 1981 (estimate: $20,000 to $30,000)

Cadmus's opinion was not that men were more beautiful than women, but that men were more vain and knew how to pose better for longer. The Male Nude, NM series was of his longtime lover, Jon Anderson, 32 years his junior, whom he met in Nantucket in 1965—the “NM” notation stands for “Nantucket Man.” Cadmus and Anderson’s collaboration explored all aspects of the male nude, and the two remained lovers until Cadmus’s death just days before his 95th birthday. 

Male Nude, NM 199, color crayon drawing, 1986 (estimate: $20,000 to $30,000)

"From 1965 onward, Paul Cadmus, in collaboration with Jon Anderson, explored all aspects of the male nude, combining a reserved but blissful eroticism with formal explorations of torsion and foreshortening in the context of innovative, often witty composition," observed Justin Spring in his book Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude. "One of the most delightful aspects of the Anderson drawings is their variety. Cadmus was continually exploring and innovating even as he strove for formal perfection through his repeated drawings of the same model." 

Notes from the Catalogue: Jane Peterson

$
0
0
Campo Santa Margherita, Venice, gouache, watercolor and charcoal on paper, 1923.
Swann's June 13 auction of American Art features five unique works by Jane Peterson, an American artist born in Elgin, Illinois in 1876. Born into relative poverty, she showed artistic promise from a young age and, without any formal training, was accepted into New York's Pratt Institute at the age of 18. 
Misty Morning, Giverny, France, watercolor on paper.

After graduating from Pratt in 1901, Peterson continued her education at the Art Students League of New York, then in Europe at the London School of Art, and in Paris, where she studied under a number of artists including Jacques-Émile Blanche and Charles Cottet. More influential to her artwork than any formal training, however, was the time she spent in Gertrude Stein's Paris salon, where she was exposed to the avant-garde work of the time.
Street Corner, gouache, pastel and charcoal on paper.

Peterson was extremely well traveled for an American female artist at the time.  She toured England and France extensively in the early 1900s and, in 1909, she ventured to Madrid to study under Joaquín Sorolla, before continuing on through Egypt and Algeria. Venice, and its colorful sun-bathed views, was a favorite subject, allowing her to develop her post-Impressionistic style of painting. She studied in Venice from 1908 to 1909 under the English artist Frank Brangwyn.
Florida Everglades, oil on canvas board.

Following her husband's death in 1929, Peterson continued to travel and to paint. She spent many 1930s and 1940s winters in Palm Beach, Florida, where her surroundings inspired studies of local flora and fauna as well as bright, sun-drenched landscapes.

Top Lots: Printed & Manuscript African Americana

$
0
0
Swann’s annual auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana, held on March 21, featured an outstanding array of material devoted to the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther party, sports, religion and more. Each piece comprised the rich history of the African experience in America, and more than 100 lots sold to institutions.
Keep us flying, Tuskegee Airmen
Keep Us Flying, Tuskegee Airmen, color poster, 1943.
A collection of 94 letters concerning the Amistad captives, written between two Connecticut natives, Charlotte Cowles and her brother Samuel from 1833 to 1846 was the top lot; sold to the Connecticut Historical Society for $66,000.
Amistad Captive
Cinque, the Chief of the Amistad Captives, mezzotint engraving, Philadelphia, 1841.
The sale honored this year's 150thanniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation.  Among the collection of lots relating to the Civil War, an 1865 leaflet of The Thirteenth Amendment, as ratified by Rhode Island and signed by Secretary of State John R. Bartlett brought $21,600.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an AmericanSlave, Written by Himself
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, Boston, 1848.
The sale also included exciting lots pertaining to the civil rights movement and Black Panther party, including photos, art, posters and ephemera. A very rare Black Panther cloth banner from 1967 hailing from Lowndes County, Alabama brought $43,200.
Black panther banner 1967
Black Panther '67, cloth banner from Lowndes County, Alabama, 1967.

Top Lots: Fine Books, Including Incunabula & Writing Manuals

$
0
0
Swann's April 11, 2013 auction of Fine Books saw a stunning collection of early printed books - including incunabula, as well as examples of illustrated books, literature and writing manuals. The day brought in over a million dollars, with 97% of the lots finding buyers!
John James Audubon and John Bachman, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, Imperial Folio edition, New York, 1845-48.
The sale's most highly anticipated and top selling lot was an Imperial Folio edition of John James Audubon and John Bachman’s The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845-48), containing 150 hand-colored plates, bringing in $288,000.
Aristotle, Decaelo et mundo, with commentary by Thomas Aquinas and Petrus de Alvernia, Venice, 1495.
Top sales also went to Greece's greatest with a second edition Latin translation of Plato's Opera, 1491, selling for $21,600 as well as an exquisitely bound third edition of Aristotle's De caelo et mundo, 1495. 
Leaf from a paper copy of the Gutenberg Bible, circa 1450-55.
Two first editions by Charles Darwin saw fierce bidding. His On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859, brought $72,000. While Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventures and Beagle, 1839, brought $60,000. Another standout was a leaf from The Gutenberg Bible, circa 1455-55, which sold for $55,200.



Top Lots: Printed & Manuscript Americana

$
0
0
Swann's April 16 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana featured documents and books from as early as 16th-century colonial America through 20th-century material relating to explorers, sports, politics and more. The top lot was an archive of scientific and family papers of naturalist William Cooper, an associate of John James Audubon and the namesake of the Cooper's Hawk. The archive, which contained approximately 300 items including letters, diaries, scientific sketches and notebooks, also contained material relating to William Cooper's son James Graham Cooper, who was a prominent naturalist as well.
Archive of scientific and family papers of William Cooper and James Graham Cooper, mostly 1821-63. Sold for $40,800.
Also featured in this Americana auction was the Theodore Roosevelt Collection of Peter Scanlan, whose lifelong passion for collecting TR material resulted in one of the best collections of books, letters, ephemera and memorabilia by or relating to the 26th President. Among the many items offered, a poignant memoriam written by Roosevelt, In Memory of My Darling Wife Alice Hathaway Roosevelt and of My Beloved Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, took the top spot. Roosevelt's young wife and his mother both died on the same day in 1884, and after writing the memoriam Roosevelt rarely, if ever, referred to his first wife Alice. The 45 page booklet had never been seen at auction before the April 16 sale, and sold for $38,400.
Theodore Roosevelt, In Memory of My Darling Wife Alice Hathaway Roosevelt and
of My Beloved Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt
, New York, 1884.
Another archive of material related to the Civil War experiences of Julius C. Hall and Jared T. Kimberly, childhood friends and soldiers together in the 1st California Regiment. The archive, containing letters, diaries, a daguerreotype and more, brought $31,200.
Letters, diaries and regimental histories of Julius Hall and Jared Kimberly
of the 1st California Regiment, 1861-1913. 

Top Lots: Fine Photographs & Photobooks

$
0
0
George Platt Lynes, suite of 100 photographs relating to the New York City Ballet, 1938-1951.
Sold April 18, 2013 for $36,000.
The April 18 auction of Fine Photographs & Photobooks resulted in more than half a dozen albums, portfolios or groups of photographs selling well above their pre-sale estimates. Top among these was a suite of 100 photographs by George Platt Lynes, who documented the New York City Ballet from its inception in the 1930s through 1951.
Edward Weston, Charis (nude), silver print, 1935. 
A silver print by Edward Weston, Charis (nude), 1935, brought the highest price of the day, realizing $50,400, and Minor White's Jupiter Portfolio, containing 12 silver prints, sold for $33,600, an auction record for the portfolio.
Minor White, Jupiter Portfolio, with 12 silver prints, 1975.  
Intriguing vernacular material also performed well; a collection of 179 tintype photographs brought $26,400. The populist images documenting the banal, surreal and beautiful in American day-to-day life reflect the tintype's rise in popularity in the late 1800s.
Two of 179 American tintype photographs, 1860s-90s. 



Top Lots: Old Master Through Modern Prints

$
0
0
The first sale in Swann's very busy May 2013 schedule of auctions was Old Master Through Modern Prints on the first day of the month. George Bellows's 1917 lithograph A Stag at Sharkey's brought $168,000, making it a record for any print by the artist at auction and the top lot of the day. Works by Edward Hopper, Martin Lewis, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Grant Wood also sold particularly well. 
George Bellows, A Stag at Sharkey's, lithograph, 1917.
Among Old Master prints, Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer achieved the highest price of the day, selling for $132,000. Created the same year as Dürer's St. Jerome in his Study and Knight, Death and the Devil, the print is considered one of Dürer's master (or meisterstiche) engravings.
Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, engraving, 1514. 
Rembrandt van Rijn's Christ Healing the Sick (The Hundred Guilder Print) was said to be sold for 100 Dutch Guilders in the 17th century when it was created. In this auction, it sold for $90,000. 
Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ Healing the Sick (The Hundred Guilder Print), etching, engraving and drypoint,  circa 1643-49.

Top Lots: Modernist Posters

$
0
0
Swann's May 13, 2013 auction of Modernist Posters presented an impressive array of Art Deco masterpieces, groundbreaking typography, and classic advertisements. The annual sale boasted record prices for several offerings and artists alike.

A.M Cassandre, Turmac/La Cigarette Turque, Paris, 1925.
With several pieces in the auction, including his iconic posters Normandie and TriplexArt Deco maestro Adolphe Mouron Cassandre could not be ignored. His poster for Turmac Cigarettes set a new auction record, at $66,000.

Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg, Kleine Dada Soirée, 1923.
Dada pioneers Kurt Schwitters and Theo Van Doesberg's Kleine Dada Soirée turned typography into a political act in 1923. Selling for $24,000 the piece achieved its highest auction price since 1991. 

Tadanori Yokoo, Having Reached a Climax at the Age of 29, I was Dead, 1965.
Inspired by American pop psychedelia, Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo had two posters at auction. His deeply personal piece, Having Reached a Climax at the Age of 29, I was Dead, sold for $52,800 - a new record for this living artist.

Top Lots: Contemporary Art

$
0
0
Swann's May 16, 2013 auction of Contemporary Art offered an exciting selection of unique works and auction debuts. The top sale, Untitled (Horse) by the modernist Indian painter Maqbool Fida Husain, brought $144,000. The oil painting, appearing for the first time at auction, is hallmark example of Husain's celebrated horse paintings.
Maqbool Fida Husain, Untitled (Horse), oil on canvas, late 1960s.
With few multiples on the market, Yves Klein's Monochrome und Feuer (Triptych), a 1961 set of three prints, set a new auction record at $36,000.    
Yves Klein, Monochrome und Feuer (Triptych), set of three prints, one with gold leaf, 1961.

Making its first auction appearance, a preliminary drawing/collage for Christo's famed wrapping of the Berlin Reichstag was a true delight! The diptych displays the process and vision of Christo's monumental installation, and it sold for $66,000.
Christo, Wrapped Reichstag (Project for Berlin) Diptych, two-part mixed media collage, 1980.
There were several Andy Warhol prints in the auction, including Mao, 1972 andLiz, 1964. The top sale went to his portrait of General Custer, 1986, bringing $40,800–a new auction record for the print.
Andy Warhol, General Custer, color screenprint, 1986.

Bert Stern Remembered

$
0
0

We were saddened to learn of photographer Bert Stern's death this week.  Stern successfully worked in the fashion and advertising worlds, creating numerous award-winning ads, magazine covers, films and portraits.  His keen sense of graphic imagery, such as his iconic inverted Egyptian pyramid in a martini glass for a Smirnoff vodka campaign, resulted in his meteoric rise as a commercial photographer.

But it is his iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, taken just weeks before her death for Vogue magazine, for which Stern is best known.  The extended photo shoot lasted three days and consisted of more than 2,500 shots.  Marilyn herself edited the photographs by marking them with a red X on the contact sheets.  After Marilyn's death, the editors of Vogue published the photo story under the title of "The Last Sitting."  

The photographs convey a rare level of intimacy between photographer and subject, and perhaps for that reason, beyond Monroe's own iconic status, made the rare transition from commercial to gallery to auction wall.  Perhaps most strikingly, Stern later enlarged many of the images Monroe herself marked, turning them into both a bold contemporary work and a monumental eulogy.  Stern, in compellingly rendering Monroe's fragility, grace, beauty, and playful innocence, also revealed his own penetrating, elegant, and compassionate eye.

Notes From the Catalogue: WWII Propaganda Posters

$
0
0
Swann's August 7 auction of Vintage Posters features an array of wartime propaganda from both the American home front and abroad. The selection of American posters from the Second World War showcases some of the cultural icons associated with American patriotism and ingenuity, culminating in a mid-century sense of optimism and pride.
Adolph Treidler, She's a WOW/Woman Ordnance Worker, 1942. Estimate $600 to $900
An eerie depiction of school children in gas masks, issued by the Kroger chain of grocery stores, is a precursor to the Cold War paranoia that would dominate the politics of the 1950s.

 
Dear God Keep Them Safe!/Buy War Bonds and Stamps, 1942. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000. 


Jean Carlu's early WWII poster Give 'em Both Barrels stirred patriotism in the factory as well as on the front lines. Carlu, a Frenchman, designed in the Art Deco and Cubist styles. His other famed poster for the U.S. War Department America's Answer, Production was designed a year later in 1942. 

Jean Carlu, Give'Em Both Barrels, 1941. Estimate $1,500 to $2,000.


The Tuskegee Airmen came to symbolize the struggles and triumphs minorities faced in WWII. This pilot's stance evokes a quiet strength that inspires reverence in the viewer.  

Keep us flying!/Buy War Bonds, 1943. Estimate $1,500 to $2,000.

Top Lots: Autographs

$
0
0
Artists, writers and US presidents made a fine showing at Swann's bi-annual sale of Autographs held on May 23. A signed letter by Emily Dickinson received the highest bid, selling for $28,800. In it, Miss Dickinson refers to "the skirmish in my mind" when recalling the story of Jacob and Esau.

Emily Dickinson, Autograph Letter Signed, circa 1881.

Written from Monticello in 1822, Thomas Jefferson's Autograph letter to James Madison was the highest selling American lot, bringing $19,200. Other presidential lots included a letter signed by George Washington from Valley Forge, which sold for $13,200 and a vellum document signed by Abraham Lincoln also bringing $13,200.


Thomas Jefferson, Autograph Letter Signed to James Madison, May 1822. 

Top artist lots included an autographed birthday card from Andy Warhol written on his studio stationery as well as two letter signed by Georgia O'Keefe. Selling for an impressive $19,200 were an archive of 15 Alexander Calder Autograph Letters, some with drawings, written to his friend and banker Beverly Izard between 1953 and 1970.


Alexander Calder, archive of 15 Autograph Letters, some with drawings, 1953-70.

Ernst Haas' Role on Breaking Bad

$
0
0
Albuquerque is a city of questionable allure, a desert-washed blip in the landscape of the Land of Enchantment. The city serves as the backdrop to the massively popular TV show Breaking Bad, and in a recent interview with The New York Times, the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, explains that it was Abuquerque’s “stealth charm” that attracted him to the city, elaborating that one of the city’s greatest assets is the piece of Route 66 that still runs through it, “dotted with old neon motel signs like that great Ernst Haas photo.”
Ernst Haas, Route 66, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1969, printed 2003.
Estimate $5,000 to $7,500. At auction October 17.  © Estate of Ernst Haas
Recognized primarily for his color work, Haas was an early pioneer and eventual master of the medium. Haas is perhaps best known for his iconic photograph of traffic along Route 66 in the rain-soaked streets of Albuquerque. The water oozes into all of the bumps and imperfections in the asphalt and reflects back the glowing neon lights of the city. Born in Vienna in 1921, Haas acquired his first camera, a Rolleiflex, in a manner quite suited to the questionable dealings depicted on Breaking Bad: he got it on the black market in exchange for 10 kilograms of margarine he’d received for his 25th birthday.

Haas joined the Magnum photography agency at the invitation of co-founder Robert Capa, and went on to publish the first color photographic essay for LIFE Magazine–a 24 page spread depicting 1950s New York City. Haas was included in Edward Steichen’s groundbreaking Family of Man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and went on to have a retrospective of his work at MoMA in 1962.


Serving as Lot 237 in our upcoming Fine Photographs & Photobooks auction on October 17th, Route 66, Albuquerque, New Mexico by Ernst Haas has been gracing our promotional mailer all summer. Haas once remarked that “Photography is a bridge between science and art.” Breaking Bad tells the story of a chemistry teacher who uses his scientific mind to craft the purest of methamphetamines and build a drug empire in Albuquerque in order to provide a future for his family. Haas’ photograph of Route 66 takes this desert town swollen with gas stations and motels and gives it a newfound, rain-washed brilliance. 

Thanks to Alex Van Clief of Swann's Photographs department for this guest post! 

Irving Oaklander Inventory to be Sold August 22

$
0
0
Back in May, Swann was pleased to offer some outstanding examples of graphic design, typography and advertising art from the inventory of the late book dealer Irving Oaklander. Interest was so strong, we wanted to get the word out that we will be auctioning the majority of his remaining inventory as part of our summer Shelf Sale, Thursday, August 22.

There will be large groups of important reference works, primary source material including first editions, uncommon journals and magazines on graphic design, printing and typography, the book arts and advertising.

Take a look at the general shelf list and exhibition hours, but be aware that there are no itemized descriptions available, and you should come in today, tomorrow or Thursday morning to review for yourself.

Chiles Rellenos, circa 1825

$
0
0
Serving suggestion, complements of Swann chef and
Printed & Manuscript Americana specialist Rick Stattler.
We will be offering an early Mexican manuscript cookbook in our October 10 Printed & Manuscript Americana auction. We don’t know the author, we don’t know the date, but the watermark on the paper suggests that it might date from circa 1825­, a few years before the first published Mexican cookbook. Among the many distinctively Mexican recipes filling its 72 pages are "pipian de pepitas de melon," "tortillas de chile verde," and "chiles reyenos de picadillo." We thought you might enjoy the recipe for chiles rellenos.  
Page from lot 403, circa 1825 manuscript book of Mexican recipes, featuring the original
recipe for Chiles Reyenos de Picadillo. Estimate $1,500 to $2,500. At auction October 10.
Here it is in the original archaic Spanish:

Chiles reyenos de picadillo 

Se cojen los chiles poblanos se tuestan se pelan se desbenar se pica la carne ha coser echa huna bola y sal se ase el picadillo con gitomate todo picado y frito y se echa alli la carne picada se muele clabo canela cominos y asafran ha q’e ha erbido se le echa binagre y asucar perejil picado pasas almendras piñones jamon chilitos aseitunas y se reyenan y seler echan tantita harina por ensima y se frien con el huebo bien haliado se ase el caldillo con ajo en ebanaditas jitomate molido, el clabo canela ha q’e esta frito muy bien se le echa hagua s’el caldo de la carne ha que ha erbido bien se muele pan emojado y sele echa con asafran asucar binagre los tantos segun la cantidad que se aga rebanadas de man sana y de durasno se cuese en la caldyllo con los chiles. 

Here is our very loose translation into English: 

1. Start with poblano chiles which have been roasted and peeled.

2. Cook chopped meat with salt, tomato, ground cinnamon, clove, cumin, and saffron

3. For the picadillo topping, boil vinegar and sugar, chopped parsley, raisins, almonds, pine nuts, ham, olives, and chilies.

4. Stuff the cooked meat mixture into the poblano peppers

5. Coat the stuffed peppers with flour and egg and fry them

6. Bake the fried stuffed peppers with tomato, ground garlic, clove, cinnamon, and meat broth, topped with bread crumbs

7. Pour the picadillo over the peppers later in the cooking


8. Add slices of apple and peach at the end. 


We recently prepared a batch of 15 poblano chiles, following this recipe to the best of our ability. The recipe is quite labor-intensive, and required about three hours of work. The result bears no resemblance whatsoever to the cheese-filled fare you will find in a typical Mexican restaurant here in the states. The dominant flavors are sweet (raisins, sugar), aromatic (cinnamon, cumin, saffron, and cloves), and tangy, with a little bite from the chiles. It is quite tasty, even putting aside the novelty of eating two-hundred year-old chiles rellenos. 

Yum! Thanks to Swann's Printed & Manuscript Americana specialist Rick Stattler for this delectable post!


Notes from the Catalogue: Daumier's View of a Tragedy

$
0
0

Among the highlights of our September 12 auction of 19th & 29th Century Prints & Drawings is Honoré Daumier's Rue Transnonain, le 15 Avril 1834, a lithograph from 1834.

Daumier (1808-1879) was one of the leading draftsmen of controversial and highly critical political caricatures that cleverly captured the political strife prevalent throughout France in the 19th century. Born in Marseilles and raised in Paris, Daumier began studying art in 1822 under painter Alexandre Lenior, then enrolled for a short time in the Académie Suisse, and continued training as an apprentice under master lithographer Zépherin Belliard. By 1830 he was producing caricatures depicting the foibles of the bourgeoisie and the corruption of the government for Charles Philipon's satirical political newspaper Le Caricature. The scathing political caricatures Daumier produced for Le Caricature and Philipon's other publications were often fined and censored by King Louis-Philippe's officials, and one caricature depicting Louis-Philippe as Gargantua resulted in Daumier receiving a sentence of six months in prison. 

Rue Transnonain was the final work in a series of five-large scale lithographs made by Daumier for L'Association Mensuelle, Philipon's private company that published monthly prints for subscribers to help pay off the censorship fines incurred by Philipon's newspapers. The scene is not at all a satire, but is instead intended to be a neutral depiction of a working-class family mercilessly murdered in their own home in the Parisian district of St. Martin during the suppression of a riot on April 15th, 1834. Daumier skillfully utilized chiaroscuro effects to heighten the horror of the scene and to draw the viewer's eye to the violated and helpless bloodied bodies strewn throughout the scene, including that of a small child partially covered by the dead man in the center of the composition. Immediately following the publication of this print, the stone was confiscated by Louis-Philippe's officials and remaining impressions were destroyed.

Edgar Degas's Roman Inspiration

$
0
0

Among the many exquisite unique works in Swann's September 12 Prints & Drawings auction is a double-sided drawing by Edgar Degas, drawn during one of the artist's visits to Rome.

While Degas (1834-1917) is often associated with Impressionism, his now famous renditions of modern scenes of Parisian demimonde characters, ballet dancers and bathers were heavily influenced by his early technical training sketching from Italian Renaissance masters. Born to a wealthy banking family, Degas was first educated in one of the most rigorous and prestigious schools in Paris, the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he learned the classics. His father recognized Degas' ability to draw at an early age and prompted him to perfect his technique, taking him to the great museums of Paris to copy the Renaissance masters. In the late 1850s, Degas made several sojourns to Italy to sketch, it was there he became deeply engrossed in rendering the static human forms of early Renaissance frescos. 

This double-sided work was clearly drawn during one of his visits to Rome--one side depicts a study of the Delphic Sibyl from Michelangelo's famed frescos in the Sistine Chapel. In his study, Degas focused his attention on the contours of the elegant and powerful arms of Sibyl, leaving her face and drapery subtly addressed by comparison. 

The other side of the sheet represents an academic drawing of a woman, perhaps rendered from life, which similarly focuses on the curved outline of the torso. As Degas's studio practice progressed, his focus on strong contours outlining the body while obscuring the face became part of his individual style. Degas would continue to be influenced by various artistic traditions throughout his career, ranging from 16th-century Italian Mannerist works to traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e woodcuts.

Moholy-Nagy Watercolor Featured in Swann's Prints & Drawings Auction

$
0
0
Swann will offer a László Moholy-Nagy gouache and watercolor Composition in our 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings auction tomorrow.
 

Moholy-Nagy (1894-1946) was an influential Jewish-Hungarian artist known for his contributions to art and design, and his association with the Bauhaus in Germany. Born László Weisz,he  changed his surname after his father abandoned his family and took Nagy from his mother's friend, a Christian lawyer who supported the family after his father left, and Moholy  from the region where his family home was located, called Mohol. Initially he was interested in writing, and published his own poems and prose starting at the age of 13.

In 1914, soon after he entered Budapest University to study law, he was drafted into the Hungarian army where he sustained a serious injury in battle and, while recovering in the military hospital, began drawing on military-issued postcards. By the time he was discharged in 1918 he had completed 400 of these drawings. Moholy-Nagy received his law degree, with no intention of practicing professionally, and continued his art education with the avant-garde Fauvist artist Robért Borény.


In 1919, he left Hungary for Vienna and continued on to Berlin where he became an instructor at the Bauhaus. It is likely that this gouache composition was made just before he began his tenure at the Bauhaus. The stylistic components are consistent with other works from that period, such as his Large Railway Painting, 1920, now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid, with its similar numerical and geometric elements. He would soon abandon the Cubist forms and alpha-numerals seen in these works.


As he began his new role as Bauhaus instructor Moholy-Nagy became more focused on photography and new technology, adopting the Bauhaus emphasis on artistic versatility and the integration of art and design.He believed that photography presented a new way of seeing the world that the naked eye was not capable of, and shared his theories and teachings in a groundbreaking book, The New Vision, from Material to Architecture, 1938.


After leaving the Bauhaus in 1928, Moholy-Nagy created his famous kinetic sculpture--a work that deftly combines design and technology--known as the "Light-Space Modulator." When World War II broke out, Moholy-Nagy was forced to uproot and moved to Holland, then London and finally Chicago. During his movements through Europe he worked freelance and contributed to large design projects that focused on innovative technology, widely spreading his name and reputation. In Chicago, with the support of American industrialist Walter Paepcke, he attempted to start an American Bauhaus school. An initial attempt failed due to a lack of financial backing, but a second attempt, the Institute of Design, succeeded, and is now part of Illinois Institute of Technology.


This particular work was once in the collection of the late esteemed literary agent Joan Daves, whose clientele included an array of Nobel Prize recipients, notably Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, Elias Canetti and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Daves began her career at Harper & Brothers, where in the 1940s she collaborated with Mrs. Mohology-Nagy while compiling a book regarding her husband's art career.
Viewing all 1212 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images