Swann Galleries continued to offer exceptional auctions of quality material in 2023. The year featured several collections, including a special selection of 100 works from the Stephen White collection in the April sale of Fine Photographs, the collection of Norman Dolph in the June sale of Contemporary Art, and works from the estate of artist Will Barnet in the September auction of American Art. The house also welcomed two new specialists into the fold: Corey Serrant joined Swann as the associate director of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History, as well as serving as a specialist for the African American Art department; and Skye Lacerte has stepped into the role of specialist for the Illustration Art department.
Browse below for a look at some of the year’s highlights.
19th & 20th Century Literature, and Art, Press & Illustrated Books
Literature from left to right: Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, first edition, in the rare dust jacket, entirely unrestored, London, 1925. Sold March 2023 for $30,000; Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, two volumes, first edition, from a printing of perhaps only 750 copies, Philadelphia, 1840. Sold October 2023 for $20,000.
Gustav Klimt, Das Werk von Gustav Klimt, number 74 of 300 copies, Vienna, 1918. Sold June 2023 for $68,750.
John Ford Clymer, U.S. Troops’ Triumphant Return to New York Harbor, promotional illustration, presumably for an annual calendar, for National Life and Accident Insurance Company, circa 1944. Sold December 2023 for $62,500.
Charles Monroe Schulz,The Peanuts Gang, complete set of 13 drawings for sheet metal panels on the Wilbur Avenue Pedestrian Bridge, “Snoopy Bridge,” of Tarzana Elementary School, Los Angeles, CA, 1971. Sold June 2023 for $50,000.
Specialty Sales
Focus on Women
From left to right: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Family Archive of Photographs and Letters. Sold June 2023 for $60,000; Fanny Stevenson, Archive of Photographs and Letters, circa 1866-1904. Sold June 2023 for $25,000.
LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History
From left to right: Keith Haring, Silence = Death, color screenprint, 1989. Sold June 2023 for $81,250; Hugh Steers, In the Paper, oil on canvas, 1989. Sold June 2023 for $68,750.
Fine Art
Prints & Drawings
From left to right: Edward Hopper, East Side Interior, etching, 1922. Sold March 2023 for $75,000; Maurits C. Escher, Coast of Amalfi (Composition), woodcut, 1934. Sold November 2023 for $293,000.
American Art: Featuring Works From the Estate of Will Barnet
Works by Will Barnet from left to right: Double Portrait, charcoal on vellum, circa 1990. Sold for $11,250; Final Study for “Atalanta,”, watercolor, color pencils and pencil on vellum, 1975. Sold for $11,250.
African American Art
Works by Winfred Rembert from left to right: Jeff’s Pool Room, dye on carved and tooled leather, circa 2015. Sold April 2023 for $149,000; Doll’s Head Baseball, dye on carved and tooled leather, circa 2006. Sold April 2023 for $149,000.
Sam Gilliam, Untitled, acrylic and metallic paint on draped polypropylene fabric, 1979. Sold October 2023 for $197,000.
Modern & Post-War Art
From left to right: Jim Dine, 9 Little Flesh Paintings, acrylic with clear acrylic glaze on canvas, 1960. Sold May 2023 for $37,500; Esteban Vicente, Harmony, oil on canvs, 1984. Sold November 2023 for $68,750.
Fine Photographs
Roger Fenton, Valley of the Shadow of Death, salted paper print, 1855. From the collection of Stephen White. Sold April 2023 for $22,500.
