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Danny Lyon & New Photojournalism
Keavy Handley-Byrne of the Photographs & Photobooks department contributed to this post on Danny Lyon’s eponymous portfolio in our April 20 auction of Images & Objects: Photographs &...
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Records & Results: African-American Fine Art
The crowd was standing-room only at our April 6 auction of African-American Fine Art. The sale totaled more than $2.5M, with five of the top lots breaking previous auction records, all of which were...
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Edith Brevoort: Diary of a Wealthy Manhattan Orphan
From the catalogue for our April 27 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana. The sale will feature a year-long manuscript diary of wealthy Manhattan orphan Edith Brevoort. Edith Henry Brevoort...
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Modern Daguerreotypes & More
While we live in a digital age, faced with a tsunami of photographs on all manner of devices, many modern artists have returned to the earliest photographic techniques. These were delicate,...
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Records & Results: Vintage Posters
On Thursday, March 16, Swann Galleries offered Vintage Posters, featuring dynamic selections of graphic art from the end of the nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century. The sale...
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Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana
On Thursday, March 30, our annual auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana exceeded $1M for the first time in the department’s 20+ year history. The success was largely due to interest...
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Barkley Hendricks, 1945-2017
We learned this morning the very sad news of the passing of Barkley Hendricks. We have lost one of the great American painters of this and the last century. Hendricks raised portraiture to a new level...
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William Bradford & The Arctic Regions
The following are notes from the catalogue for our April 20 sale of Images & Objects: Photographs & Photobooks. Lot 17: William Bradford, The Arctic Regions, with 141 mounted albumen prints,...
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The Cherokee Messenger
The complete set of The Cherokee Messenger, Oklahoma’s earliest periodical, will be coming to auction in our Printed & Manuscript Americana sale on April 27. Only one other complete set has ever...
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Records & Results: Illustration Art
On Tuesday, March 21, we held our spring auction of Illustration Art. The biannual sale offers original works of art intended for publication; it finished with an 83% sell-through rate, and many works...
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What is a Cosway-Style Binding?
It’s hard not to judge a book by its cover when it is encased in a fine Cosway-style binding. Two of these sumptuous decorative tomes will be coming to auction in our May 16 sale of 19th & 20th...
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Masters of Early Engraving
Our May 2 auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints offers a rare opportunity to see the work of some of the earliest scions of European engraving in the same place. Master E.S., Martin Schongauer...
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Notes from the Catalogue: Robert Motherwell’s Early Surrealist Period
Notes from the catalogue of our May 11 auction of Contemporary Art. Though Motherwell is known for his integral role in the New York school of Abstract Expressionism, the current lot from early in...
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Dearest Marlene: Letters & Photos from the Collection of Marlene Dietrich
Swann is honored to commemorate the legacy of Marlene Dietrich by offering for the first time select items that have touched her life and that of her family. Our May 4 sale of Autographs will open with...
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Thomas Hart Benton Links Pollock and Rubens
In 1926, Thomas Hart Benton was a teacher at the Art Students League of New York. Disappointed by the lack of a painting manual, he set about writing his own. He dedicated his essay to “my class at the...
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Postwar Innovations in Printmaking
Specialist Diana Flatto wrote this post about postwar innovations in printmaking, using examples from our May 11 auction of Contemporary Art. From the initial proliferation of engraving in the...
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Records & Results: Images & Objects: Photographs & Photobooks
On Thursday, April 20, our sale of Images & Objects: Photographs & Photobooks set multiple records for early and modern works, with 71% of works offered finding buyers. Lot 34: Edward S....
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Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript Americana
On Thursday, April 27, our tenth consecutive auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana exceeded $700,000. Much of the top material was unique or extremely rare, including diaries, letters and...
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Records & Results: Old Master Through Modern Prints
On Tuesday, May 2, we offered Old Master Through Modern Prints, with highlights from as long ago as 1495 and as recent as 1959. Lot 345: Edward Hopper, Evening Wind, etching, 1921. Sold May 2, 2017...
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Records & Results: Autographs
On Thursday, May 4, we held an auction of Autographs, with twentieth-century highlights by authors taking the spotlight. The sale performed well overall, with 88% of items offered finding buyers. Lot...
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