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East Hampton Artists
The community of East Hampton has long been known as an avant-garde artist enclave. Our May 11 auction of Contemporary Art features a century’s worth of output by artists who called the Hamptons their...
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George & Robert Cruikshank, Early Caricaturists
Brothers George and Isaac (who often went by his middle name of Robert) Cruikshank were famed early nineteenth-century caricaturists. Their work appears in two of our sales this season, 19th & 20th...
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Psychedelic Concert Posters
This post was written by Sarah Shelburne of the Vintage Posters department using examples from the May 25 auction of Graphic Design. Lot 261: David Singer, Fillmore West / Closing Week / Grateful...
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Records & Results: 19th & 20th Century Literature
First editions and inscribed copies filled the shelves at our May 16 auction of 19th & 20th Century Literature. The sale broke several auction records and encompassed a variety of genres, dates and...
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Graphic Design in the Vienna Secession
This post includes notes from the catalogue of our May 25 auction of Graphic Design, featuring an extensive selection of works out of the Wiener Werkstätte, the design school for the Vienna Secession....
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The Endless Mountains: A Map That Promised More
Specialist Caleb Kiffer of our Maps & Atlases department on one of his favorite pieces in our June 7 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: a 1750 map of...
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A Personal Collection of Bernhardt Wall Books
Bernhardt Wall was an American illustrator active in the first half of the twentieth century. A selection of fine, early or test examples of his work were given to his lifelong friend Natalie Williams...
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Leaving the Land: Ship’s Logs from England to the Mediterranean in the...
In January of 1819, Captain William Hodgson steered the three-masted merchant ship Transit down the River Avon from Bristol, beginning a six-month voyage toward the Mediterranean. The ship’s log book...
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Records & Results: Graphic Design
Our May 25 auction of Graphic Design offered a cornucopia of inspired works spanning fin de siècle Art Nouveau masters to modernist posters. Lot 96: Charles Loupot, Col Van Heusen, 1928. Sold May 25,...
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Nahui Olin: Muse & Maker
Nahui Olin, the pseudonym of Carmen Mondragón, was a Mexican Surrealist active in the 1920s and ’30s. She hailed from the upper echelons of Mexican society, and fraternized with the likes of Pablo...
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Recently Rediscovered Watercolor by John Marin
A recently rediscovered watercolor by John Marin will be making its auction debut in our June 15 sale of American Art. The work displays two features for which the artist is famous: jagged, nearly...
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Grapefruit: Yoko Ono’s Guide to Living Art
Visionary Yoko Ono created “event scores” as a way to encourage people to find art and beauty in their quotidian activities. A signed first edition of her seminal self-published book of event scores,...
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Winslow Homer’s Personal “Bible”
On a visit to his Prout’s Neck studio, Winslow Homer’s friend and fellow artist John W. Beatty picked up a dogeared book and asked him if he found it of value. Homer quickly and succinctly replied, “It...
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Records & Results: Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
Our June 7 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books saw strong results with multiple auction debuts and records, as well as a plethora of unique and unusual items....
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Records & Results: Art, Press & Illustrated Books
Our June 13 auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books offered a spectrum of books that doubled as objets d’art, with records for important twentieth-century works celebrating art and typography....
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Records & Results: Spring 2017
The spring 2017 season at Swann Galleries marked the 75th anniversary of our first auction. On March 27, 1942, Benjamin Swann held an auction dedicated to rare and antiquarian books. Since then, Swann...
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Records & Results: American Art
We closed our Spring 2017 season with a climactic sale of American Art on Thursday, June 15. The annual auction offered exclusively original or unique works by artists living or working in North...
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Mrs. Stimson Joins Her Husband at the Huntington Historical Society
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lewis Stimson lived in an estate in Huntington, Long Island. In his memoir, he wrote of her, “That marriage has now lasted over fifty-four years, during which she has ever been my...
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Specialists in the Field: The New Museum
Specialists at Swann keep up with the cultural heartbeat by frequenting museum exhibitions. Over the summer, we’ll be sharing some of their experiences, beginning with Diana Flatto and Jessica Feldman...
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American War Posters, 100 Years Later
Our August 2 auction of Vintage Posters will feature an exceptionally wide array of World War I imagery, honoring the centennial anniversary of the U.S.’s entry into the fray. More than 100 propaganda...
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