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Alphonse Mucha's Decorative Panels
The name Alphonse Mucha is synonymous with extravagant Art Nouveau depictions of beautiful women. And, while he is known for his posters advertising the talents of actresses such as Sarah Bernhardt or...
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They're All Ears: Folsom Prison Mugshots
Before the system of identifying individuals by fingerprint was developed, the authorities relied on the distinct, intricate hollows and folds of a person’s ear in order to positively link them to a...
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American Modernism: John Marin's Brooklyn Bridge
Lot 268 is John Marin's Brooklyn Bridge and Lower New York, etching and drypoint, 1913.Swann's March 6 auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings features a run of etchings by John Marin...
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His Lover Sleeps: Picasso's Nocturnal Scene from the Vollard Suite
Among the highlights of our March 6 auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings is Pablo Picasso's 1934 aquatint and etching Garçon et Dormeuse a la Chandelle. This print is one of 100...
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Open Orange: A New Juried Art Exhibition
From time to time, we like to tell you about arts-related happenings in the NYC area, so when our African-American Fine Art specialist Nigel Freeman told us about a new juried exhibition in Orange and...
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Camille Pissarro: Prolific Impressionist Printmaker
Pissarro's Bathers, etching and drypoint, 1895 is a highlight of our March 6 auction.Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was among the most significant players in the Impressionist movement, and co-wrote the...
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The Vernacular Eye
Swann has seen some impressive results for vernacular photography in recent months, and now our Photographs department is launching a sale devoted to rare 19th and 20th century albums, exceptional...
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Archimedes: Pi Man
Here at Swann Galleries we couldn't help but notice a certain trend on every social media feed this morning. Pi! Pies everywhere: Pantone posted a Radiant Orchid pie emblazoned with a π, the Brooklyn...
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What is vernacular photography?
As we approach the first ever auction devoted to Vernacular Photography, Daile Kaplan, director of Photographs and Photobooks offers this explanation of a growing field of collecting.Vernacular imagery...
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Significant George Washington Carver Archive Coming to Auction
Among the highlights of Thursday's auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana is an extraordinary archive of letters written by George Washington Carver between 1925 and 1937. This lot...
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Into the Blue
Lot 44: an album of 200 cyanotype snapshots mostly from Eastern Massachusetts, 1899The cyanotype or blueprint process has a poetic quality that embodies a painterly aesthetic and is defined by...
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Aviation and the Age of Invention
There are many marvelous aspects of vernacular imagery but one, in particular, is essential: its chameleon-like identity. Lot 56 is a group of 19 photographs, most from an album formerly in the...
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Gay New York
Among the highlights of our April 17 auction of Vernacular Photography is a small archive of photographs and ephemera relating to transvestism and gay rights in New York City from the early 1970s. The...
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The Face of Picasso's Linoleum Cuts
This color lino cut of Jacqueline is one of approximately 20 artist's proofs aside from the edition of 50 and estimated at $100,000 to $150,000.Among the highlights of our April 29 auction of Old...
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Let the Spirit Move You: Spiritualism Photographs
Back in December 2013, Swann auctioned an album of 27 spiritualist photographs from seances at Dr. Thomas Glendenning Hamilton's Psychic Room in Winnipeg, Canada in the early 1920s for $93,750--in...
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What Do the Saints Read?
This superb, richly inked Meder a impression of Durer's St. Anthony Reading is estimated at $60,000 to $90,000.Swann Galleries remains the only U.S. auction house to devote regular sales to Old Master...
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A Fleeting Moment: Edward Hopper's Evening Wind
Edward Hopper's evocative etching, Evening Wind, from 1921, is among the highlights of Swann Galleries' April 29 auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints.Hopper was born in Nyack, New York, just...
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Auction Highlights for Opening Day
Today is opening day at Yankee Stadium, which got us thinking about a few lots in tomorrow's auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana. Swann doesn't sell baseball cards, but we do have a special...
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A Look Inside the Birdman of Alcatraz
Crime material has been selling well at auction lately, and today's sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana offers a rare and fascinating lot related to Robert Stroud, known as the Birdman of...
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Swann Hosts Peter J. Cohen Discussion on Vernacular Photography
We were very pleased to host a talk by preeminent snapshot collector Peter J. Cohen last night at Swann Galleries. A large audience of collectors, curators, artists, journalists and business people...
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