Fine art, folk art and decorative arts were the main categories of this week’s auction roundup. Two bucolic scenes and one snapshot of urban nightlife topped their respective sales. American furniture, rugs and Asian décor maintained their perennial popularity. Other unique and rare items were also won, read on for more.
Klimt Portfolio & Golden Bounty At Swann
NEW YORK CITY — On June 15, Swann Auction Galleries’ fine books, autographs and illustration art brought together nearly 300 lots of material from notable names of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. There was a tie for the top lot at $68,750: Das Werk von Gustav Klimt by Hermann Bahr and Peter Altenberg, and John Carleton Atherton’s illustration “Fall Bounty.” The former was the only monograph of Klimt’s work published during his lifetime in a numbered edition of 300, was prepared and produced with his supervision between 1908 and 1918, and was estimated at $25/35,000. The latter exceeded its $10/15,000 estimate even more, and was Atherton’s cover illustration for the September 25, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post. For information, 212-254-4710 or www.swanngalleries.com.
Soulis Auctions Sells Parke’s Farm
LONE JACK, MO. — Soulis Auctions celebrated its 25th annual spring fine art auction on June 16, featuring paintings, pencil-signed prints, sculpture and modern design from regional estates and collections. Featured artists and designers included Salvador Dali, Roy Lichtenstein and Zoe Mozert, as well as other known Nineteenth and Twentieth Century names. At the top of the sale was an untitled Midwest landscape, dated 1942, by regionalist artist Walter Parke (1909-1994) that surpassed its $3/5,000 estimate to achieve $27,120. This was one of eight works by Parke listed in the sale, all of which were dated early in his career and were brought by local consignors. For information, 816-697-3830 or www.soulisauctions.com.
Figurehead Sails Through Gold Coast Auctioneers
PLAINVIEW, N.Y. — Gold Coast Auctioneers’ Estate Auction on June 18 brought more than 500 lots to the block, featuring a diverse range of materials from Long Island, N.Y., and metropolitan area estates. At the forefront of the bidding was a Nineteenth Century polychrome figurehead in the shape of a griffin, showing floriate carving on both sides. Weighing approximately 50 pounds, the sea-used piece of folk art sold for $2,813 ($200/400) to a Pennsylvania woodworker. For information, 516-586-3992 or www.goldcoastauction.com.
Green Cupboard Jazzes Up Hartzell’s Auction
BANGOR, PENN. — Hartzell’s Snazzy, Jazzy and Classy Auction on June 19 featured more than 660 lots of country furniture, tramp art, folk art, textiles and almost every other type of Americana. Surpassing oil paintings and a stoneware advertising jug was a green painted four-door cupboard, probably from the second half of the Nineteenth Century, bought by a New Jersey bidder. The cupboard was in two sections and had four interior shelves between them. There were some losses and wear due to the cupboard’s age, but it still more than tripled its high estimate to $3,450 ($500-$1,000). For additional information, 610-588-5831 or www.hartzellsauction.com.
Material Culture Hosts Andrew Turner
PHILADELPHIA — On June 19, Material Culture organized a live showroom auction, preceded by a public exhibition that started on June 16, focused on the work of African American artist Andrew Turner (1944-2001). A prominent Philadelphia painter of inner city life, his distinctive style of portraying music and movement through broad, colorful brushstrokes was on full display in the top lot, “Jitterbug.” The painting was bid to $4,763. For information, 215-438-4700 or www.materialculture.com.
Aaron Willard Clock Stands Tall At Thomas Hirchak Company
CABOT, VT. – Thomas Hirchack Company presented a sale that included farm equipment, fine art and antiques on June 21. A Boston tall case mahogany clock by Aaron Willard (shown) sold for $17,995. Standing 95 inches high, the weight-driven clock with brass works exhibited some paint loss to the dial, repairs and restorations to the feet and fret. Among fine art, a Marian Parkhurst Sloane oil on canvas, “Winooski Valley,” signed lower left, 30 by 40 inches, realized $4,366, a sum that the auction house said it believes is an auction record for one of her works. For information, 802-888-4662, 800-634-7653 (Toll Free) or www.thcauction.com.
Blue & White Vase Rockets Skyward At Neue Auctions
BEECHWOOD, OHIO — We’re all used to seeing certain Asian items soar into the stratosphere at auction, so when Neue Auctions conducted its June 24 sale of material gathered from estates and collections, it was surprise-no surprise that a Chinese blue and white vase left its $100/300 estimate on the launchpad, hurtling to a final price of $20,910. Probably early Twentieth Century in date, the vase was decorated with a landscape of a scholar boating on a lake to view the autumn moon. Predominately painted in underglaze cobalt, copper red is used for the trees and moon to emphasize the season and time of day. Standing 17 inches high, it came from the estate of a Hudson, Ohio, collector. For information, 216-245-6707 or www.neueauctions.com.
SJD Plays A Full Tiffany House
ARMENIA, N.Y. — On June 20, SJD Auctions hosted a sale from a New Fairfield, Conn., estate, with about 250 lots of goods from the Nineteenth to Twentieth Centuries. The top two lots were both full sets of Tiffany & Co Harlequin playing cards, designed by Charles E. Carryl (1841-1920) and copyrighted 1879. Carryl was an American children’s author, poet and financier whose first published work was a primer about the New York Stock Exchange, on which he sat for 34 years. How he came to design these cards is yet unknown, but the two sets both sold for $1,230. For information, 845-489-7408 or www.auctionninja.com/sjd-auctions.
Litchfield Rolls Out The Coral Carpet
LITCHFIELD, CONN. — Litchfield Auctions’ Modern Art & Home Design sale on June 21 hosted about 230 lots of fine and decorative arts from multiple estates in New England and New York. Carpets and rugs were the most popular category, with each of those that reached the upper lots either exceeding or multiplying their estimates. The foremost of these was a wool Serapi carpet measuring 9 by 12 feet and 9 inches, showing wear from use and some staining. Undeterred, bidders were intrigued by its large, white central medallion, pale coral field and blue designs, and pushed its price to $6,825 from a $500/800 estimate. For information, 860-567-4661 or www.litchfieldcountyauctions.com.
