Two Art Deco windows, once part of St Louis’ Gateway Hotel, reached $11,500.
Gouache on paper by Fernand Leger, $12,650.
Marcel Guguianu nude in white marble, $4,887.
CLAYTON, MO. – Phillips-Selkirk held its fourth Twentieth Century Design Auction on November 8, for an enthusiastic crowd of bidders at their 7447 Forsyth location.
The catalog, published in a creative and portfolio size, featured on the cover one of two American Art Deco cast metal figural window frames, depicting a centaur, complete with opaque glass, and measured 4 feet, 91/2 inches by 3 feet.
The two windows, offered together, brought $11,500 and were purchased by a local bidder in the audience. These two windows were originally part of the Gateway Hotel, a historical building in downtown St. Louis, and were strikingly displayed hanging midair during the gallery viewing.
An image for Rimbaud’s Illumination, 1949, depicting a bust of a young man, gouache on paper, by the French artist Fernand Leger, sold at its high estimate for $12,650. Another gouache on graph paper by American artist Frank Stella, dated 1970 and from the artist’s collection, was bid at $9,775. Both of these works of art were purchased by the same local collector. A Donald Sultan still life with pears and lemons, dated 1986, sold for $4,600.
One of the most dramatic and interesting pieces was a wonderful polished contemporary nude female figure in white marble raised on a gray granite base. The sculpture by Marcel Guguianu, Rumanian (b 1922), measured 32 inches in height and 35 inches in length and sold at its high estimate at $4,887.
Another Twentieth Century marble and alabaster sculpture in the pre-Raphelite manner depicting a young couple seated on a classical bench and electrified, signed Professor A. Petrilli, height 171/2 inches, brought $8,625, well over its presale estimate ($3/5,000), from an active West Coast floor bidder.
A colorful selection of more than 60 lots of Continental art glass comprising Lalique, Daum Nancy, Louis Majorelle, Steuben, Loetz and Orrefors, as well as American glass makers Sonja Blumdahl and John Littleton, were also offered.
