Unique Works and Scarce Multiples Highlight Swann Galleries’ Auction

NEW YORK, NY.- Outstanding examples of American paintings and drawings, and scarce prints and three-dimensional contemporary artworks will be offered on Tuesday, June 8, at Swann Galleries’ two-part auction of American Art & Contemporary Art.

The morning session of American Art offers more than 190 unique works by notable artists working in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the many desirable oil paintings are Edward Mitchell Bannister’s Landscape, 1883 ($8,000 to $12,000); a selection of works by David Burliuk, including Still Life with Flowers and a Seashell ($10,000 to $15,000); Robert Reid’s portrait of a stylish woman dressed in red, The Red Carnation ($8,000 to $12,000); Guy Carlton Wiggins’s Winter at the Plaza, circa 1950s ($6,000 to $9,000); and Robert Bliss’s Kneeling Boy, 1968 ($3,000 to $5,000).

Andy Warhol, "$", screenprint printed in red on men's white cotton Jockey underwear, 1981. Signed and dated by Warhol and signed by William N. Copley in felt-tip marker and black ink, lower left. Estimate:$30,000-50,000

Featured watercolors are Childe Hassam’s Landscape with a Bridge ($12,000 to $18,000); Jared French’s Self Portrait, circa 1930s ($5,000 to $8,000); Will Barnet’s Woman on Stairs, gouache and pencil, 1987, which was acquired by the current owner directly from the artist ($10,000 to $15,000); an Untitled atmospheric abstraction by William Baziotes ($8,000 to $12,000); and a Costume Design for Jonathan Harker, Dracula, by Edward Gorey, who designed the costumes and sets for the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula ($3,000 to $5,000).

Drawings of note include three by Arshile Gorky that were gifted by the artist to Hans Burkhardt, with whom he had shared a studio ($3,000 to $5,000 and $4,000 to $6,000 each); numerous studies of the male form by Paul Cadmus, among them the color pastels Two Nudes in an Embrasure, 1971, and Standing Nude ($12,000 to $18,000 each); and a study by Thomas Hart Benton for a painted Self Portrait, pencil on tracing paper, squared and annotated for transfer, 1970 ($12,000 to $18,000).

Among the sculptural works are Leonard Baskin’s Head of a Man, carved wood, 1960s ($3,000 to $5,000); and Reuben Nakian’s bronze Study (Leda and the Swan), 1978 ($4,000 to $6,000).

The afternoon session of the auction consists of 240 lots of Contemporary Art including prints, drawings, paintings and three-dimensional works by American and European artists working in the mid to late 20th century and after.

Unique works include Leon Albert Golub’s Portrait in Red, oil on canvas, a gift from the artist to the current owner ($20,000 to $30,000); an Abstract Composition by Georges Mathieu, watercolor and India ink, 1958 ($8,000 to $12,000); Willem de Kooning’s image of Thelonious Monk, The Devil at the Keyboard, a lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache, 1976 ($40,000 to $60,000); Gérard Schneider’s Composition, oil on canvas, 1986 ($15,000 to $25,000); and Donald Baechler’s Untitled (Plant), gouache, watercolor and tea, 2006 ($12,000 to $18,000).

There are two late 1950s drawings of shoes by Andy Warhol from his days working for the I. Miller shoe company, both in brush and black ink and white gouache and gold leaf ($10,000 to $15,000 each). Also by Warhol is a Polaroid photograph of Henry Geldzahler, 1970s ($8,000 to $12,000); and several screenprints, including Electric Chair, 1971 ($10,000 to $15,000); Cow, on purple and black wallpaper, 1976 ($7,000 to $10,000); and a pair of men’s Jockey shorts with a Dollar Sign screenprinted on the back, and signed by Warhol and artist and art dealer William N. Copley, 1981 ($30,000 to $50,000).

Other print highlights include Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstrokes, color screenprint, 1967 ($10,000 to $15,0000); Robert Rauschenberg’s Hybrid, color lithograph on Special Arjomari paper, 1970 ($6,000 to $9,000); Francis Bacon’s Metropolitan Triptych, three color etchings with aquatint printed on a single sheet, 1974-77 ($12,000 to $18,000); Shards, a group of eight (of nine) color offset lithographs with screenprint by Frank Stella, artist proofs aside from the edition of 100, 1982 ($35,000 to $50,000); Donald Sultan’s Body Parts, set of 14 aquatints, 1994 ($8,000 to $12,000); and a complete set of Joel Shapiro’s Untitled, 17 etchings, 1995 ($12,000 to $18,000).

The sale features some remarkable three-dimensional pieces, such as Louise Nevelson’s Maquette for Monumental Sculpture III, a welded black steel sculpture, 1977 ($50,000 to $75,000); a polyvinyl Sketch Head by Duane Hanson, a gift from the artist to a friend, 1980 ($20,000 to $30,000); and a painted and patinated fabricated brass multiple by Roy Lichtenstein, Explosion (New York State Governor’s Arts Award), from the initial edition of 15, 1996 ($20,000 to $30,000).

Rounding out the contemporary art section are color studies by Josef Albers, lithographs from John Baldessari’s Tristam Shandy suite, iconic posters by Shepard Fairey, and prints by Alexander Calder, Sam Francis, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Larry Rivers, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann and more.

The morning session of the auction, American Art, will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8. The afternoon session of Contemporary Art follows at 2:30 p.m.

The works will be on public exhibition Thursday, June 3 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, June 4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, June 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, June 7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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