Multiple Record Prices at Swann Galleries’ Auction

NEW YORK, NY.- Seven of the top 10 lots in Swann Galleries’ September 16 auction Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York 1900 – 2000 were by Martin Lewis, and all of them set auction records. Lewis’s Shadow Dance, drypoint, 1930, depicting a bevy of lovely young women in cloche hats, walking down the street lit from behind so that the outlines of their figures show through their sheer dresses, sold for $50,400—an auction record for any work by the artist.

Shawna Brickley, Works on Paper Specialist at Swann, said, “We are very happy with the results of this sale, Swann’s first prints auction devoted entirely to images of New York City. We are especially pleased to have set an artist record for Martin Lewis.”

Other record-setting Lewis highlights included the drypoints Stoops in Snow, 1930, $33,600; Winter on White Street, 1934, $28,800; and Arc Welders, 1937, which appeared on the cover of the auction catalogue, $26,400.

Rounding out the top 10 lots were Edward Hopper’s Night Shadows, etching, 1921, which brought a record $38,400; Lewis Lozowick’s Mural Study: Lower Manhattan, lithograph, 1936, a record $19,200; and Raphael Soyer’s The Mission, lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor, 1933, $18,000.

Also setting records for specific prints were three etchings by Childe Hassam, The Billboards, New York, 1896, $10,200; Fifth Avenue, Noon, 1916, $18,000; and Washington’s Birthday, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, 1916, $14,400; and Howard Cook’s Financial District, lithograph, 1931, $14,400.

Other sale highlights included Arnold Rönnebeck’s Brooklyn Bridge, lithograph, 1925, $7,800; Walter Tittle’s Grand Central, Night, drypoint, circa 1930, $7,800; and George Grosz’s Brownstone Houses, New York, watercolor on paper, circa 1937, $13,200.