In The News
Sotheby’s – American Indian Art
May 2nd, 2011 by adminSotheby’s May 18 sale of American Indian Art in New York will offer a rich selection of artwork from the Northwest Coast, Southwest, Plains, Eastern Woodlands and the Eskimo. Native traditions including porcupine quillwork, beadwork, basketry, blanket weaving and carving are well represented. There is also an exceptional group of contemporary paintings and sculpture from the Southwest.
The sale is distinguished by a number of private collections including The Bruce and Nancy Berman Collection of Navajo Blankets, which features weavings that date from the mid-19th century. A highlight is a rare and exceptionally dazzling wedge weave blanket. There are also several large and pristine rugs that reflect the enormous creativity found within the Navajo weaving tradition.
Phillips de Pury – Design Auction
May 2nd, 2011 by adminLeslie Hindman Auctioneers – Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts
April 29th, 2011 by adminSotheby’s – Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels
April 29th, 2011 by adminSotheby’s Geneva 17th May sale of Magnificent Jewels & Noble Jewels is spearheaded by the most important emerald and diamond tiara to have appeared at auction in over 30 years and a superb fancy intense pink diamond weighing 10.99 carats. The sale also comprises fine jewels of noble provenance, and an impressive array of white diamonds and colored gemstones including Kashmir sapphires and two important Burmese rubies.
In addition, there is a broad selection of period jewels, and creations signed by some of the world’s greatest jewelers; among them, 50 jewels by Cartier, nearly 40 creations by Van Cleef and Arpels, and a group of jewels by JAR.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers – Asian Works of Art
April 29th, 2011 by adminGrey Flannel Auctions Inks Deal With Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation
April 29th, 2011 by adminFree sports memorabilia appraisal day planned for June 4 in Baltimore
WESTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Officials at Grey Flannel Auctions announced today that they have entered into a three-year marketing and promotional deal with the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation Inc. The foundation is an independent, not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to perpetuating the historic legacy of Babe Ruth, Baltimore’s Orioles and Colts; and local and regional sports. It also operates the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards.
As part of the new arrangement, Grey Flannel will conduct two annual events at the Sports Legends Museum, which is located adjacent to Baltimore’s Oriole Park and operated by the same management as the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum. The first of this year’s jointly sponsored events will be a free sports memorabilia appraisal fair held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, 2011, in the Sports Legends Museum’s theater.
Grey Flannel’s team of experts will be on hand to accept consignments to future auctions and to provide free appraisals on game-worn apparel, equipment, vintage collector cards, autographed items and any other professional sports memorabilia. Those who attend the appraisal fair will also be admitted free of charge to the Sports Legends Museum.
“It’s a great honor for us to be associated with the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation. Their exhibits and programs at the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum and Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards instill a very positive and lasting impression on youngsters, while at the same time honoring Baltimore’s titans of professional sports,” said Grey Flannel Auctions’ president, Richard E. Russek.
The appraisal fair will take place on the same day as an Orioles home game at Camden Yards (start time: 7:05 p.m.). “It’s a perfect way to spend the day – visiting the incredible Sports Legends Museum at no cost, meeting the Grey Flannel team at the free appraisal fair, then topping it off with an evening in Baltimore’s beautiful Oriole Park, watching the O’s play the Blue Jays,” Russek said.
Michael L. Gibbons, executive director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum and Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards, commented: “I have long been a fan of Grey Flannel Auctions’ operation, and to be able to host this event with them for the next three years is very exciting for all of us at the Sports Legends Museum. We think it fits nicely within our mission and look forward to it with great anticipation. It’s a win-win for both sides.”
Additional information about the appraisal fair will be available soon at www.greyflannelauctions.com and www.baberuthmuseum.com.
Sotheby’s – Contemporary Art
April 28th, 2011 by adminSotheby’s Contemporary Art sale on the evening of May 10th provides rare opportunities for collectors seeking extraordinary masterworks from the mid-20th century through to the 21st century.
Iconic works by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons are the star offerings of the sale. The Pink Panther is the paramount work in Koons’ seminal and coveted Banality series and this exquisitely crafted porcelain sculpture is among the most important works of the late 20th century to come to auction. Pink Panther embodies Koons’ classic themes of popular culture and rarefied elitism, eroticism and naivety, all captured in luxuriant color and surface textures. This complex work is the artist’s proof for an edition of 3 with the other examples in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and a prominent American private collection. Sixteen Jackies is a testament to Warhol’s keen perception of the role of media in American popular culture, as captured in his selection of eight haunting images of President Kennedy’s wife in the week of his assassination in late 1963. In its full range of palette, grid format and image selection, this work is homage to the greatest of his multi-panel Jackies of 1964, The Week That Was. Warhol’s insight into the dissonance between the public and private face of celebrity, as well as the darkness underlying American prosperity, makes Sixteen Jackies a powerful memorial of the time.
Other notable works of Pop Art by Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann include major works from series such as Interiors, Bedroom Paintings and Great American Nude, while a more recent example of art rendered from popular culture and graphic sensibilities is Ed Ruscha’s Honey…I Twisted Through More Damned Traffic to Get Here from 1984. In counterpoint to these representational works are minimalist masterworks of color, form and shape, such as Concetto Spaziale (1965) by Lucio Fontana, Concorde Study (1955) by Ellsworth Kelly and Journey (1967) by Agnes Martin.
We are also thrilled to have superb works of more recent decades such as the sublimely beautiful “Untitled” (Aparición) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, the refined composition of Rhein I by Andreas Gursky and the richly enigmatic Shades by Mark Tansey. Eroica I by Jean-Michel Basquiat is both a summation of this great young talent and a presentiment of his tragic early death.
Sotheby’s – Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale Video – Online Now
April 28th, 2011 by adminSotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale on the evening of May 3 will be the main event of the Spring season for those collectors seeking exceptional works by the best-known artists of the 20th century.
The star lot of the evening will be Pablo Picasso’s sumptuous Femmes lisant (Deux personnages), one of the coveted “Marie-Thérèse” pictures from the 1930s. This important painting leads the strong selection of works by Picasso that span the artist’s career, from the dramatic Blue period in 1901, through his rigorous neo-Classical period and the fantastical Surrealist era, to the heroic works of his final years. Among these prized pictures are the compelling Surrealist icon Femme, a dynamic mid-century portrait of Paloma and a monumental depiction of lovers that dates from the artist’s late career, all from the collection great San Francisco patron of the arts, Dodie Rosekrans.
Philliips de Pury – Photographs
April 28th, 2011 by adminPhillips de Pury & Company’s Photographs Department is a leader in the field of classic and contemporary photography. Sales in New York and London show strong results across all genres of the medium, including works by 20th-century masters such as Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Horst P. Horst and Peter Beard, and works by contemporary stars such as Thomas Struth, Florian Maier-Aichen, Desiree Dolron, John Baldessari, Robert Polidori and Edward Burtynsky.