NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries’ Fine Art department will present the house’s first 20th Century Fine Art auction on Thursday, June 26. The sale is set to offer paintings, drawings and prints illustrating the breadth of art created during the twentieth century.
Early important European works include Kees van Dongen’s Tête de femme, oil on paper, circa 1907, an iconic depiction of one of his almond-eyed girls ($75,000-100,000), and Wolf Kahn’s brilliantly colored Wooded Landscape, pastel on paper ($4,000-6,000).
Works on paper are led by Joan Miró’s Le Pitre Rose, color etching, 1974 ($25,000-35,000), Maurits C. Escher’s Up and Down, lithograph, 1947 ($20,000-30,000), and Escher’s Vase, woodcut, 1931, a rare, signed proof by the artist from the XXIV Emblemata series ($10,000-15,000), and Pablo Picasso’s Tête d’Histrion (Le Danseur), color linoleum cut, 1965 ($15,000-20,000).
Important American illustrators and artists such as Norman Rockwell, Martin Lewis, Frank Stick, and Mark Tansey are included. Highlights include Rockwell’s Portrait of my teacher, Tom Fogarty, chalk on paper, 1913 ($15,000-25,000); Lewis’ Wet Night, Route 6, drypoint, 1933 ($20,000-30,000); Stick’s Two Setters, oil on canvas, circa 1920 ($8,000-12,000); and Tansey’s Waiting in Line to Look, pen and ink on paper, 1980 ($8,000-12,000). The sale also presents a strong selection of African American artists, including works by Albert Alexander Smith with Water Sports (A Sunday Game in Courbevoie, France), oil on canvas, circa 1920s ($8,000-12,000), and Fishing off the Mediterranean Coast, oil on canvas, 1923 ($5,000-7,000); and Benny Andrews with Blue and White Still Life, oil on canvas, 1962 ($10,000-15,000). Works by Raymond Howell, Faith Ringgold and Jacob Lawrence also feature.
The second half of the twentieth century is represented by works by Horace Clifford Westermann, John Cage, Milton Glaser, James Little and Philip Guston. Notable lots include Westermann’s Death Ship of No Port, (Sketch for Sculpture), ink on paper, 1966 ($5,000-7,000); Cage’s Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel. Plexigram V, plexigram multiple comprising of eight color screenprints on Plexiglas, 1969 ($3,000-5,000); Glaser’s Nude with Rash, nylon appliqué banner, 1976 ($3,000-5,000); Little’s First Study, gouache and acrylic on paper, 1979 ($3,000-5,000); and Guston’s The Street, lithograph, 1970 ($5,000-8,000).
