ASHEVILLE, NC.- Brunk Auctions’ April 22 auction will feature 225 lots of modern art, furniture, and jewelry under the banner “Form and Vision”. The auction’s title references the throughline of shape, structure, craftsmanship, and purpose-driven creativity behind each lot in the sale, which is interwoven with furniture and fine art in conversation with jewelry. On April 23, the focus will be on Photography and Native American, and the day will conclude with an Emporium auction.

Heading the modern art selection is the collection of John Charles Walker (j.Charles) and John Brett Buchanan, which reflects five decades of influence in design education and contemporary art. Both are professors emeritus from Kent State University, where j.Charles was hired in 1964 to establish the university’s first graphic design program.

Over 38 years, he built it into a nationally respected discipline and later became the founding director of the School of Visual Communication Design. He also developed innovative summer programs in the US and Europe featuring leading designers.
Buchanan contributed as a professor, leading internship placements and managing Glyphix, a student-run design studio founded by Walker. Together, they secured major grants and corporate support from companies such as Apple Inc., Quark Inc., and Adobe Inc., while also operating a successful design firm serving Fortune 500 clients. Their work earned over 250 design awards and their legacy continues through endowments supporting design students and professionals.


Andy Warhol (New York, 1928-1987, Marilyn Monroe, 1967, stamped edition number verso 95/250, signed verso, screenprint in colors ($80/120,000)


The Walker/Buchanan art collection includes works by regional, national, and
international artists, notably early acquisitions of Andy Warhol and Christo, represented by a Marilyn 1967 screenprint in colors ($80/120,000), and Christo’s Look Empaquete, 1965 mixed media ($6/9,000).


Christo (Bulgarian, 1935-2020), Look Empaquete, 1965, variable edition 71/100, with artist's label verso, mixed media ($6/9,000)


Mirroring the horizontal sweep of the Carolina coast, Claude Howell’s exceptional Beach Pier triptych, 1971, was exhibited at St. John’s Museum of Art and demonstrates bold fields of rhythmic color inspired by the local scenery ($40/60,000). Howell is one of several Southern artists represented in the auction that worked as university-level art teachers and carried on the traditions of regional art schools. Sculptural works are represented by Robert Clements’ (Georgia Stories I and II, $7/9,000) and Carl Blair’s whimsical Crying Over You - #240 and He Was a Dandy #235 (each $2/4,000). The landscape category features abstracted compositions of Mount Mitchell by Theodoros Stamos ($2/3,000) and John's River Gorge Clouds by John's River Gorge Clouds ($1/1,500). Dean Aydelotte, a faculty member of the Art Department at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has four compositions in the sale, while Hilltown, Monhegan Scene is the sole offering by Lamar Dodd, who built the art program at the University of Georgia in Athens, into one of the most respected art schools in the Southeast ($800/1,200).


Pair of Jon Brooks Studio Craft Picton River Chairs, 2002 ($5/7,000)

“Wearable art” in the form of sculpted jewelry by several well-established contemporary jewelry designers is a large and important facet of the auction. Architectural design is a defining characteristic of both Arnaldo Pomodoro’s 18kt. and silver Gem Montebello ring ($4/6,000) and Akris’s silver 3-D-printed Naoshima Pavilion ring ($1/1,500).


Helen Levitt (American, 1913-2009), New York (Kids with Masks), from a 1940 image ($3/5,000)

Collectors looking for colorful pieces will be tempted by an 18-karat multicolored tourmaline textured brooch with 11 cabochon-cut gemstones ($2/4,000), Maija Neimanis’ 18kt. and 22kt. gemstone brooch with oval cabochon-cut emerald, ruby and blue sapphire ($2/4,000), Wise 2X’ 18kt. Rock Garden #1 brooch ($1,400/2,000), brooches and earrings by Seven Fingers (each $1,400/2,000) and nearly a half dozen works by Tom Herman that incorporate lapis lazuli, chrysoprase, turquoise, slate, pipestone and chrysocolla with diamonds, amethysts, emeralds, and 18kt. gold.


Arnaldo Pomodoro (Italian, 1926-2025), Pagina Solare (Solar Page), (A.P. 704), circa 1982, edition 1/2, bronze with gold patina mounted on panel ($25/35,000)

20th Century furniture design witnessed a vibrancy and variety of forms and materials, all of which are represented in the auction. A dynamic and whimsical pair of Jon Brooks Studio Craft Picton River chairs from an important Atlanta collection ($5/7,000) maps the evolution of the form from a pair of oak armchairs, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Howard Anthony House in Benton Harbor, Michigan ($3/5,000).

Connoisseurs of minimalism will appreciate a coffee table designed by Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller ($800/1,200), a table and chair by Warren McArthur Moderne ($700/1,000) and a tulip dining table, made by Eero Saarinen for Knoll ($1/2,000).


From left, rare Naskapi doll with painted hunting coat ($6/9,000), early Maria Martinez Blackware pot ($5/7,000) and Lucy Lewis chicken form pitcher ($700/900)

Historical forms with a modern twist can be seen in a fine pair of silvered bronze-mounted armchairs with greyhound arm terminals, attributed to Maison Jansen ($2,5/3,500), a set of eight silvered metal and red upholstered dining chairs with Chippendale style backs ($500/700) and a MCM black leather upholstered Ox lounge chair with ottoman designed by Hans Wegner ($500/700). A large group of tablewares by French potter Albert Thiry (1923-2009), in the Pink Wild Rose, Cobalt Net and Pink Thistle patterns, combines traditional aesthetics with a contemporary bent and are well suited to collectors looking to set an elegant, modern table.


18kt. and 22kt. Maija Neimanis colored gemstone brooch, with three oval cabochon cut gemstones, emerald, ruby, blue sapphire, each graduating in size, signed "Maija Neimanis, 22K - 18k", yellow gold ($2/4,000)

More than 30 lots of photographs comprise Brunk Auctions’ April 23 Photography auction, which kicks off the day and presents masterworks by William Klein, Horst P. Horst, Alfred Eisenstadt, Edward Weston, Carrie Mae Weems, Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott, Edward Weston, and many others.


Horst P. Horst, (German/America, 1906-1999), Birthday Gloves, 1947, printed later ($3/5,000)

About 70 lots of Native American works of art follow, with selections of pottery, baskets, weavings, carvings, and jewelry, headlined by an important Naskapi doll with painted coat, a rare Chinookan bark shredder, a pair of Huron moose hoof needlecases, blackware by Maria Martinez, and a room sized Navajo weaving.

Rounding up the April 23 offerings are an Emporium auction with 115 lots of furniture, silver, porcelain, rugs, and more.

Brunk Auctions is at 117 Tunnel Road. For information, 828-254-6846, info@brunkauctions or www.brunkauctions.com.


18kt. and Silver Arnaldo Pomodoro Gem Montebello ring, circa 1967, center silver cylinder topped with an 18kt. yellow gold arch, marked "750, GEM" ($4/6,000)