NEW YORK, NY.- The top lot at
Swann Galleries March 9 auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings was Amedeo Modiglianis pencil drawing of Beatrice Hastings, circa 1915, which brought $84,000. The portrait of the political activist and literary figure, which was once in the celebrated collection of Joseph L Shulman, had a presale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
Another featured drawing in the auction was Tamara de Lempickas Portrait de Femme, pencil on illustration board, 1934, which sold for $16,800.
Record prices were achieved for several prints, including Camille Pissarros Femme à la Barrière, etching printed in black, 1889, $15,600; John Marins Downtown New York, the El, drypoint, 1921, $12,000; Martin Lewiss Circus Night, drypoint and sand ground, 1933, $15,600; and Pablo Picassos Femme au fauteuil II: Dora Maar, aquatint, scraper, burin and drypoint, 1939, $26,400.
Other Picasso highlights included LHomme au Chien, etching, 1914, and Tête de femme, lithograph, 1945, each $18,000; a color collotype and stencil after Le Peintre, circa 1950, $14,400; and Woman Lamp, a painted terre de faïence vase, 1955, $16,800.
Among a fine selection of color lithographs by Marc Chagall, Découverte de Chloé par Daphnis, 1961, fetched $22,800, and Regards sur Paris (Place de la Concorde), 1960, $20,400.
Strong prices for other European works included 19th-century prints such as Pissarros Cours-la-Reine (ou Bords de la Seine, à Rouen), etching, aquatint and drypoint, 1884, $9,000; Pierre-Auguste Renoirs La Danse à la Campagne, 2e planche, soft-ground etching, circa 1890, $14,400; and Édouard Vuillards La Cuisinière, color lithograph, 1899, $22,800; and 20th-century examples including Henri Matisses Marguerite V, lithograph, 1948, $14,400; Willi Baumeisters Allegro, color screenprint, 1954, $11,400; Georges Braques LOiseau et son ombre II, color aquatint and etching, 1961, $22,800; Savador Dalis Crucifixion, drypoint and etching, 1961, $9,000; and a portfolio with 10 lithographs by Alexander Archipenko, titled Les Formes Vivantes, 1963, $8,100.
Notable American prints included Childe Hassams The Chimneys, Portsmouth, etching, 1915, $6,960; Paul Cadmuss Horseplay, etching, 1935, $7,995; Paul Landacres Counterpoint, wood engraving on Japan paper, 1939, $6,720; and Thomas Hart Bentons Wreck of the Ol 97, lithograph, 1944, $10,200.