Key Abstract Expressionists and Prominent Pop Artists at Swann Galleries November 12
New York—On Thursday, November 12, Swann Galleries will offer Contemporary Art, featuring works from prominent Abstract Expressionists and Pop Artists, among others.
The top lot of the sale is first-generation Abstract Expressionist Theodoros Stamos’s Feeding Station, oil on canvas, 1953 (estimate $50,000 to $80,000). Stamos was the youngest of “The Eighteen Irascibles,” a group of artists who protested the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s policy toward American painting in the 1940s. Other “Irascible” compatriots featured in this sale include Jackson Pollock, whose 1944-45 Untitled, etching and drypoint ($30,000 to $50,000), comes from a surviving intaglio plate discovered after Pollock’s untimely death in 1956; a run of works by Robert Motherwell including Gesture III, color brushed aquatint and lift-ground aquatint printed in blue and black, 1976-77 ($10,000 to $15,000); and David Smith’s Don Quixote, lithograph with hand-coloring in watercolor, 1952 ($12,000 to $18,000).
Among the other works by prominent abstract artists are Cy Twombly’s Roman Notes III, offset color lithograph, 1970 ($35,000 to $50,000); and Sam Francis’s Untitled, color aquatint, 1985 ($8,000 to $12,000). A run of works by influential sculptor and printmaker Alexander Calder includes the color lithograph Galaxy Composition, circa 1970, and the auquatint La Récolte (Harvest), 1962 (each estimated at $3,000 to $5,000).
Other works in the sale come from artists essential to the Pop Art Movement, including Jasper Johns’s Cicada II, color screenprint, 1979-81 ($25,000 to $35,000) and Untitled (Savarin), color lithograph, 1977 ($20,000 to $30,000); Keith Haring’s 1988 color screenprints Growing 2 and Growing 3 (each estimated at $20,000 to $30,000); and a run of works by Roy Lichtenstein, including Cathedral #4, color lithograph, 1969 ($10,000 to $15,000). Candy-hued color screenprints draw the eye, including Andy Warhol’s Flowers, 1970 ($25,000 to $35,000); Alex Katz’s Yellow Tulips, 2014 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Tom Wesselmann’s Cynthia Nude, 1981 ($8,000 to $12,000). The sale also features Pop Art influencer Yves Klein’s minimalist set Monochrome und Feuer (Triptych), a complete set of 3 color plates in Klein’s signature International Klein Blue, pink and gold, 1961 ($20,000 to $30,000).
Photorealistic (and Hyperrealistic) works challenge the viewers perception, with works like Chuck Close’s Self Portrait Screenprint 2012, color screenprint, 2012 ($40,000 to $60,000); Gerhard Richter’s Seestück (Gegenlicht), offset color lithograph, 1991 ($6,000 to $9,000); and Vija Celmins’s Strata, a group of 5 (of 6) color lithographs, 1962 ($20,000 to $30,000). In contrast, the geometry of works like Sean Scully’s SS 2014, 2014, gray and black pastels and ballpoint pen and red ink, 2014 ($20,000 to $30,000); and works by Josef Albers such as Emeraude, color screenprint, 1965 ($4,000 to $6,000), plumbs new depths with exploration of shape and color.
Works of collage include Jean-Michel Basquiat’s (Anti) Product (Suicide), postcard, ink and color Xerox, 1980 ($10,000 to $15,000), from early in the artist’s career, when he sold collaged and annotated postcards in Lower Manhattan; Joseph Cornell’s Penny Arcade, collage and ink, circa 1962 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Richard Prince’s Minding the Moon, pencil with collage, 1974 ($10,000 to $15,000).
The auction will be held Tuesday November 12, beginning at 1:30 p.m. The auction preview will be open to the public, with an exhibition opening Saturday, November 7 from noon to 5 p.m.; Monday, November 9 through Wednesday November 11 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, November 12 from 10 a.m. to noon.
An illustrated auction catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Todd Weyman at 212-254-4710, extension 32, or via e-mail at tweyman@swanngalleries.com.
First image: Cy Twombly, Roman Notes III, offset color lithograph, 1970. Estimate $35,000 to $50,000.
Second image: Chuck Close, Self Portrait Screenprint 2012, color screenprint, 2012. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000.
