Romare Bearden Collage Brings $100,000 at Swann Galleries’ Contemporary Art Auction
New York—Bidding was strong and record prices were achieved at Swann Galleries’ November 14 auction of Contemporary Art. The sale’s top lot was a Romare Bearden collage of various papers, with ink on board, titled Village of Yo, from 1977, which brought $100,000*.
A unique Warhol print was the playful GA-43 Robot, from his Toy Paintings series, color screenprint on canvas, 1983, $70,000, and other featured Warhols were Flowers—Leo Castelli Gallery Exhibition Poster, offset color lithograph, 1964, $18,750; After the Party, color screenprint, 1979, $15,000; and Mick Jagger, complete set of 10 lithograph postcards after Warhol, 1975, $15,000.
Three-dimensional highlights included Niki de Saint Phalle’s Nana, plaster with acrylic and gouache, 1968, $37,500; and Jeff Koons, Puppy, glazed white ceramic vase, 1998, which set an auction record at $11,875.
Also setting new records were Richard Hamilton’s Sign, enamel on steel plate, reading “RICHARD” in the style of French advertisements for Pernod, 1975, at $35,000 and Pierre Soulanges’s Eau-forte nº10 b, etching and aquatint, 1957, at $15,360.
Following Hamilton, the top Pop Art prints in the sale were Roy Lichtenstein’s Crak!, offset color lithograph, 1963-64, $21,250 and Still Life with Pitcher and Flowers, color lithograph and screenprint, 1974, $20,000; Wayne Thiebaud’s Hill Street, color woodcut, 1987, $20,480; the Robert Indiana portfolio Numbers, complete with 10 color screenprints, 1968, $18,750 and Keith Haring, Pop Shop II, color screenprint, 1988, $10,000.
The Bearden wasn’t the only collage in the auction, also offered was an untitled photographic collage with acrylic and spray paint by a young Robert Mapplethorpe in 1971, given to a friend and Pratt Institute classmate, $15,000.
Rounding out the sale highlights were Francis Bacon’s Figure at a Washbasin, color aquatint and etching, 1977-78, $15,000; Richard Diebenkorn’s Clubs, Blue Ground, color aquatint with etching and drypoint, 1982, $11,250; and an archive of collages, watercolors, drawings and ephemera related to New York Abstract Expressionist artist Judith Rothschild, $13,750.
For complete auction results, an illustrated catalogue, with prices realized on request, can be purchased for $35 from Swann Auction Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.
To propose consignments to upcoming auctions of Contemporary Art, please contact Todd Weyman at (212) 254-4710, extension 32, or via e-mail at tweyman@swanngalleries.com
*All prices include buyer’s premium.
First image: Romare Bearden, Village of Yo, collage with ink on board, 1977. $100,000
Second image: Richard Hamilton, Sign, enamel on steel plate, 1975. A record $35,000.
