Schiele, Klimt, Kokoschka Alongside Matisse, Picasso & Whistler at Swann Galleries
New York—On Thursday, September 24, Swann Galleries’ Prints & Drawings department will offer a two-part sale of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings, featuring works by the Viennese Modern masters Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka, as well as 19th-Century prints led by works from James A.M. Whistler and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 20th-Century American and Latin American pieces by Modern European masters like Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger and Henri Matisse.
The top lot of the sale is Egon Schiele’s Schlafender Mann, 1910. Done in watercolor, pencil and black crayon, the piece is an excellent example of Schiele’s experimentation with color and line and has not appeared at auction since 1965 (estimate $200,000 to $300,000). The auction also features a pencil drawing of nudes by Schiele’s mentor, Gustav Klimt, entitled Umarmen Akte, 1908 ($40,000 to $60,000) and work by another significant Viennese Modernist, Oskar Kokoschka, whose Stehender Akt einer alten Frau, 1907 ($4,000 to $6,000), relates stylistically to Klimt’s line drawings.
Among the 19th-Century works is a run of prints by Gilded Age painter and printmaker James A. M. Whistler, including the nautical images Dordrecht, 1884-86 ($30,000 to $50,000), and Two Ships, 1875 ($15,000 to $20,000). Contrasting the quiet of Whistler’s scenes are vibrant works by the celebrated French Post-Impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, including his action-packed color lithographs Le Jockey, 1899 ($30,000 to $50,000) and the dancing May Milton, 1895 ($20,000 to $30,000). Other highlights in this section of the sale include works by Mary Cassatt, Pierre-August Renoir, and a scarce early edition of a color woodcut by Paul Gauguin, Maruru, 1893-94 ($30,000 to $50,000) an evenly-printed, dark impression with a yellow-green tint in the sky.
The 20th-Century prints are headlined by works from American and Latin American artists, including George Bellows’s festive lithograph Preliminaries, 1916 ($10,000 to $15,000); Martin Lewis’s entrancing drypoint and sand-ground image Shadow Dance, 1930 ($30,000 to $50,000); Stuart Davis’s scarce lithograph Theatre on the Beach, 1931 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Benton M. Spruance’s dynamic lithograph, Riders of the Apocalypse, 1943 ($30,000 to $50,000).
Latin American artists are represented in a run of works from Mexican painter and printmaker Rufino Tamayo, such as the color lithograph Cabeza en Verde, 1973 ($3,000 to $5,000), as well as pieces by Diego Rivera and Miguel Covarrubias, including Covarrubias’s 1942 lithograph Rumba ($1,500 to $2,500) and Rivera’s El Niño del Taco, lithograph, 1932, from the artist’s brief foray into lithography encouraged by Weyhe Gallery director Carl Zigrosser ($7,000 to $10,000).
The sale will round out in the afternoon with Modern European prints and drawings, including Pablo Picasso’s 1962 color linoleum cuts Jacqueline au Bandeau de Face (Grand Tête de Femme ($100,000 to $150,000), and Femme assise au Chignon ($40,000 to $60,000). A run of works from Henri Matisse includes his early drypoint self-portrait Henri Matisse gravant, 1900-03 ($30,000 to $50,000), as well as the bright color aquatint Petit Intérieur Bleu, circa 1952 ($30,000 to $50,000). Vibrant works include Marc Chagall’s color lithograph Le Cirque, 1967 ($30,000 to $50,000), and Joan Miró’s color aquatint and etching Le Permissionaire, 1974 ($40,000 to $60,000).
The auction will be split into two parts on Thursday, September 24, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The auction preview will be open to the public, with an exhibition opening Saturday, September 19 from noon to 5 p.m. and Monday, September 21 through Wednesday, September 23 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
An illustrated auction catalogue is available for $40 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: Lot 423: Egon Schiele, Schlafender Mann, watercolor, pencil and black crayon, 1910. Estimate $200,000 to $300,000.
Second image: Lot 303: Benton M. Spruance, Riders of the Apocalypse, lithograph, 1943. Estimate $30,000 to $50,000.
