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Swann African-American Art = $4.5m

April 6, 2018 by Marion Maneker

Norman Lewis, Untitled ($725,000)

Swann’s African-American Art sale was a record for the category and the auction house. The volume of bidding caused the sale to run twice as long as the usual event at Swann. The top lots, a Norman Lewis painting that sold for three times the high estimate and a Beauford Delaney work that made twice the high estimate, were not the only works to significantly out-perform. Sam Gilliam’s untitled bevelled work continued his market run with a $233k sale that was nearly four times the high estimate.

There were twelve artists’ records set during the sale as Swann continues to develop a category that they pioneered.

Sale total: $4,509,540

Estimates for the sale as a whole: $2,036,500-$3,070,000
160 lots offered, 134 sold (84% sell-through rate by lot)

All prices include Buyer’s Premium.

Top lots
45† Norman Lewis, Untitled, oil on canvas, 1956. $725,000 C
33* Beauford Delaney, Untitled (Village Street Scene), oil on canvas, 1948. $557,000 I
50* Charles White, O Freedom, charcoal with crayon & wash on board, 1956. $509,000 D
55 Jacob Lawrence, 19. Tension on the High Seas, tempera on board, 1956. $413,000 C
77* Hale Woodruff, Primordial Landscape, oil on canvas, 1967. $245,000 C
93 Sam Gilliam, Untitled, acrylic on beveled canvas, 1972. $233,000 C
28† Elizabeth Catlett, Head of a Woman (Woman), oil on canvas, 1942-22. $209,000 I
25* William H. Johnson, Jitterbugs III, color screenprint and pochoir, circa 1941. $118,750 C
24 Johnson, Jitterbugs II, color screenprint and pochoir, circa 1941. $112,500 C
133* Ed Clark, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 1890. $93,750 C
88* Vincent D. Smith, Attrition, oil and sand on canvas, 1972. $67,500 C
118 Romare Bearden, Obeah Woman with her Daughter (La Sorcière avec sa fille), watercolor, circa 1984. $60,000 C
1 Charles Ethan Porter, Sunflowers, oil on canvas, circa 1880s. $50,000 C
149 Frank Bowling, Man Overboard, acrylic and acrylic gel on stitched canvas, 2000. $50,000 I
40 Hughie Lee-Smith, The Bouquet, oil on board, 1949. $50,000 I
37* Robert Neal, Rearguard, oil on canvas, 1950. $45,000 D
7 Aaron Douglas, Emperor Jones, set of four woodcuts, 1926. $40,000 I
74 Jack Whitten, Untitled, oil on canvas, 1967. $37,500 C
132 Clark, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 1990. $37,500 C
155* Richard Mayhew, Cherry Hill, oil on canvas, 2004. $32,500 C

Key: * = Artist Record; † = Second-highest price for artist at auction; C = Collector; D = Dealer; I = Institution

Swann Sells Hopper Etching for Record $317k

November 6, 2017 by Marion Maneker

Edward Hopper, The Lonely House (1923) $317,000

Swann’s sale of Old Master and Modern prints made $2,634,362 against estimates for sale as a whole of $3,411,500-$5,128,500. Swann offered 522 lots; 337 sold (65% sell-through rate by lot.)

Top lots                                                                                                                        Prices with buyer’s premium

304**    Edward Hopper, The Lonely House, etching, 1923.                                                                            $317,000

214       Francisco José de Goya, Los Caprichos, first edition, with 79 (of 80) etchings with aquatint, circa 1799.    $106,250

10         Albrecht Dürer, The Nemesis, engraving, circa 1501-02.                                                                     $87,500

93*       Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait with Cap Pulled Forward, etching, circa 1631.                                 $65,000

411       Pablo Picasso, Faune dévoilant une femme, aquatint and etching, 1934.                                                            $62,500

309*     Martin Lewis, Relics (Speakeasy Corner), drypoint, 1928.                                                                  $55,000

7          Dürer, The Sea Monster, engraving, before 1500.                                                                               $50,000

249*     Odilon Redon, Arbre, lithograph, 1892.                                                                                          $47,500

303*     Hopper, Les Poilus, etching, 1915-18.                                                                                            $42,500

94         Rembrandt, Self Portrait with Long, Bushy Hair: Head only, etching, circa 1631.                                              $42,500

Swann African American = $2.5m

April 10, 2017 by Marion Maneker

M34863-1 001
David Hammons, Untitled (Double Body Print Collage)

Sale total: $2,522,705 with Buyer’s Premium
Hammer total: $2,028,500
Estimates for sale as a whole: $1,982,3000 to $2,944,200
181 lots; 138 sold (76% sell-through rate by lot)

  1. 102 David Hammons, Untitled (Double Body Print Collage), pigment, ink and paper collage, 1976. $389,000 
  2. 101 Hammons, Untitled (Body Print), pigment and graphite, circa 1975-77. $161,000
  3. 112* Alvin D. Loving, Jr., Untitled, acrylic diptych on canvas, 1968. $161,000
  4. 139* Frank Bowling, Morning Light, acrylic on canvas, 1974. $161,000
  5. 169 Hughie Lee-Smith, Silhouette, oil on canvas, 1995. $106,250
  6. 13* Sargent Johnson, Untitled (Negro Mother), copper with paint, 1935-36. $100,000
  7. 58* Walter Williams, Untitled (Boy on Porch), oil and sand on board, circa 1965. $93,750
  8. 9 James VanDerZee, Eighteen Photographs, complete portfolio of silver prints, 1905-38, issued 1974. $87,500
  9. 162 Carrie Mae Weems, Chocolate Colored Man, triptych of gelatin silver prints, 1989-90. $68,750
  10. 1 Robert S. Duncanson, Untitled (River Landscape), oil on canvas, 1863. $62,500

Swann African American = $1.7m

October 30, 2013 by Marion Maneker

Norman Lewis, Untitled $581k

Swann held its African American art sale earlier this month. The top lot was this Norman Lewis painting bringing in more than half a million dollars. That’s a substantial new record for the artist. Below is the top ten lots of the sale. (The annotations identify Collectors, Dealers and Institutions as buyers.)

  1. Norman Lewis, Untitled (1957) $581,000 C
  2. Elizabeth Catlett, Head (1947) $173,000 I
  3. Charles White, Hope Imprisoned (1946) $62,500 D
  4. Alvin D. Loving, Jr., Karin and Janie Talking, (1976) $56,250 C
  5. Charles White, Untitled (Head of a Man), (circa 1967-68) $55,000 D
  6. Frank Bowling, Karters Choice (1972) $50,000 C
  7. Howardena Pindell, Untitled #56 (2010) $43,750 C
  8. Sargent Claude Johnson, Dancer (circa 1938-40) $37,500 I
  9. Mavis Pusey, Nuvae (circa 1968) $33,750 C
  10. Romare Bearden, Christ Healing the Sick (1945) $32,500 C

Sale total: $1,735,690 ~ Hammer estimates: $1,504,000 – $2,263,000; Hammer total: $1,405,100; 149 lots offered; 111 sold (74% sell-through)

This chart of the last five years of African American art sales shows the bumpy progress the category is making under Swann’s leadership:

Swann African American Feb 09 to Oct 13 Chart

Swann 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings = $2.86m

September 13, 2013 by Marion Maneker

19th & 20th CENTURY PRINTS & DRAWINGS ~ SEPTEMBER 12, 2013:
Sale total: $2,863,132 with Buyer’s Premium
Hammer total: $2,287,100
Estimates for sale as a whole: $2,440,100 – $3,686,900
We offered 596 lots; 461 sold (77% sell-through rate by lot)

Top lots, Prices with buyer’s premium

375 László Moholy-Nagy, Composition,  $118,750 C
217* Blanche Lazzell, The Flaming Bush, $87,500 C
536 Salvador Dalí, La Chiave, $72,500 C
460 Fernand Léger, Villes I, $50,000 C
389 Gustav Klimt, Sitzende Dame in ganzer Figur von vorn, $47,500 C
346 Pablo Picasso, Histoire Naturelle: Eaux-Fortes Originales pour des Textes de Buffon $45,000 D
548 Marino Marini, Cavalli e Cavaliere $42,500 C
369 Picasso, Tête de Mousquetaire $40,000 C
44** James A.M. Whistler, The Muff, $37,500 C
222 Edward Hopper, Night Shadows,  $37,500 C
275** Benton Spruance, Arrangement for Drums,  $37,500 C
552 Le Corbusier, Nature Morte, $37,500 C
268 Paul Cadmus, Male Nude Seated on a Ledge (NM 158), $37,500 C
99 James Jacques Tissot, Octobre, $35,000 D
573 Maurits C. Escher, Belvedere, $32,500 C
341 Picasso, Minotaure aveuglé guide par une Fillette, III, $32,500 C
437 Henri Matisse (after), Petit Intérieur Bleu, $31,250 C
457** C.R.W. Nevinson, Under Brooklyn Bridge, $30,000 C
12 Jean-François Millet, Paysanne près d’un petit feu dans les Champs, $30,000 C
503 Joan Miró, Untitled (Figures), $27,500 C
339 Picasso, Mintaure, Buveure et Femmes, $27,500 C

KEY: *=Print Record for the Artist; **=Record; C=Collector; D=Dealer

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