This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2024 Auctions in Review

In the 2024 Winter-Spring season, Swann Galleries continued to provide high-quality auctions of unusual and rare material. Several single-owner collections were featured, including Illustration Art: Featuring Highlights from the Collection of Jules Feiffer, Tennis & Sports Posters: Collection of the Schwartz Family & Tennis Corporation of America, and An American Century: The Collection of Dr. James & Debra Pearl & Fine Photographs.

We bid farewell to our longtime Prints & Drawings director Todd Weyman, and ushered in a new era for our restructured Fine Art Department. Take a look at some of this season’s highlights below!

Artists of the WPA

Claude Clark, Drafting, oil on thin board, circa 1940-41. Sold January 2024 for $17,500
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (variant), silver print, 1936 (printed circa 1990s). Sold for $16,250 in January 2024

The Subculture Sale

Robert Frank, Seminal publisher Barney Rosset’s copies of the first French and English editions of Frank’s The Americans, 1958. Sold for $12,500 in February 2024.
Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol / The Velvet Underground and Nico, letterpress poster, 1966. Sold for $15,000 in February 2024

An American Century: The Collection of Dr. James & Debra Pearl & Fine Photographs

From left to right: Ansel Adams, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park. Silver print, 1927; printed 1973-77. Sold for $35,000 in February 2024. Irving Penn, Breton Onion Seller, London, from the Small Trades series. Silver print, 1950-51. Sold for $35,000 in February 2024.

Vintage Posters & Graphic Design

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, BIL – BOL. 1907. Sold for $62,500 in February 2024
Alphonse Mucha, DOCUMENTS DÉCORATIFS. Complete portfolio with 72 plates. 1902. Sold for $22,500 in February 2024

Autographs

Torquato Tasso. Autograph Manuscript Signed, “Torq Tasso,” fair copy of his poem, “La Fenice,” in Italian. circa 1586. Sold for $106,250 in June 2024
Benjamin Franklin, ARRANGING MEETING ABOUT MA GOVERNOR’S ALLEGED TREASON FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autograph Letter Signed, “BFranklin,” to diplomat Arthur Lee. May 5 1773. Sold for $27,500 in June 2024

19th & 20th Century Art

Henry Moore, Figure Studies. Watercolor, ink, wash, wax resist, pastel, pencil, gouache and crayon on wove paper, circa 1948. Sold for $37,500 in March 2024
Pablo Picasso, Fleurs. Color crayons on cream wove paper, 1959. Sold for $81,250 in March 2024

Printed & Manuscript African Americana

Victor H. Green, editor. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book. 1958. Sold for $35,000 in March 2024
Broadside for Ira Aldridge’s performance of Shakespeare–and Jim Crow. Letterpress broadside, 1840. Sold for $27,500 in March 2024.

African American Art

Hughie Lee-Smith, Ball Player. Oil on linen canvas, 1970. Sold for $341,000 in April 2024
Benny Andrews, Time for Church. Oil with painted canvas, lace collage and staples on cotton canvas, 1999. Sold for $203,000 in April 2024

Fine Books

Miguel de Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. 1608. Sold for $106,250 in April 2024
Napoleon Bonaparte, William Milligan Sloane, Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1896. Sold for $45,000 in April 2024

Old Master Through Modern Prints

Maurits C. Escher, Circle Limit IV (Heaven and Hell). Woodcut on Japan paper, 1960. Sold for $93,750 in April 2024
Winslow Homer, Perils of the Sea. Etching on imitation Japan paper, 1888. Sold for $93,750 in April 2024

Modern & Post-War Art

William Grosvenor Congdon, The City. Oil and gouache on board, 1949. Sold for $47,500 in May 2024
Fritz Koenig, Quadriga. Bronze, 1959. Sold for $81,250 in May 2024

Tennis & Sports Posters: Collection of the Schwartz Family & Tennis Corporation of America

Roger Broders, MONTE • CARLO. Circa 1930. Sold for $12,500 in May 2024
Edward Penfield, Western Lawn Tennis Tournament / Kenwood Country Club. 1896. Sold for $11,250 in May 2024

Focus on Women

Dyer, Dr. Lora Genevieve (1880-1969)
Very Large Archive including Journals, Letters, Photographs, and More. 1899-1954. Sold for  $32,500 in May 2024
Lee, Harper (1926-2016) To Kill a Mockingbird, Inscribed First Edition with ALS. 1960. Sold for $62,500 in May 2024

Contemporary Art

Lynne Drexler, Bluescape. Oil on canvas, 1961. Sold for $87,500 in June 2024
Andy Warhol, Life Savers. Color screen print on Lenox Museum Board, 1985. Sold for $87,500 in June 2024

Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books

Robert John Thornton. New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus Comprehending … the Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature. 1794-1806. Sold for $45,000 in June 2024
Claes Janszoon Visscher; after Hessel Gerritsz. Nova XVII Provinciarum, Germaniae Inferioris Tabula, Leonis Effigie, Accurate Delineata. 1630. Sold for $27,500 in June 2024

Illustration Art: Featuring Highlights from the Collection of Jules Feiffer

Frank Miller, “The Blind Leading the Blind.” Comic book page appearing in the Spectacular Spider-Man, February, 1979. Ink over pencil on board. Sold for $60,000 in June 2024
Kay Nielsen, The Nightingale. Unpublished illustration. Title from verso. Watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper. Circa 1924. Sold for $20,000 in June 2024

Printed & Manuscript Americana

The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. 588, [2] pages. 8vo, publisher’s calf, backstrip blind-tooled in seven double bands, original black leather spine label blind-stamped “Book of Mormon,” 1830. Sold for $185,000 in June 2024
Frederick Douglass. Oration Delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester. 39 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers. 1852. Sold for $87,500 in June 2024
July 15, 2024
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Category: 19th & 20th Century Literature
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