November 16, 2023Harold PorcherModern & Post-War Art Essential Modern & Post-War Art Terms & Movements — Part I Read more about Essential Modern & Post-War Art Terms & Movements — Part I Harold Porcher’s Illustrated Glossary of Modern & Post-War Movements In early 2020 I joined Swann and created the Modern & Post-War Art department. This category goes against the grain slightly,…
Read more about Black Abstract Artists: Exploring Innovative Techniques May 31, 2022 African American Art Black Abstract Artists: Exploring Innovative Techniques Abstract Artists From Alma Thomas to Jack Whitten Here we explore Black artists who have expanded abstract techniques that showcase unique aesthetics while examining current events, visually composing perceptive senses…
Read more about African American Art: April 6, 2023 Auction Highlights March 10, 2023 African American Art African American Art: April 6, 2023 Auction Highlights Our April 6 African American Art auction features an exciting range of scarce and significant art from the Harlem Renaissance to the contemporary. We are thrilled to offer an outstanding…
Read more about African American Art—Works to Watch in the Fall 2022 Sale October 3, 2022 African American Art African American Art—Works to Watch in the Fall 2022 Sale Director Nigel Freeman shares his top eight lots to watch in the October 8, 2022 sale. Jacob Lawrence’s Westchester Graduation Ball, 1951 In June 1951, Westchester African American community leaders,…
Read more about The Johnson Publishing Co. Collection January 16, 2020 African American Art The Johnson Publishing Co. Collection In an introduction to the catalogue for our January 30 sale of African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company, Nigel Freeman, director of Swann’s African-American Fine Art department, touches on the legacy of the publishing house, their art collection and Johnson Publishing Co.’s impact on African-American culture.
Read more about Artist Profile: Vincent D. Smith September 30, 2019 African American Art Artist Profile: Vincent D. Smith Born in 1929, Vincent D. Smith was a Brooklyn native and innovative African-American artist. By the late 1950s, he incorporated various modern approaches into his figurative painting practice, including expressionism, collage, politically- and socially-conscious subject matter.
Read more about The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue July 30, 2015 African American Art The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue Swann Galleries is very proud to be offering for sale the art collection of one America’s great cultural heroes, Dr. Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou’s homes were filled with paintings, sculpture…
Read more about Swann in Profile: Lisa Crescenzo November 13, 2024 Swann Swann in Profile: Lisa Crescenzo After 10 years with Swann and the reorganization of the house’s fine art offerings, Lisa Crescenzo is now the Managing Director of Fine Art. As she transitions into her new…
Read more about Artist Profile: Nelson Stevens September 30, 2024 African American Art Artist Profile: Nelson Stevens I create from the rhythmic color-rappin’-lifestyle of Black folk. I believe that art can breathe life, and life is what we are about. — Nelson Stevens Early Life Born in…
Read more about Artist Profile: Will Barnet September 9, 2023 American Art Artist Profile: Will Barnet Swann Galleries’ September 21, 2023, American Art sale features a special section of approximately 30 works by Will Barnet from the artist’s estate. A Career That Spans Decades Barnet spent…
Read more about Art from the Collection of Norman Dolph May 30, 2023 Contemporary Art Art from the Collection of Norman Dolph The date was mid-April 1966 and Norman Dolph sat at the soundboard at the ramshackle Scepter Studios on West 54th Street in Manhattan, recording songs by a quartet that included musicians Lou Reed,…
Read more about Contemporary Art: Featuring the Collection of Norman Dolph — June 8, 2023 Auction Highlights May 16, 2023 Contemporary Art Contemporary Art: Featuring the Collection of Norman Dolph — June 8, 2023 Auction Highlights Our spring auction of Contemporary Art will showcase a variety of exceptional works in all media including painting, sculpture, drawing and limited editions ranging from mid-20th century Abstract Expressionism through…
Read more about Making A Modern American Art: 1900 – 1910 June 22, 2022 American Art Making A Modern American Art: 1900 – 1910 Edward Hopper & His Contemporaries At the turn of the twentieth century, artists began to confront the dominance of European academic influences within the American art sphere. In search of…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: West Coast Artists May 3, 2022 Contemporary Art Collector’s Guide: West Coast Artists canons of dominant New York and international art markets. What they found among the area’s expansive ocean, relaxed culture, and the dramatic southern California sky, was a booming environment that would become the West Coast arts scene, one that espoused experimentation and collaboration among all else.
Read more about Artist Profile: Hughie Lee-Smith March 23, 2022 African American Art Artist Profile: Hughie Lee-Smith “I cannot begin to project the meaning of my work in specific terms, for [my] paintings, at their best, are multi-faceted visual complexes whose many aspects are pregnant with as…
Read more about Tour the June 2021 American Art Sale: 19th Century to Modern Art June 21, 2021 American Art Tour the June 2021 American Art Sale: 19th Century to Modern Art The American Art sale on June 30, 2021 will include notable works from prominent artists working in America beginning in the mid-1800s and continuing through the contemporary era. Below we…
Read more about Artists Working in Mixed-Media & Assemblage April 19, 2021 African American Art Artists Working in Mixed-Media & Assemblage Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, Vanessa German, Bisa Butler, and Dindga McCannon are assemblage artists that apply found items and fabrics that previously held different uses or significance.
Read more about Illustration Art: Collecting the Stage September 10, 2020 Illustration Art Illustration Art: Collecting the Stage “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is…
Read more about Artist Profile: Antonio Lopez August 12, 2020 Illustration Art Artist Profile: Antonio Lopez Antonio Lopez, the bold and blazingly talented fashion illustrator, designer, and stylist of the 1960s-80s was a true iconoclast. He broke racial and sexual barriers decades before it was considered…
Read more about Interview: On the Guerrilla Girls June 15, 2020 Vintage Posters Interview: On the Guerrilla Girls Donna Kaz is a writer, director, choreographer and activist, who has led the theatre troupe, “Guerrilla Girls on Tour” for the past two decades. A Guerrilla Girl herself, who has written a memoir entitled UN/MASKED, Memoirs of a Guerrilla Girl On Tour, Lauren Goldberg, our vintage poster specialist, asked Donna to unmask yet again and share some insight into her own experiences with the movement.
Read more about A Brief History of AfriCOBRA April 14, 2020 African American Art A Brief History of AfriCOBRA The AfriCOBRA movement was borne from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The collective was founded in 1968 by Chicago based artists: Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Barbara…
Read more about Etched in History: Printmakers of the Federal Art Project April 2, 2020 The Artists of the WPA Etched in History: Printmakers of the Federal Art Project As jobless Americans eventually found work with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA), George Biddle, an artist and childhood friend of the president, pushed for significant government…
Read more about Swann in Profile: Corey Serrant March 17, 2020 African American Art Swann in Profile: Corey Serrant Corey Serrant is the newest member of our African-American fine art department – in fact, he started the week of our white-glove sale of the Johnson Publishing Company collection! We…
Read more about A Brief History of the Color Woodcut February 26, 2020 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings A Brief History of the Color Woodcut The color woodcut is best known for being one of the most difficult printmaking methods, but artists over the centuries have continually engaged with this medium, innovating new techniques to cut into a raw piece of wood or linoleum, transforming it into an image that inspires.
Read more about Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our January 30 Auction January 27, 2020 African American Art Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our January 30 Auction Our January 30 sale of African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company features nearly 30 market newcomers. Here we’ve assembled a selection of ten artists whose work is set to cross the auction block for the first time.
Read more about Exhibition Guide: Museums Showing 9th Street Women… & Beyond November 18, 2019 Contemporary Art Exhibition Guide: Museums Showing 9th Street Women… & Beyond Your exhibition guide to shows featuring the women of the Abstract Expressionist movement and beyond.
Read more about Swann in Profile: Lauren Goldberg July 22, 2019 Vintage Posters Swann in Profile: Lauren Goldberg With the newly opened Poster House museum as a backdrop, we spoke with Specialist Lauren Goldberg in our Vintage Posters Department about, well, what else—posters! You’ve been at…
Read more about Pride Month: Some Artists I Love June 4, 2018 Swann Pride Month: Some Artists I Love This post is by Keavy Handley-Byrne of our Photographs & Photobooks department. To celebrate Pride Month, I wanted to share a couple of queer artists’ work in recognition of their…
Read more about Graphic Design in the Vienna Secession May 23, 2017 Vintage Posters Graphic Design in the Vienna Secession This post includes notes from the catalogue of our May 25 auction of Graphic Design, featuring an extensive selection of works out of the Wiener Werkstätte, the design school for the…
Read more about One of a Kind: Josef Hoffmann’s Wiener Werkstätte Poster December 3, 2013 Vintage Posters One of a Kind: Josef Hoffmann’s Wiener Werkstätte Poster A unique item among the scarce posters in the recently restituted Julius Paul Collection that Swann is auctioning on December 18, 2013 is Josef Hoffmann’s hand-stenciled poster announcing the opening of the…