April 19, 2017Swann NewsPhotographs & Photobooks William Bradford & The Arctic Regions Read more about William Bradford & The Arctic Regions The following are notes from the catalogue for our April 20 sale of Images & Objects: Photographs & Photobooks. William Bradford, a celebrated American painter, was also a…
Read more about Modern Daguerreotypes & More April 13, 2017 Photographs & Photobooks Modern Daguerreotypes & More While we live in a digital age, faced with a tsunami of photographs on all manner of devices, many modern artists have returned to the earliest photographic techniques. These were delicate, time-consuming…
Read more about Los Angeles Assemblage Artists March 28, 2017 African American Art Los Angeles Assemblage Artists From the catalogue of our April 6 sale of African-American Fine Art. Assemblage emerged as a dynamic new art form in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. The…
Read more about John Augustine Washington III & Mount Vernon March 27, 2017 Printed & Manuscript African Americana John Augustine Washington III & Mount Vernon From the catalogue for our March 30 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana. The sale will feature a run of 16 lots of letters and ephemera from Mount Vernon…
Read more about Was Walter Sickert Really Jack the Ripper? February 27, 2017 Prints & Drawings Was Walter Sickert Really Jack the Ripper? Though the official identity of Jack the Ripper has never been determined, there are those who believe Walter Sickert, the Impressionist painter called the most talented British artist* between Joseph…
Read more about Edgar Allan Poe: Birthday & A Lost Photograph January 19, 2017 Photographs & Photobooks Edgar Allan Poe: Birthday & A Lost Photograph Today, on what would be Edgar Allan Poe’s 207th birthday, we take a look at an exceedingly rare and unusual lot in our upcoming sale of Icons & Images: Photographs…
Read more about Alphonse Mucha: Behind the Magic January 12, 2017 Vintage Posters Alphonse Mucha: Behind the Magic Even those unfamiliar with Alphonse Mucha’s name will recognize the tendrils of hair and profusion of delicate flowers surrounding his seraphic models. But what of the man himself? How did these ethereal…
Read more about On A Previously Unknown First State of de Wit’s Map of the Netherlands November 30, 2016 Maps & Atlases On A Previously Unknown First State of de Wit’s Map of the Netherlands This post was written by Maps & Atlases Specialist Caleb Kiffer in advance of our December 8, 2016 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books. The…
Read more about A Bright Light at a Dark Time: The WPA Handicraft Project November 22, 2016 Art Press & Illustrated Books A Bright Light at a Dark Time: The WPA Handicraft Project One unusual piece in our December 2016 auction of Art, Press & Illustrated Books was a six-volume folio of textiles designed and produced by the WPA Handicraft Project in Milwaukee,…
Read more about Le Corbusier’s Color Theory Sample Book November 17, 2016 Art Press & Illustrated Books Le Corbusier’s Color Theory Sample Book Before the holidays drive you up a wall, let an unusual piece in our December 1, 2016 sale of Art, Press & Illustrated Books soothe you with harmonious colors. Famed…
Read more about Civil War Correspondence Between Sweethearts: “Scattered, Knew Not Where To Go” November 15, 2016 Printed & Manuscript Americana Civil War Correspondence Between Sweethearts: “Scattered, Knew Not Where To Go” Coming to auction November 17, 2016: Printed & Manuscript Americana Charles L. Taylor married his sweetheart Harriet Tuttle in August, 1862 and days later went to join the 16th Connecticut…
Read more about Signed First Edition of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet November 7, 2016 19th & 20th Century Literature Signed First Edition of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet One of the highlights in our November 10 sale of 19th & 20th Century Literature is a scarce first edition of The Prophet, signed by its author, Kahlil Gibran, in…
Read more about An Eighteenth Century Pye Recipe October 13, 2016 Early Printed Books An Eighteenth Century Pye Recipe When recipe books come to Swann, the only thing to do is test them out. In our upcoming October 18 sale of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books is…