Swann has been called many things over the years: Swann Galleries; Swann Auction Galleries; Swann’s [sic], sometimes New York’s oldest specialty auction house. But in the fall of 2024,…
For an artist with such a prominent place in the American pantheon of poster designers, very little biographical information exists about the life of Leslie Ragan. He is best known…
October’s travel poster auction is a journey around the world and a trek through the Who’s Who of famous travel poster designers.
In viewing mid-century modern posters depicting New York City, it is a curious surprise to find a direct graphic line drawn between 1947 and 1956, as four of the most…
In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of New York City, Swann Galleries is bringing back the New York sale.
Our August Vintage Poster auction encompasses a broad array of genres, spanning the 19th-21st centuries, and from countries around the globe.
A Note From Swann Galleries President Nicholas D. Lowry May 24, 2024 In an industry not particularly known for big changes, Swann Galleries is about to undergo the kind of…
There are several notable reasons why people collect tennis posters. First and foremost, collectors of these pieces are driven by their love of the game. Within that passion, there are more…
Swann President and Vintage Posters specialist Nicholas D. Lowry is joined by Nicole Markham, curator at the Museum at the International Tennis Hall of Fame; Simeon Lipman, Antiques Roadshow Appraiser…
Collecting Olympic posters was straightforward up until the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Prior to those games, the International Olympic Committee would choose one official poster (on some occasions, they chose two) to represent the games. Those images became indelibly connected to the games they represented.
Swann’s May poster auction offers the world’s most preeminent private tennis and sport collection.
To look at the graphic design work of Edward McKnight Kauffer is to experience a master craftsman helping to propel modernism into the mainstream. He achieved the height of his creativity in the decades after World War I, bringing his creative, modern aesthetic to a fast-paced world that was eager to embrace his exciting new visual creations.
Nicholas D. Lowry shares his picks for The Subculture Sale. Bidding open now through February 8.
Join Us Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 6:00 PM ETPanel to Begin at 6:30 PM ET At Swann Galleries: 104 East 25th Street, 6th Floor, NYC Join Swann President, and…
This auction will be a combination of many of Swann’s most desirable poster-collecting categories, presenting an exceptional, curated selection of images relating to skiing, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, travel and advertising.
Highlights from the February 8 Subculture Sale
In Norman Wilkinson’s own words, his “whole interest was ships and the sea.” He was an illustrator and maritime painter of great renown (one of his paintings was commissioned to hang…
Swann’s autumn 2023 auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters on November 9 is another wonderful, geographic tour de force, with some of the most compelling and infrequently seen images.…
It seems like a cliché in our rarified world of auctions to use the expression “What’s Old is New Again,” and yet, here we are in the heat of an…
The summer poster auction features one of the largest and most impressive collections of Italian Liberty-style posters to come to market in decades. The more than fifty posters, Property of…
Swann’s annual Graphic Design auction gets better and better with each passing year. As more people find interest and delight in the material, still others bring us wonderful material to…
Edward Penfield, the Father of the American Poster “A poster should tell its story at once—a design that needs study is not a poster, no matter how well it is…
In our upcoming March 9 Vintage Posters auction there is an exceptional selection of over 140 European and American Art Nouveau posters, featuring many of the most sought-after artists of that…
Nicholas D. Lowry breaks down the best selection of aviation and airline designs to collect for the plane spotter in all of us… People collect aviation posters for a number…
An unparalleled collection of American railway posters assembled by Victor Ryerson includes rare examples from the late nineteenth century, exceptional streamliner imagery from the 1920s and ‘30s, and 18 posters…
The legacy of Roger Broders’ poster design has made his name synonymous with French Art Deco travel posters. His artistic career, as a whole, spans from the early twentieth century,…
This August, Swann is proud to host its fourth annual, LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History sale. The success of our first three auctions stands as part of the art…
There has been exciting and novel automobile advertising for as long as there have been cars. From the earliest days of automotive history in the late nineteenth century through the…
This admired sale is coming together in a powerful way. This auction is led by one of A.M. Cassandre’s most memorable and scarce images, LMS / Best Way, 1928 — it…
Swann Galleries celebrates its 80th anniversary with a note from president Nicholas D. Lowry.
The modern Olympic Games were first held in 1896, with an appropriate historical nod to antiquity, in Athens, Greece. It wasn’t until 28 years later, in 1924, that the first…
Boasting curious and graphic gems from across centuries and around the world, this auction includes a broad range of images. From the earliest and most wonderful examples of Art Nouveau,…
Nicholas D. Lowry takes us around the world in under five minutes, as he shares a standout selection of exceptional vintage posters from our November 23, 2021 sale of Rare…
In the world of Olympic posters there are a handful of important milestones: The first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens in 1896, a fitting tribute to the ancient…
James Joyce allegedly proclaimed that Guinness was “the wine of Ireland,” and a 1973 ad for the company featured a reluctant drinker and the tag line “I’ve never tried it…
Nicholas D. Lowry Picks His Top Locomotive Travel Posters Among the earliest European travel posters were produced by the railway companies to sell tickets on their new trains crisscrossing the…
…and what we mean when we say something is “Rare.” Just when you think you have seen it all… I am always amazed when I realize how much more there…
Our winter-spring 2020 sale of Vintage Posters on February 13 is set to feature an extensive archive of over 350 posters by Puerto Rico’s most renowned painters, designers and graphic artists. Here Nicholas D. Lowry, the house’s vintage posters director, touches on the featured artists and the movement that brought these works to light.
Swann Galleries’ November 14 sale of Rare & Important Travel Posters marks the house’s twentieth annual sale in the category. Here we share Nicholas D. Lowry’s entry to the catalogue, in which he reflects on the history and impact of the sale.
