April 3, 2023Kelsie JankowskiPrinted & Manuscript African Americana Records & Results: Spring 2023 Sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana Read more about Records & Results: Spring 2023 Sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana The March 2023 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana brings $1.3M making it the highest-grossing sale for the category and the third-largest sale for Swann’s books and manuscripts department.
Read more about Rick Stattler’s Auction Selections for Spring 2023 March 29, 2023 Books & Manuscripts Rick Stattler’s Auction Selections for Spring 2023 Spring has just about sprung, and Swann Galleries’ resident Americana specialist, and director of the house’s books and manuscripts department, is sharing a selection of lots from the 2023 auction schedule that will put you in the spirit for the season.
Read more about Fine Photographs: Featuring 100 Works from the Stephen White Collection — April 27, 2023 Auction Highlights March 29, 2023 Photographs & Photobooks Fine Photographs: Featuring 100 Works from the Stephen White Collection — April 27, 2023 Auction Highlights We are excited to present A Singular History of Photography: 100 Works from the Stephen White Collection in our spring Fine Photographs auction. This dynamic sale tells the history of…
Read more about Artist Profile: Joseph Cornell March 20, 2023 Prints & Drawings Artist Profile: Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell & His Own Brand of American Surrealism Though now considered one of the few American proponents of Surrealism, Joseph Cornell was apprehensive about the affiliation, once admitting to…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript Americana: April 13, 2023 Auction Highlights March 15, 2023 Printed & Manuscript Americana Printed & Manuscript Americana: April 13, 2023 Auction Highlights Our April 13 Printed & Manuscript Americana auction features an exciting an array of Civil War material represented by several diaries, including an officer on a desert expedition undertaken by…
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 Records & Results: Fine Photographs Winter 2023 March 7, 2023 Photographs & Photobooks Records & Results: Fine Photographs Winter 2023 The February 2023 timed-app exclusive sale of Fine Photographs brought $996,156 with 220 of the 266 lots offered finding buyers, an 83% sell-through rate by lot. I am thrilled to…
Read more about Artist Profile: Edward Penfield March 7, 2023 Vintage Posters Artist Profile: Edward Penfield 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…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript African Americana: March 30, 2023 Auction Highlights March 3, 2023 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Printed & Manuscript African Americana: March 30, 2023 Auction Highlights Our March 30 Printed & Manuscript African Americana sale will offer an outstanding manuscript broadside of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, signed by the Vice President and 111 congressmen. It…
Read more about 19th & 20th Century Art: Featuring Dada & Surrealism — March 23, 2023 Auction Highlights February 24, 2023 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings 19th & 20th Century Art: Featuring Dada & Surrealism — March 23, 2023 Auction Highlights Dada & Surrealism We are especially excited for the current iteration of our annual Nineteenth & Twentieth Century Art auction offering a selection of 150 lots devoted to modern artists…
Read more about John Larson’s Specialist Picks: Five to Watch in the March 2, 2023 Sale February 22, 2023 19th & 20th Century Literature John Larson’s Specialist Picks: Five to Watch in the March 2, 2023 Sale John Larson, Swann’s nineteenth and twentieth century literature specialist, shares five exciting lots from the March 2, 2023 sale of Fine Books & Autographs. An Inscribed First Edition of Richard…
Read more about Photographs from the Richard T. Rosenthal Collection February 22, 2023 Photographs & Photobooks Photographs from the Richard T. Rosenthal Collection An eclectic collection driven by an eye for the interesting, unusual, and beautiful, as well as intellectual interests as wide-ranging as car racing, early cased imagery, crime, and botanical studies,…
Read more about Vintage Posters: March 9, 2023 Auction Highlights February 16, 2023 Vintage Posters Vintage Posters: March 9, 2023 Auction Highlights 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…
Read more about Fine Books & Autographs: March 2, 2023 Auction Highlights February 7, 2023 Fine Books & Manuscripts Fine Books & Autographs: March 2, 2023 Auction Highlights Our March 2 Fine Books & Autographs sale will feature an outstanding selection of presidential autographs, including clipped signatures and signed letters by George Washington. More than three items are…
Read more about Mural Projects of the New Deal February 7, 2023 The Artists of the WPA Mural Projects of the New Deal In times of economic hardship, the United States government has stepped in to create jobs for the unemployed through federal programs. In such cases focusing on our country’s infrastructure is…
Read more about Fine Photographs: February 23, 2023 Auction Highlights January 24, 2023 Photographs & Photobooks Fine Photographs: February 23, 2023 Auction Highlights The Photographs season begins with an exciting online auction featuring an array of nineteenth- and twentieth-century highlights. The sale is headlined by Irving Penn’s exceptionally bold and textural Blast, 1980;…
Read more about The Signer’s Mark: Signatures of the Unlettered — Part II January 23, 2023 Autographs The Signer’s Mark: Signatures of the Unlettered — Part II Nineteeth Century America When thinking of autographs, the first thing to come to mind is famous signatures—John Hancock, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, etc. Inscribed names with looping letters and distinct…
Read more about The Artists of the WPA: February 16, 2023 Auction Highlights January 13, 2023 The Artists of the WPA The Artists of the WPA: February 16, 2023 Auction Highlights Swann Galleries will open the 2023 winter season on February 16 with the Artists of the WPA. The sale marks the house’s third annual presentation of this category. In keeping…
Read more about The Signer’s Mark: Signatures of the Unlettered — Part I January 4, 2023 Autographs The Signer’s Mark: Signatures of the Unlettered — Part I Middle Ages Through the Seventeenth Century When thinking of autographs, the first thing to come to mind is famous signatures—John Hancock, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, etc. Inscribed names with looping…
Read more about 2022: Year in Review January 3, 2023 19th & 20th Century Literature 2022: Year in Review 2022 was a historic year for Swann in more ways than one. The house celebrated its 80th year of auctions, bringing with it the 70th anniversary of the first photography…
Read more about Records & Results: Modern & Post-War Art Featuring Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene — December 2022 December 13, 2022 Modern & Post-War Art Records & Results: Modern & Post-War Art Featuring Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene — December 2022 Swann Galleries kicked the final month of 2022 off with a sale of Modern & Post-War Art featuring Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene on December 1 to great fanfare.…
Read more about Holiday Illustrations Featured in the December 15 Sale December 12, 2022 Illustration Art Holiday Illustrations Featured in the December 15 Sale The December 15, 2022, sale of Illustration Art features a selection of vintage winter and holiday illustrations by iconic illustrators such as Edward Gorey, Ludwig Bemelmans, Saul Steinberg and more.…
Read more about Collecting 101: Antiquarian Maps December 6, 2022 Maps & Atlases Collecting 101: Antiquarian Maps We asked Swann maps specialist Caleb Kiffer a few questions about what to consider when purchasing an antique map. How important is the map maker when considering a map? There…
Read more about Latinx Art in the December 2022 Sale of Modern & Post-War Art November 28, 2022 Modern & Post-War Art Latinx Art in the December 2022 Sale of Modern & Post-War Art Rafael Tufiño Rafael Tufiño was born in Brooklyn, NY, and moved to Puerto Rico at age ten. He served in the US Army from 1943-1946 during the Second World War.…
Read more about Artist Profile: Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene November 28, 2022 African American Art Artist Profile: Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene Alma Thomas: Early Life & Career Born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1891, Alma Thomas was the eldest of four daughters in a family immersed in art and culture. The Thomas…
Read more about Illustration Art: December 15, 2022 Auction Highlights November 23, 2022 Illustration Art Illustration Art: December 15, 2022 Auction Highlights December’s Illustration Art sale marks ten full years of auctions since the department’s inception. To celebrate this milestone, we’ve included many of the illustrators who appeared in that first catalogue,…
Read more about Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: December 8, 2022 Auction Highlights November 16, 2022 Maps & Atlases Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: December 8, 2022 Auction Highlights Our winter maps auction will offer a strong variety of material including collectible examples by stalwart publishers Ortelius, Blaeu, Hondius, Speed, and Munster. Plate books and graphics include works by…
Read more about Modern & Post-War Art: Featuring Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene — December 1, 2022 Auction Highlights November 8, 2022 Modern & Post-War Art Modern & Post-War Art: Featuring Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene — December 1, 2022 Auction Highlights The Modern & Post-War Art auction has works beginning with early modernism through post-war abstraction, as well as Latin-American and Latinx art. Modern works by John Piper, William Zorach, and…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Aviation & Airline Posters November 2, 2022 Vintage Posters Collector’s Guide: Aviation & Airline Posters 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…
Read more about Artist Profile: M.C. Escher October 31, 2022 Old Master Through Modern Prints Artist Profile: M.C. Escher Swann prints and drawings director, Todd Weyman, provides an overview of op-artist M.C. Escher’s career Maurits Cornelis Escher, more commonly known as just M.C. Escher (1898-1972), was born in Leeuwarden,…
Read more about A Look at Maurice Logan’s Designs for the Southern Pacific Railway October 27, 2022 Vintage Posters A Look at Maurice Logan’s Designs for the Southern Pacific Railway The November 10, 2022, auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters includes the largest run of Maurice Logan posters that have ever been offered for sale at a single time—19…
Read more about Contemporary Art: November 17, 2022 Auction Highlights October 26, 2022 Contemporary Art Contemporary Art: November 17, 2022 Auction Highlights This fall’s Contemporary Art auction will offer an exciting array of works in all media, including painting, sculpture, drawing and limited editions, spanning the last half century and more, with…
Read more about Rare Vintage Print of Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ Brings $305k in October 2022 Auction of Fine Photographs October 24, 2022 Photographs & Photobooks Rare Vintage Print of Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ Brings $305k in October 2022 Auction of Fine Photographs The Thursday, October 20 sale of Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries brought $1.2M with a strong showing for American photography and portfolios. Romana Javitz & Dorothea Lange The top lot…
Read more about Rare & Important Travel Posters — Featuring Highlights from the Victor Ryerson Collection: November 10, 2022 Auction Highlights October 19, 2022 Vintage Posters Rare & Important Travel Posters — Featuring Highlights from the Victor Ryerson Collection: November 10, 2022 Auction Highlights 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…
Read more about October 2022 Sale of Early Printed Books Brings the Highest-Grossing Auction for the Category at Swann October 18, 2022 Early Printed Books October 2022 Sale of Early Printed Books Brings the Highest-Grossing Auction for the Category at Swann The October 13, 2022 sale of Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries was the highest-gorssing auction of books in the auction house’s history at $1.1 million.
Read more about Autograph Collector’s Guide October 17, 2022 Autographs Autograph Collector’s Guide Swann Autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett shares the ins and outs of starting your own rare autograph collection If you’re new to autograph collecting, bearing in mind a few things while…
Read more about Romana Javitz: Champion of FSA Photographers October 14, 2022 Photographs & Photobooks Romana Javitz: Champion of FSA Photographers Romana Javitz was curator of The New York Public Library’s Picture Collection from 1928 to 1968, where she assembled one of the most historically important and artistically significant collections of twentieth-century photographs.
Read more about Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 3, 2022 Auction Highlights October 12, 2022 Old Master Through Modern Prints Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 3, 2022 Auction Highlights This season’s installment of our semiannual auction of fine Old Master through Modern Prints boasts several stellar private collections, each appearing at auction for the first time, including a European…
Read more about Records & Results: October 2022 African American Art Auction October 10, 2022 African American Art Records & Results: October 2022 African American Art Auction Swann Galleries’ October 6, 2022 sale of African American Art delivered $3.7M with auction debuts and records for artists in the top 15 lots of the auction.
Read more about Family Papers of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Brings $281k in Fall 2022 Americana Auction at Swann October 5, 2022 Printed & Manuscript Americana Family Papers of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Brings $281k in Fall 2022 Americana Auction at Swann Swann’s fall 2022 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana held on September 29 earned $960k. Civil War-era material earned nearly $470,000 of that total. Collectors joined the sale through the…
Read more about Fine Books & Autographs: October 27, 2022 Auction Highlights October 4, 2022 Art Press & Illustrated Books Fine Books & Autographs: October 27, 2022 Auction Highlights A large assemblage of extraordinary Americana autographs includes a sweeping group of presidents, and many founding fathers. More than three items are signed by George Washington, including an autograph survey…
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 Fine Photographs: October 20, 2022 Auction Highlights September 27, 2022 Photographs & Photobooks Fine Photographs: October 20, 2022 Auction Highlights A range of exciting photographs includes a vintage 1936 example of Dorothea Lange’s iconic Migrant Mother from the personal collection of the legendary Romana Javitz, who developed the New York…
Read more about Early Printed Books: October 13, 2022 Auction Highlights September 19, 2022 Early Printed Books Early Printed Books: October 13, 2022 Auction Highlights From the Collection of Ken Rapoport October’s Early Printed Books sale contains a number of sections that vary in focus, beginning with another installment of Ken Rapoport’s collection. We had…
Read more about Prints & Drawings Specialists’ Picks: American Art — September 22, 2022 September 19, 2022 American Art Prints & Drawings Specialists’ Picks: American Art — September 22, 2022 Our prints and drawings department shares their favorite lots from the September 22, 2022 sale of American Art.
Read more about Auctions 101: Provenance Research September 19, 2022 Printed & Manuscript Americana Auctions 101: Provenance Research Stattler explains the detective work that sometimes goes into researching an item’s history and provenance Auction houses keep one foot in the past, and one foot in the future. We are…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript Americana: September 29, 2022 Auction Highlights September 6, 2022 Printed & Manuscript Americana Printed & Manuscript Americana: September 29, 2022 Auction Highlights The highlight of our September Americana auction will be a large archive of family papers of Gideon Welles, who served as secretary of the Navy through the Civil War. Included…
Read more about African American Art: October 6, 2022 Auction Highlights August 30, 2022 African American Art African American Art: October 6, 2022 Auction Highlights Our October 6th African American Art auction features an outstanding group of abstract paintings led by the excellent 1967 Untitled (Abstraction in Orange) by Norman Lewis—the large canvas comes from…
Read more about American Art: September 22, 2022 Auction Highlights August 26, 2022 American Art American Art: September 22, 2022 Auction Highlights Our annual American Art sale leads off the Fall auction season at Swann with panache and a smorgasbord of offerings, from the artists of the Hudson River school, including Thomas…
Read more about This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2022 Auctions in Review August 22, 2022 19th & 20th Century Literature This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2022 Auctions in Review The winter-spring auction season at Swann is a masterclass in marathon training, and the 2022 iteration proved no different with 20 auctions held between late January and the middle of August.