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,…
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but magazines are an entirely different story. A magazine cover is a visual embodiment of the publication’s identity. The name,…
The December Illustration Art auction offers an array of iconic works spanning magazine illustrations, book art, animation, and more.
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…
Jules Feiffer’s career spans decades, producing a remarkable range of projects and generating numerous awards and honors. His contributions to the field of comics since his start in the late…
Our Spring 2024 Illustration Art sale will showcase an exceptional selection of original artworks spanning various media, including magazines, books, cartoons, postcards, posters, costume and scenic design, and animation.
The December 14, 2023 auction of Illustration Art at Swann Galleries features a selection of original animation cels from Walt Disney Studios’ iconic films. Lot 15: Harry Reeves, Reflection in…
Highlights from the December 14, 2023 auction of Illustration Art.
The start of the fall 2023 auction season at Swann brought Skye Lacerte as a new specialist for the Illustration Art department. Ahead of the December 14 sale, we sat…
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…
A standout offering of original illustration art features in the June 15 sale of Fine Books & Autographs. Below is a selection of highlights from the auction. Charles Schulz Charlie…
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…
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…
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.…
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,…
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.
In our 80 years as a company, Swann has always been an auction house dedicated to niche markets with specialists who are experts in their respective fields, but often our…
The Spring Illustration sale features a rich selection of children’s picture book art from the late Emily and Sam Bush. Also included are theater set and costume design, advertising art,…
As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
Georges Lepape: Patriotism & Sentimentality in World War I Era Women’s Magazines World War I invaded every aspect of public life, including illustrated magazines of the period. While some women’s…
Related Reading: Examining Edward Gorey’s Market Get Notifications for Auction Day
Tom of Finland, perhaps the most iconic creator of erotic gay art, understood his role as a liberator. His images of men unleashing their deepest fantasies have provided an outlet for…
Whether a seasoned collector or a newbie to the world of original illustrations, you may have several questions about why things look as they do, which of them to fix, and which…
Further Reading: Examining Edward Gorey’s Market Early Women Cartoonists of The New Yorker What You Need to Know on Auction Day This auction will be held live and conducted remotely.…
Edward Gorey is having a moment. Gorey has had many of these over the years—he was the quintessential multifaceted artist/illustrator/author who remains many things to many people: a master of…
With the arrival of baseball’s Opening Day, spring is truly here. Swann does not handle baseball memorabilia in the traditional sense, leaving the encapsulated gem-mint rookie cards and game-worn jerseys to…
The New Yorker debuted in 1925 amid the country’s post-World War I economic boom and on the heels of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to…
Swann Galleries opened the winter/spring 2021 season with a robust sale of Illustration Art. The auction saw record prices for several works, as well as auction debuts from artists. Original…
During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, Authur Burdett Frost created thousands of illustrations for esteemed periodicals such as Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s and Life, as well as hundreds of oils and watercolors. His drawings,…
Swann’s January 28, 2021 auction of Illustration Art features 63 works of art (Lots 217 to 280) that are golf-themed, including original illustrations and rare printed posters and graphics from…
This sale brightens up January with a collection of golf illustrations formed by the avid collector and esteemed author on the subject, Dick McDonough. Many of the famous illustrators represented here were fans of the sport, including James Montgomery Flagg, Arthur B. Frost, Lealand Gustavson, John Held, Jr., and Arthur Sarnoff.
In a year that was unlike any in our lifetimes, Swann’s specialists and staff proved to be as resilient and innovative as ever, bringing forward new and safe ways to…
Original artwork from children’s literature continue to make up a large portion of our Illustration Art sales. The enduring appeal of this collecting category is in part due to the…
“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…
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…
Our July 16, 2020 sale of Illustration Art features an iconic work by N.C. Wyeth—one of the most popular illustrators of all time—with impeccable provenance. The Black Arrow, A Tale…
“The importance and legacy of Al Hirschfeld’s theater portraits lie in that Hirschfeld gave us nearly a century’s eyewitness record of a very elusive art form,” notes specialist, Christine von…
Swann Director of Illustration Art, Christine von der Linn, joined special guest David Leopold, author of the best-selling The Hirschfeld Century and the Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation,…
This wide-ranging sale is led by an iconic work by N.C. Wyeth, and followed by illustrations by Hilary Knight, Leslie Ragan, Howard Pyle, Edward Gorey, Erté, and others.
William Pène du Bois’ whimsical illustrations and beloved cast of characters made serious themes accessible and engaging for children. The American author and illustrator is among a select few who…
William Sydney Porter, best known to posterity as the author O. Henry, was raised in North Carolina and moved west to Texas as a young man in 1882. After a stint on a sheep ranch, he settled in Austin, TX, where he worked various odd jobs while exploring his interest in writing and drawing. Our winter-spring 2020 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana on March 10 is set to offer O. Henry’s first professional commission. Here, Rick Stattler, the house’s Americana specialist, tells the story of the mining memoir that never came to be.
Swann Galleries’ Illustration Art Director Christine von der Linn weighs in on the burgeoning category: Illustration art has the ability to reach people in a way that many genres do…
The 2010s brought Swann a number of notable moments including memorable sales, the establishment of two new departments, and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of our first sale. Here we take a look at some of favorite highlights from the last ten years.
Swann Galleries’ sale of Illustration Art on Tuesday, December 10 featured an array of original works, from well-known characters of children’s literature to striking New Yorker covers and theater designs. The auction was a success, with seven of the top 20 lots ultimately acquired by institutions.
Our fall 2019 sale of Illustration Art on December 10 features a superb selection of artwork by women, whose contribution to the field is only just beginning to receive the recognition it deserves. Here Laura Polucha, the cataloguer for our Illustration Art department, touches on the highlights from the offering including story illustrations, advertisements and cartoons.
Sheila Gibson Stoodley, author of The Hot Bid, spoke with our Illustration Art Directors, Christine von der Linn about a special 1973 Charles Addams cartoon published in The New Yorker at auction December 10 in our Illustration Art sale.
A season of firsts. The 2019 spring auction season at Swann Galleries delivered an impressive range of sales, rife with auction premiers and record prices. We started our season off…
Theater Portraits & Set Designs Lead Illustration Art Miriam Troop makes a stellar auction debut at $40k Our Illustration Art sale on June 4 saw a bustling auction room with…
Auctions offer a moment where the sometimes-incalculable significance of an object is quantified. The price is reached through collaboration: specialists, consignors, the market, and finally, bidders convene in the room,…
At Auction June 4, 2019 Exhibition Opens May 30 – June 4 The exhibition is free to attend and open to the public. We welcome special and educational groups with…
Pictured here is Marvin Newma