October 7, 2024Nicholas D. LowryVintage Posters Leslie Ragan Calendars for the New York Central Railway: A Unique Pictorial Record Read more about Leslie Ragan Calendars for the New York Central Railway: A Unique Pictorial Record 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…
Read more about Auction Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters — October 10, 2024 September 18, 2024 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters — October 10, 2024 October’s travel poster auction is a journey around the world and a trek through the Who’s Who of famous travel poster designers.
Read more about A Look at Midcentury Modern Vintage Posters Advertising NYC September 17, 2024 Vintage Posters A Look at Midcentury Modern Vintage Posters Advertising NYC 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…
Read more about Auction Highlights: The New York Sale — September 26, 2024 September 3, 2024 American Art Auction Highlights: The New York Sale — September 26, 2024 In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of New York City, Swann Galleries is bringing back the New York sale.
Read more about This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2024 Auctions in Review July 15, 2024 19th & 20th Century Literature This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2024 Auctions in Review 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…
Read more about Auction Highlights: Vintage Posters — August 8, 2024 June 28, 2024 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: Vintage Posters — August 8, 2024 Our August Vintage Poster auction encompasses a broad array of genres, spanning the 19th-21st centuries, and from countries around the globe.
Read more about Collecting Vintage Tennis Posters May 8, 2024 Vintage Posters Collecting Vintage Tennis Posters 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…
Read more about Swann Salon: A Conversation on Vintage Tennis Posters May 7, 2024 Vintage Posters Swann Salon: A Conversation on Vintage Tennis Posters 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…
Read more about Collecting Vintage Olympic Posters April 22, 2024 Vintage Posters Collecting Vintage Olympic Posters 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.
Read more about Auction Highlights: Tennis & Sports Posters: Collection of the Schwartz Family & Tennis Corporation of America April 15, 2024 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: Tennis & Sports Posters: Collection of the Schwartz Family & Tennis Corporation of America Swann’s May poster auction offers the world’s most preeminent private tennis and sport collection.
Read more about Artist Profile: Edward McKnight Kauffer February 26, 2024 Vintage Posters Artist Profile: Edward McKnight Kauffer 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.
Read more about Records & Results: The Subculture Sale — February 8, 2024 February 14, 2024 Vintage Posters Records & Results: The Subculture Sale — February 8, 2024 “The Subculture Sale was an exciting foray into relatively new territory for Swann Galleries, not focusing on works from previous centuries, but, on the personally memorable. Among the scores of…
Read more about Nicholas D. Lowry’s Specialist Picks: Favorite Lots from The Subculture Sale January 31, 2024 Vintage Posters Nicholas D. Lowry’s Specialist Picks: Favorite Lots from The Subculture Sale Nicholas D. Lowry shares his picks for The Subculture Sale. Bidding open now through February 8.
Read more about Happening February 6 — Off the Wall: New Directions in Poster Collecting January 26, 2024 Vintage Posters Happening February 6 — Off the Wall: New Directions in Poster Collecting 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…
Read more about Auction Highlights: Vintage Posters & Graphic Design — February 29, 2024 January 23, 2024 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: Vintage Posters & Graphic Design — February 29, 2024 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.
Read more about Auction Highlights: The Subculture Sale — February 8, 2024 January 8, 2024 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: The Subculture Sale — February 8, 2024 Highlights from the February 8 Subculture Sale
Read more about 2023: Year in Review December 19, 2023 Swann 2023: Year in Review Swann Galleries continued to offer exceptional auctions of quality material in 2023. The year featured several collections, including a special selection of 100 works from the Stephen White collection in…
Read more about Artist Profile: Norman Wilkinson November 6, 2023 Vintage Posters Artist Profile: Norman Wilkinson 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…
Read more about Auction Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters — November 9, 2023 October 17, 2023 Vintage Posters Auction Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters — November 9, 2023 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.…
Read more about Advertising History: A Brief Look At the Use of Polar Bears in Ads August 1, 2023 Vintage Posters Advertising History: A Brief Look At the Use of Polar Bears in Ads For many of us, a polar bear holding a bottle immediately brings to mind the red and white colors of Coca-Cola. Polar bears as brand mascots–and even polar bears drinking…
Read more about Alphonse Mucha Postcards July 31, 2023 Vintage Posters Alphonse Mucha Postcards Coming up in our Vintage Posters Auction on August 3 is a remarkable collection of postcards by Alphonse Mucha. The collection, which represents nearly all of the postcards from Mucha’s…
Read more about Vintage Posters: August 3, 2023 Auction Highlights June 27, 2023 Vintage Posters Vintage Posters: August 3, 2023 Auction Highlights 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…
Read more about Artist Profile: William Addison Dwiggins May 16, 2023 Vintage Posters Artist Profile: William Addison Dwiggins William Addison Dwiggins was a multi-hyphenate artist: book designer, typographer, illustrator, writer, marionette maker. He rose to prominence through his advertising and publishing work in the 1920s, winning the Gold…
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
Read more about Artist Profile: Roger Broders July 27, 2022 Vintage Posters Artist Profile: Roger Broders 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,…
Read more about Vintage Posters: August 4, 2022 Auction Highlights June 29, 2022 Vintage Posters Vintage Posters: August 4, 2022 Auction Highlights In keeping with our August tradition, this sale will feature a plethora of World War I and II posters, sought-after classics and never-before-seen Vintage Posters at auction. Among the most…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Vintage Car Posters May 16, 2022 Graphic Design Collector’s Guide: Vintage Car Posters 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…
Read more about Collecting Vintage Winter Sports Posters February 22, 2022 Vintage Posters Collecting Vintage Winter Sports Posters 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…
Read more about Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha’s Muse February 16, 2022 Vintage Posters Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha’s Muse Imagine, if you will, the most famous actress you can think of: accomplished, multifaceted, beautiful, and globally recognized. Odds are you’re thinking of someone from Hollywood. Now imagine her with…
Read more about Vintage Posters: February 24, 2022 Auction Highlights January 19, 2022 Vintage Posters Vintage Posters: February 24, 2022 Auction Highlights 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,…
Read more about 2021: Year in Review December 22, 2021 Swann 2021: Year in Review As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
Read more about Artists of the WPA & the Dawn of a New American Identity December 20, 2021 The Artists of the WPA Artists of the WPA & the Dawn of a New American Identity The New Deal not only established a great legacy, but a greater generation of artists whose works defined the American spirit.
Read more about Records & Results: November 2021 Sales at Swann December 9, 2021 Prints & Drawings Records & Results: November 2021 Sales at Swann November Sales at Swann Bring $6.7M November at Swann Galleries featured a marathon of fine art auctions including a two-day sale of Old Master Through Modern Prints and Master Drawings,…
Read more about Rare & Important Travel Posters: Nicholas D. Lowry’s Picks for the November 23, 2021 Sale November 15, 2021 Vintage Posters Rare & Important Travel Posters: Nicholas D. Lowry’s Picks for the November 23, 2021 Sale 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…
Read more about Consign Now for June 2022: Focus on Women November 5, 2021 Focus On Women Consign Now for June 2022: Focus on Women This past summer Swann held its first auction devoted to works by women. We are pleased to annouce another edition of this sale, to be held in June 2022, once again spearheaded by Devon Eastland, our Early Printed Books Specialist, but offering a wide assortment of material
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters—November 23, 2021 November 4, 2021 Vintage Posters Upcoming Highlights: Rare & Important Travel Posters—November 23, 2021 Lot 225: Leslie Ragan, Rockefeller Center New York / New York Central Lines, circa 1936. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000. American West: California National Parks, New Mexico & Arizona Lots 170…
Read more about LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Auction Bests Itself for the Third Year in a Row August 23, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Auction Bests Itself for the Third Year in a Row Auction Brings $1.3M and Records Abound New Record for Tom of Finland, Shattering Top Price Set by Swann Last Year “Swann’s third annual auction of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture &…
Read more about Nicholas D. Lowry Shares His Favorite “Unofficial” Vintage Olympic Posters July 21, 2021 Vintage Posters Nicholas D. Lowry Shares His Favorite “Unofficial” Vintage Olympic Posters 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…
Read more about First Sale Dedicated to the Accomplishments of Women at Swann Exceeds High Estimate July 20, 2021 Focus On Women First Sale Dedicated to the Accomplishments of Women at Swann Exceeds High Estimate Early Printed Book, Archives, Vernacular and Fine Art Photography, Among other Material, Draws Interest Among Collectors The house’s inaugural Focus on Women sale on Thursday, July 15, 2021 brought $333,893…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: Vintage Posters—At Auction August 5, 2021 July 13, 2021 Vintage Posters Upcoming Highlights: Vintage Posters—At Auction August 5, 2021 Featured Reading: On Buying a Vintage Poster: What You Need to Know What You Need to Know on Auction Day This auction will be held live and conducted remotely. There…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: Focus on Women — At Auction July 15, 2021 June 28, 2021 Focus On Women Upcoming Highlights: Focus on Women — At Auction July 15, 2021 What You Need to Know on Auction Day This auction will be held live and conducted remotely. There will not be bidding in the room, though we accept order bids,…
Read more about Poster Designers: On Brand April 30, 2021 Vintage Posters Poster Designers: On Brand In the twenty-first century, when one thinks of contemporary posters and graphic design, the term “branding” may come to mind. Our daily lives are inundated with examples of branding—company logos, slogans & imagery—on TV, through social media, and of course, on posters. While the focus on digital branding is relatively new in the scope of art history, the idea of designers creating a brand identity for professional clients goes back over 100 years.
Read more about Selections from Letterform Archive April 21, 2021 Vintage Posters Selections from Letterform Archive At Auction May 12, 2021 This special offering of deaccessioned duplicates from the rich collection of Letterform Archive will bring to auction graphics, books, posters and examples of typography that…
Read more about Graphic Design: Auction Highlights May 2021 April 20, 2021 Vintage Posters Graphic Design: Auction Highlights May 2021 At Auction May 13, 2021 This auction is being held in tandem with Selections from Letterform Archive, at auction May 12. European Secession & Art Nouveau Lots 201 to 218…