Records & Results: Graphic Design

Our May 25 auction of Graphic Design offered a cornucopia of inspired works spanning fin de siècle Art Nouveau masters to modernist posters.

Lot 96: Charles Loupot, Col Van Heusen, 1928. Sold May 25, 2017 for $50,000.

The top lot of the sale was Col Van Heusen, 1928, one of the most elegant Cubist-style designs created by Charles Loupot. The strikingly colored work, which was intended to advertise men’s collars, displays some of the richest inking seen in the artist’s work; it sold for $50,000, far exceeding its pre-sale high estimate of $30,000. Works by Loupot performed well overall, with several claiming places in the top lots. The verdant 1923 advertisement for Voisin Automobiles reached $30,000, while his 1919 poster for Sato / Cigarettes Egyptiennes went to a collector for $7,500.

Lot 17: Ludwig Hohlwein, Besuchet den Tiergarten, 1912. Sold May 25, 2017 for $22,500, a record for the work.

Ludwig Hohlwein’s charming life-size image of a baby zebra and a macaw, intended to promote the opening of the new Munich Zoo, Besuchet den Tiergarten, 1912, was purchased by a collector for $22,500, a record for the work. Another record went to a Soviet propaganda poster captioned in Russian, Let’s Build a Fleet of Airships in Lenin’s Name!, 1931, by Georgij Kibardin ($5,250).

Lot 228: Auto Races / World’s Greatest Drivers, 1928.
Sold May 25, 2017 for $6,250.

Making its auction debut was the monumental poster Auto Races / World’s Greatest Drivers, standing more than 12 feet tall, which sold for $6,250. The previously unrecorded Art Deco Fete de Nuit aux Folies Bergere, 1928, by Maurice Picauld, reached $7,250 in its first auction appearance.

Lot 5: Bertold Löffler, Kunstschau Wien, 1908. Sold May 25, 2017 for $42,500.

The sale featured a premier selection of Art Nouveau and Wiener Werkstätte material, led by Bertold Löffler’s bold poster Kunstschau Wien, 1908, which reached $42,500. Additional highlights included Secession 49 – Ausstellung, a 1918 exhibition poster by Egon Schiele into which he incorporated a self portrait ($22,500).

Lot 91: Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, Normandie, 1935.
Sold May 25, 2017 for $22,500.

Works by the poster-world icon Adolphe Mouron Cassandre performed well, with two major works confirming his position as a design visionary; the monumental 1935 poster Normandie, emphasizing the incredible size of the transatlantic ship, reached $22,500, while Miniwatt / Philips Radio, 1931, which shines in primary hues, sold for $6,000. Ottokar Mascha’s Österreichische Plakatkunst, circa 1914, was the only comprehensive book published about Austrian posters during their golden age; the rare tome doubled its estimate, selling for $18,750.

Lot 310: Andy Warhol’s / My Hustler, 1966.
Sold May 25, 2017 for $6,250.

More recent works included the promotional flyer for Andy Warhol’s / My Hustler, a 1966 film by the artist; the typographical work sold to a collector for $6,250. The prismatic poster for The Electric Factory / Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968, by Icabod (Rob Stewart) and Snake (Karl Howard), reached $4,750.

See the catalogue for full results.