Ceramics, Studio Furniture and Important Works of 20TH C. Design and Art at Sollo Rago Modern Auctions Oct. 27-28
Sept. 24, 2007
Lambertville, NJ – Peter Voulkos, Betty Woodman, Axel Salto and Otto Natzler are just a few of the ceramic artists whose work is offered in Sollo Rago’s much anticipated October Modern Auction Weekend. John Sollo and David Rago will present this sale of approximately 1000 lots of Modern design, fine art, and furnishings Oct. 27-28.
“This sale will be a milestone for ceramics” said John Sollo, the partner-in-charge. “Never before has this scope and depth in American and European works come to auction. From vessels to sculpture, there are incredible examples of so many important ceramic artists—it’s almost a complete survey of the field for 50 years.” Included are several important collections including a major private holding of Picasso for Madoura, many pieces from the Garth Clark Gallery and the Daniel Jacobs/Derek Mason collection of British ceramics.
Studio furniture figures significantly in the sale. Among the highlights are exceptional works by George Nakashima, including an early custom rosewood cabinet with burl handles commissioned as part of a Nakashima-designed house for the Hammer family, one of his major patrons. Paul Evans began his career as a silversmith and Sollo Rago is proud to offer one of Evan’s earliest sculptures, emblematic of his transition from metalwork to furniture-making. Also for sale are several exceptional examples of his most iconic studio work, including a rare Argente vertical cabinet. Collaborative works by Paul Evans and Phillip Lloyd Powell (who were friends and studio-mates) are here, as well, including an elegant vertical wall-hung cabinet with a sinuous carved body by Powell and fish-scale-patterned metalwork by Evans. Wendell Castle’s unstoppable creativity is displayed in the incredible range of work offered—from an early stack laminate stool to his molar series in fiberglass and his post-modern work for Peter Joseph in the 1980s. Fine art and furniture by Wharton Esherick, the founding father of the studio movement, is also represented.
Sollo Rago is offering several major pieces of metalwork by the American artist Wilhelm Hunt Diederich, including a dynamic figural weathervane with leaping polo players on horseback. Albert Paley’s dexterity with metal is displayed in several large-scale sculptures which swoop and swirl, a modern play on art nouveau.
Modern and Contemporary Art will be featured throughout in selections curated by Meredith Hilferty, Director of Fine Art. Harry Bertoia is represented by large sculptures including a striking upright tonal Sonambient, a Double-Sided Gong with great depth of resonation and a 66” Willow. Other Bertoia works here include tabletop sculpture, jewelry and monoprints. Vertical Composition II, a ca. 1974 painted wood construction by Seymour Fogel has the great graphic punch of Mondrian represented in three dimensions. Hard-edged works dependent on color and line also play to this aesthetic in works by Josef Albers, Rolph Scarlett, Emil James Bisttram and Richard Anuszkiewicz. Color also assumes importance in the abstract expressionist paintings of the 50s and 60s, seen here in the work of artists Rex Ashlock, Norman Carton and Carl Morris. Street artists Keith Haring, LAII (Angel Ortiz) and Richard Hambleton add an undomesticated element with their acid palettes and riotous imagery. Also in the sale: an important Noguchi abstract sculpture in stone and a sculpture by Claire Falkenstein.
The exuberant excess of Memphis/Milano has been much in the news of late and their presence in the sale is prominent, with two major pieces by Michael Graves and Ettore Sottsass’s iconic Casablanca sideboard and Carleton cabinet. Also of note are works by Scandinavian designers Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl, as well as American mid-century pieces by Tommi Parzinger, a prototype Marshmallow sofa by Irving Harper for George Nelson, and a prototype copper dining suite by Warren Platner for Knoll.
To view the fully-illustrated catalog, we well as leave absentee or live bids, visit www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
