DETROIT – Garfield Wood is to powerboating in Michigan as Henry Ford is to automaking. DuMouchelles will launch their Oct. 16-18 auction with a classic 1940 mahogany Gar Wood Vacationer powerboat followed by a lot of Gar Wood memorabilia including the boat builder’s canvas racing helmet. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding. The auction will begin Friday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
Minnesota native Gar Wood began making and racing boats in the 1920s. His sleek boats of varnished mahogany were in such high demand that in 1930 – just three months after the Stock Market Crash – Wood built a factory in Marysville, Mich. It had the capacity to build 1,200 custom quality boats a year. In 1939 the factory was at full capacity.
Wood retired to Miami, Fla., in 1941. The company closed in 1947.
Today Gar Wood boats are among the most sought-after classic boats in the world. The 21-foot Vacationer utility powerboat in DuMouchelles’ auction represents the pinnacle of the Gar Wood output. It is equipped with the factory-installed Chrysler Ace 6 inboard engine. It comes with assorted documentation as to previous owners, sales brochures, boat show award plaques, and registration and production verification certificate from the Gar Wood Society. The boat with trailer has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.
Wood’s racing helmet is accompanied by a letter written by Wood and a cover of the Detroit Yacht Club magazine dated June 1971 commemorating the boat builder’s life. The lot has a $300-$500 estimate.
The auction is also highlighted by a painting by Alberto Pasini (1826-1899), regarded as the most important of all the Italian Orientalist painters. Pasini was successful in his homeland and in France, where he spent much of his time after 1851. He traveled extensively in the Middle East and lived for more than two years in Tehran. He took commissions from the ruler of Persia, who appreciated the artist’s realist style. The painting in the auction, Arabian Camp With Arabian Horses, is representative of Pasini’s work. The 21- by 17-inch oil on canvas, which has an $80,000-$120,000 estimate, will sell on Sunday.
Also selling Sunday will be a Paris street scene of Montmartre by Jean Dufy (French, 1888-1964). The 19- by 24-inch oil on canvas painting has a $50,000-$60,000.
Sunday’s session begins at noon Eastern.
Saturday’s sale begins at 11 a.m. Eastern with an early Rookwood Pottery vase decorated with the calla lilies by Matthew Daly followed by signed Handel reverse-painted table lamp.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
HOUSTON – Jerry J. Moore, who died last November, was once known as the shopping center king of Texas and the wealthiest man in Houston. With a net worth estimated to be $500 million, the commercial real estate developer was listed on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America 12 times.
In addition to building wealth, Moore and his wife, Jean, who died in 2003, could also shop. They bought the finest European furnishings and art for their French chateau, which they had disassembled stone by stone and shipped to Houston, where it was rebuilt.
With their passing, the vast collection of antiques and art will be sold at Simpson Galleries in Houston on Oct. 18 beginning at 1 p.m. Central. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
“The auction has attracted strong interest from not only our regular customers but also family and friends of the Moores who were familiar with the collection,” said Ray Simpson of Simpson Galleries. “It’s an incredible collection that stands on its own merits.”
Furniture highlights include, a Louis XVI carved and giltwood marble-top console, a Napoleon III gilt bronze mounted tulipwood and mahogany vitrine cabinet and a French Provincial carved chestnut armoire from the first half of the 19th century. Each has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
More than 60 European and American paintings will be offered, including Cottages by a River by Fritz Thaulow (Norwegian, 1847-1906) and A Hunting Party by Philips Wouwerman (Haarlem 1619-1668). Both are oil on canvas and have estimates of $20,000-$30,000.
A Steinway & Sons grand piano in the auction was made in Hamburg, Germany, and shipped to Steinway in London on Oct. 31, 1903. The Model B piano has an inlaid satinwood case, which is 84 inches long, 56 inches wide and 39 inches high. It is estimated to sell for $25,000-$30,000.
All All-American items in the auction are a Frederic Remington bronze Bronco Buster statue and a rare antique tiger-maple butler’s desk. The bronze statue of the bucking horse and rider is inscribed “Copyright by Frederic Remington” with Roman bronze works New York Foundry mark, and stamped “No. 182” on the bottom of the base. The bronze is 22 1/2 inches high and 21 inches wide. It has a $30,000-$50,000 estimate.
The stately butler’s desk, crafted in Boston circa 1810-1820, is accented with inlaid frieze and features a fall-front escritoire drawer opening to a fitted compartment with drawers and pigeonholes. It is 42 inches high, 59 inches wide and 22 inches deep, and estimated at $8,000-$10,000.
For details call 800-524-0022.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Though Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann may be the father of French Art Deco, the name of another patriarchal designer, Jules Leleu, is also well known, as detailed in a 480-page monograph titled The House of Leleu: Classic French Style for a Modern World, 1920-1973, by Francoise Sirex.
The author had worked for Leleu and, using a rented van, rescued the company’s archives when it closed in 1973.
Maison Gerard, an influential New York design gallery founded in the 1970s by Gerard Widdershoven, has been a leader in reviving the Leleu name.
“From fairly early on, the House of Leleu was not one person,” said Benoist Drut, a partner in the firm, “but an entity headed by Jules Leleu and run by several of his family members including his daughter, Paule, and sons Jean and Andre.” The autocratic Jules was a demanding presence in the business even when his interests turned to painting and sculpting in the 1940s, but he entrusted family members with significant roles, and the House of Leleu outlived him by a little more than a decade. (Jules died in 1961.)
Background
Born in 1883 in Boulogne-Sur Mer, France, Jules Leleu took over his family’s painting business in 1909 and with his brother Marcel added a cabinetmaking shop. The brothers were drafted into service in World War I in 1914. When he returned after four years in the air force, Jules focused on furniture making. The House of Leleu eventually became known for lavish private interiors and also for large-scale corporate projects, designing everything from ocean liners to embassies.
French Art Deco, with its purity of line and classical references, arrived on the heels of its flowery, free-flowing predecessor Art Nouveau. Some historians date the beginning of the movement to before the First World War, citing early examples by Ruhlmann and Eileen Gray, while others simply refer to the decade of 1920-1930 when they discuss Art Deco. The title came from the legendary 1925 Exposition Internationales des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes but it was not used contemporaneously — it’s a relatively recent term.
That now-legendary furniture fair, showcasing Jules Leleu, Paul Follot, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, and Jean Dunand among many others, was a defining moment in the public’s embrace of Art Deco, even though it came somewhat late in the movement’s trajectory. There, Leleu was awarded a prize for one of his furniture designs.
Jules Leleu was known for using superb craftsmanship and expensive materials: “warm” woods like ebony, palissander, and walnut, ivory inlays, and lavish escutcheons and other metalwork embellishments. His earlier designs can look almost indistinguishable from Ruhlmann’s.
Leleu’s private clients were wealthy, and his designs, very costly. Typically the House of Leleu (in the tradition of the decorateur ensemblier) would be commissioned to design all the appointments for an interior: tapestries, lighting fixtures, furniture, rugs, fabrics and metalwork.
World War II
World War II changed everything. During the war years, Jules Leleu and his son Jean enlisted in the air force, while other family members, most notably, according to Benoist Drut, Paule Leleu, kept the House of Leleu in operation.
“Paule was concerned that the great craftsmen were being drafted into service and their knowledge would be lost, so she designed some very ornate pieces of furniture as teaching projects – so young apprentices could see their elders using the full range of techniques.”
Post War: Adapting to Change
When the war ended, many great family fortunes had been diminshed substantially. People who might have been Leleu’s clients had suffered dramatic losses. In a fashion characteristic of the House of Leleu throughout its existence, the family adapted. “Without sacrificing any of the superb craftsmanship for which they had become known, the House of Leleu made adjustments,” Drut said.
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Sometimes the choices reflected both stylistic and pragmatic concerns, such as in the appearance of metal legs. They used beka lacquer (a new plastic-based formula related to Bakelite) instead of natural resin-based lacquer. Mother-of-pearl replaced ivory. And less-expensive wood veneers were used,” Drut explained.
Interestingly, those super-ornate pieces designed by Paule during the war found a ready audience among customers made newly rich by war-related commerce, according to Drut.
The Leleus also implemented new ways of selling their designs, creating a “diffusion” line, which, while not cheap, was more affordable than the custom-made pieces that were part of grand prewar interiors projects. Production was still small, with perhaps five to 10 editions of a given design made.
“In every phase of the House of Leleu’s lifespan, decade by decade, you can see their ability to change with the times,” Drut observed.
Benoist Drut believes Ruhlmann, who became terminally ill and died in 1933, would have adapted to changing times in much the same way, even though he was an outspoken snob about using the rarest and most expensive materials and catering only to the very wealthy. In one of Ruhlmann’s last projects, a sport-fishing club he designed in 1932, he demonstrated this willingness to shift by creating simple oak chairs with straw seats.
Drut experienced a rare close-up look at Leleu’s work: a Paris apartment whose 1964 interior was designed by the House of Leleu and had been left untouched after the owner, a Mr. Schmitt, died in the 1990s. Tied up in a protracted estate process, the apartment in the 16th arondissement was shrouded in dust and canvas covers when gallerists entered it.
“Mr. Schmitt was a manufacturer of colorants, and the design included some vividly colored finishes to please him,” Drut said. Maison Gerard bought the entire contents, which then comprised a 2008 Leleu exhibition at the gallery.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – A television crew from Japan is searching an eastern North Carolina city for good-luck flags captured during World War II.
The Fayetteville Observer reported that a crew from the NHK Kagoshima Station visited Warpath Military Collectibles in Fayetteville, where several of the flags are for sale or on display.
The good-luck flags have a red circle on a white background and are inscribed with Japanese characters. Members of the soldiers’ families and communities signed the flags wishing them good luck on the battlefield.
The TV crew also wants to talk with veterans or their families who sold the flags to the shop.
A 30-minute documentary will be broadcast on Dec. 8, the 68th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of war against Japan, the day after the Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 7, 1941.
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Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, http://www.fayobserver.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
SOUTHEAST, N.Y. (AP) – An archaeologist has found ancient tool fragments and other artifacts at the site of a suburban New York sewer construction project.
The find was made around Peach Lake, in the Putnam County town of Southeast.
Archaeologist Michael Pappalardo says the artifacts also include pottery shards, a 2 1/2-inch blade, tips for arrows or darts; and stone flakes that show tools were made there.
It’s believed the artifacts are about 1,000 years old. They’re being donated to the Southeast Museum in Brewster.
The dig was required by state and federal historic preservation acts.
The sewer system is being built to protect the water quality of the lake and the New York City reservoirs to which it’s connected.
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Information from: The Journal News, http://www.thejournalnews.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CHICAGO – Where would Elvis Presley have been without his waxen raven hair?
A private in the U.S. Army.
A clump of the King’s hair is the most unusual – and perhaps most valuable – piece in the Gary Pepper Collection of Elvis Presley Memorabilia, which will be sold by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Oct. 18. The auction begins at noon Central. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The locks are believed to have been shorn from Elvis’ head when he was inducted into the Army in 1958. The hair was given to Pepper, who was president of a national Elvis Presley fan club.
Early in his career, Presley befriended Pepper, a young man with cerebral palsy, who ultimately became a close friend and the president of one of the King’s first fan clubs. Pepper’s position allowed him to amass a significant collection of personal effects gifted to him from Presley.
According to John Reznikoff, an expert in celebrity hair authentication, “the hair appears to match the hair in my collection [from same U.S. Army haircut] in coarseness and color … this is more than likely a genuine lock of Elvis’ hair.”
Although estimated at $8,000-$12,000, the hair may sell for as much as $100,000, experts say.
An autographed black and white photo of Elvis in uniform will be sold at the auction. It pictures a smiling Sgt. Presley with a photographer in the background. With handwritten inscriptions to Pepper, the photo has $1,500-$2,500 estimate.
An original pastel wedding portrait of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, identical to one that hung in the foyer of Graceland for many years, is another highlight of the 146-lot auction. The portrait is after a photograph of the couple that was included in a limited release LP of Clambake. The painting has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.
Several articles of Elvis clothing will be sold at the auction. A yellow jersey ensemble is reminiscent of the King’s stage jumpsuits. With a stand-up black collar and bellbottom pants, the suit is expected to sell for $4,000-$6,000. A red ultrasuede shirt that Elvis wore in a publicity photograph for RCA in 1963 has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate.
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to United Cerebral Palsy of the Mid-South.
For details call 312-280-1212.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
NEW YORK (AP) – The Whitney Museum of American Art plans to built a second museum in New York City.
It would be designed by architect Renzo Piano near the entrance to the High Line. The park was built on an abandoned elevated railway in Manhattan.
Last month, the Whitney signed a contract to buy the city-owned land for $18 million. That’s about half the appraised value – an indication the city wants to attract visitors to the downtown meatpacking district.
It would be twice the size of its building at Madison Avenue and 75th Street.
The museum says it wants to show more of its permanent collection.
Under the deal, it has five years to begin construction.
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On the Net: www.whitney.org
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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Stepping into the afternoon sun last month, Jeanne Redd and her daughter Jericca walked away from a federal courthouse with probation papers – not prison time – for their role in the theft and illegal trafficking of Indian artifacts.
Some, including one of the Salt Lake City’s daily newspapers, expressed frustration that the judge didn’t come down harder on the duo from southern Utah.
History however says the punishment for the Redds, who pleaded guilty to several felonies, was fairly typical. Despite high-profile arrests and indictments, most people convicted of illegally digging up, collecting and cashing in on artifacts in the United States don’t go to prison.
And for those that do, most are in for a year or less, according to a 10-year analysis of prosecutions under a 1979 law meant to punish those that foul the country’s cultural resources.
In Jeanne Redd’s case, prosecutors had sought at least 18 months in prison. She’s among 26 people charged after a federal sting operation that lasted more than two years and included hundreds of transactions between an undercover agent and buyers and sellers from Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups gave her three years probation and a $2,000 fine for seven felony counts of plundering artifacts from tribal and federal lands. She and her daughter, who got two years of probation, had already surrendered a collection of more than 800 artifacts ranging from exquisite pottery and decorative pendants to human remains.
The sentences didn’t surprise Robert Palmer, an archaeologist and former academic who analyzed Archaeological Resources Protection Act prosecutions from 1996 to 2005.
His analysis, published in an obscure law journal in 2007, found that of the 83 people found guilty, 20 went to prison and 13 of those received sentences of a year or less. Palmer also found that while prosecutors were successful in the cases they took on, they turned away about a third of the cases they got, mostly because of weak evidence or a lack of clear criminal intent.
Those refusals – along with a lack of manpower and other priorities for investigators – are part of the reason why “we are witnessing the wholesale stripping and selling off for scrap our collective American heritage,” said Palmer, who now works as the senior law enforcement ranger at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa.
“People might see these as insignificant but over time, you’re removing context, you’re removing significance, you’re removing the lens of the future to look back at the past,” he said.
On average, 840 looting cases are reported each year – more than two per day – across federal land managed by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Todd Swain, the Park Service’s lone investigator on cultural crimes.
There are certainly more cases that are either never discovered or never reported, he said.
“Lord knows what the scope of the problem actually is,” he said. “But clearly the numbers we do have are seriously under what’s going on.”
Of the cases reported, only about 14 percent ever get solved. Roughly 94 percent of violators walk away with misdemeanor tickets, said Swain, who examined records from 1996 to 2005.
Some of those are minor cases worthy only of a misdemeanor citation but “a bunch” could probably be pursued as felony cases – those that result in damage of $500 or more – if there were the time and resources to conduct a lengthier investigation, Swain said.
“ARPA investigations can be as complex as murder cases,” Swain said in his 2007 analysis which, like Palmer’s, appeared in the Yearbook of Cultural Property Law.
Often those cases require archaeological expertise, weeks or months of investigation and prosecutors with the time and inclination to take on the cases with a portion of federal law they’re not always familiar with.
A park service program to train federal prosecutors lasted for 12 years before it was discontinued in 2003. Swain said most of those who were trained have either left the office or taken on other assignments. The program resumed last month and Swain is hoping it’s going to continue.
Despite a push in recent decades to get tougher on artifact looters, there are no significant signs that prosecutions or punishments are having any major effect on looting, especially those that steal for commercial purposes.
“The numbers should be going down,” said Swain, who has investigated more than 30 archaeological looting cases. “That’s definitely not the case.”
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
LONDON – Important examples of 20th- and 21st-century design will be offered at auction Oct. 15 by Phillips de Pury & Co. Works will range from a Harry Bertoia 15-foot-high sculpture titled Sonambient to a 75-foot-tall cone-shaped tower by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Ban’s Paper Tower pavilion, fabricated of compressed cardboard tubes and steel fasteners, is consistent with his work in building projects using recycled and sustainable materials. Ban, a pioneer of cardboard structures, erected the pavilion for the benefit of the 2009 London Design Festival. It has a $79-$110,000 estimate.
Another contemporary piece is Pablo Reinoso’s Aluminum Bench, numbered three of eight. Self-produced in France, the steel and aluminum bench has an estimate of $32,000-$47,000.
Harry Bertoia’s monumental sculpture titled Sonambient, is one of the top works in the 135-lot auction. The Italian-born designer and artist created the 15-foot-tall sculpture of beryllium copper and bronze in 1976, two years before his death. It has a $317,000-$396,000 estimate.
Modern furniture classics in the auction include Jean Royere’s circa 1951 Ours Polaire sofa, which is estimated at $158,000-$238,000 and Charlotte Perriand’s circa 1950 wall-mounted bookcase, which has a $127,000-$190,000 estimate.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
BOSTON – On Oct. 24, Skinner Inc. will auction part II of the Richard Wright Collection featuring decorative arts and furniture in sale to be conducted Oct. 24 at the company’s Boston gallery. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
The late Richard Wright was one of the world’s foremost experts on fine dolls, widely known for his authoritative appraisals on the PBS Television series Antiques Roadshow; but he also had a discerning eye for furniture and decorative arts. The collection to be auctioned on the 24th is representative of Wright’s ability to unearth the rare, the unique and the unusual. Among the offerings are Tiffany lamps, Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts furniture and decorations; Art Deco porcelain and bronze figures; Aesthetic Movement articles, as well as important Martin Brothers and Doulton pottery.
According to Stuart Whitehurst, Director of the Wright Collection at Skinner and sale auctioneer, “This collection tells a very personal story about who Richard Wright was and what kinds of things inspired him. It clearly shows an individual collector’s eye at work. Each piece acquired by Richard was one step in a near lifelong journey of seeking out the fine, the fantastic, the fun, and the funky – the culmination of that journey is this amazing collection. “
The highlight of the auction is featured on the auction catalog’s cover: a Tiffany Studios leaded glass and bronze “Elaborate Peony” lampshade and base, circa 1910 (lot 307, est. $300/500,000). This particular pattern rarely surfaces at auction.
Also featured on the catalog’s cover is a star of the Art Deco bronzes, a large figure by Bruno Zach titled The Riding Crop (lot 85, est. $12/15,000.) This figure of an alluring, semi-clad woman holding a riding crop is a force with which to be reckoned with. At 33½ inches high, she represents the largest casting of this model that Zach produced.
Other important offerings include two large and whimsical Martin Brothers glazed stoneware “Wally-Bird” tobacco jars with covers (lot 151 and 152, est. $12/18,000 each). Twenty-four other lots by the eccentric and brilliantly talented brothers Martin are featured in the collection. Wright’s passion for late 19th/early 20th century British pottery is further displayed in more than 40 marquee lots of Doulton Lambeth pottery, presided over by a near-life-sized salt-glaze stoneware figure of a contemplative monkey by George Tinworth (lot 185, est. $3/5,000). Works by the Barlow sisters and other famous Doulton decorators enchant the eye with their skillful decoration of animals. Lot 517 is a pair of Doulton Lambeth blue and brown salt glaze mantel vases depicting frolicking cottontail rabbits (est. $1,2/1,800), while lot 39 is a Doulton Lambeth Faience hanging charger by Linnie Watt, depicting a scene of winsome children gathering wildflowers (est. $2/3,000).
Another stunning piece is a Louis-Ernest Barrias’ silver and ivory mounted figure of an allegorical maiden, “Nature,” uncovering herself before science (lot 356, est. $7/9,000). Made by the Susse Frères Foundry, circa 1893-1908, the work features a parcel-gilt silver body with carved ivory face, torso, and hands, and mounted with silver and lapis lazuli accents. A similar example is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Other decorative arts of note that illustrate Wright’s keen and discerning eye include an Arts & Crafts enamel-mounted silverplate jewelry casket (lot 403, est. $3/5,000) by Ernestine Mills, an important figure in the British Arts & Crafts movement and a fervent political activist and suffragette; and a large Russian bronze figure of a bear attributed to Nicolai Liberich (lot 736, est. $10/15,000).
Also, included in Wright’s collection is a varied selection of fine art including a fabulous original Arthur Rackham watercolor of an illustration for John Milton’s Comus (lot 546, est. $20/30,000) depicting nubile dancing water nymphs.
The fine furniture selection includes several signed examples by star designers of the Art Nouveau period including works by Serrurier-Bovy, Gallé, and Majorelle. Works by these artists include a Gustave Serrurier-Bovy Art Nouveau padouk wood dining table with seven dining chairs (lot 282, est. $14/18,000), a Gallé mother-of-pearl and fruitwood two-drawer side table (lot 306, est. $6/8,000), and a Majorelle Art Nouveau fruitwood marquetry-inlaid walnut side table (lot 358, est. $2/3,000.)
Coming on the heels of the Richard Wright Collection, Session I: Rare & Important Dolls of October 10th, the sale of decorative arts and furniture will also offer a group of objects collaterally related to dolls, such as miniature furniture, porcelains and paintings depicting figures with dolls.
“We’ve enjoyed handling this diverse and impressive collection,” said Whitehurst. “From the sublime to the smile-inducing, this sale is sure to offer something for everyone.”
Skinner invites interested parties to join their specialists for a 6 p.m. gallery walk discussing some of the many highlights of the sale on Friday, Oct. 23, with a reception preceding at 5:30 p.m. To RSVP or to enquire about any item in the sale, call 617-350-5400.