NEW YORK (AP) – Six years in the making, the Willem de Kooning retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art is surely one of the not-to-be-missed shows of the fall season.
Occupying the museum’s entire sixth-floor gallery space, the exhibition brings together nearly 200 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures that illuminate de Kooning’s restless journey between abstraction and representation during nearly seven decades of work.
The show, opening to the public on Sunday, begins with two charming still lifes that reflect the Dutch-born artist’s strong academic training and background in commercial art, including one painting he made as a boy of 12.
From there, the clearly organized exhibition tracks his early forays into modernism, including 1920s-era canvases bearing a striking resemblance to the work of Henri Matisse and Giorgio de Chirico.
Gradually, de Kooning discovers his own distinctive style, earning a reputation by age 40 as one of his generation’s artistic greats. His fame was cemented with his first solo show in 1948, comprised of a series of abstract, black-and-white compositions. Yet during that same decade, he embarked on the first of several series of paintings of women, some inspired by his girlfriend Elaine Fried, whom he married in 1943 and who would become a noted artist in her own right.
It is the Woman paintings that are most unmistakably de Kooning, featuring an extraordinarily vivid cast of hulking, ferocious women with enormous breasts, wild eyes and deranged grins, painted in luscious swaths of lurid pink, orange and green. No wonder he once famously said, “Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.”
When the six canvases of the third Woman series were shown together in 1953, they caused a sensation. De Kooning was accused of hating women and reviled by modern art purists for abandoning abstraction.
By reassembling five of the six paintings, MoMA has pulled off something of a coup. Seeing them together makes it clear how silly it is to brand de Kooning a misogynist.
For the paintings are as much about the relationship between figure and field as they are about female archetypes. He builds both subject and background from the same bold, biomorphic and geometric shapes, obscuring any sharp division between the two.
“The landscape is in the Woman and there is Woman in the landscapes,” he said of one painting from that era. And right about this time, he moved back into abstraction, this time focusing on features of the urban landscape, including the garbage-strewn sidewalks of downtown Manhattan, where he first rose to prominence as an artist.
The exhibition ends with de Kooning’s spare abstract paintings of the 1980s, which feature smooth surfaces and brilliant ribbons of color and are quite unlike anything that came before. These late paintings are controversial, dismissed by some as largely the work of studio assistants due to his decline into dementia.
But John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of paintings and sculpture, and the guiding force behind the exhibition, believes these “extraordinarily beautiful” works are the result of conscious aesthetic decisions de Kooning was capable of making up until about 1987.
For Elderfield, who retired from MoMA in 2008, the exhibition is truly a labor of love. Born in England, Elderfield came to the United States to pursue his art history studies in part because of his youthful admiration for de Kooning, who died in 1997 at age 92.
The show opens Sept. 18 and closes Jan. 9. It will not travel.
Included in the LaGrone flag collection is the boat flag and archive from ‘The Red, White and Blue,’ which made headlines in 1866 when it became the smallest ship to ever cross the Atlantic. Est. $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.— Forget red, orange and brown. The colors of fall are red, white and blue at the Oct.1 Case Antiques Auction, as an important patriotic Americana and flag collection headlines the sale. The 700-lot auction also includes American and European fine art and decorative arts, Asian antiques, and Southern regional material. It will take place at the company’s gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com.
The Americana collection, which comprises a significant portion of the sale, comes from the estate of A. Welling LaGrone Jr. of Nashville. LaGrone was a businessman, arts patron and veteran who expressed his love of state and country through historic memorabilia, documents, decorative arts, military items, folk art and fine art, and in particular, flags. His vexillogical collection includes an early design Confederate national flag, an ensign captured from a Confederate blockade runner in 1862, a fragment from the Smithsonian-owned flag known as “Old Glory,” a 16-star American ship’s flag, numerous 19th and early 20th century sewn and parade flags, and, perhaps most intriguingly, the flag from “The Red White and Blue,” a lifeboat which made headlines in 1866 when it became the smallest ship ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean. That flag, repurposed from a Union picket boat, the S.S. Flambeau, is also accompanied by the captain’s log and archive surrounding its journey – a journey that ended at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. A Currier and Ives print of the boat, its crew and flag is also included in the lot.
“It’s rare to see such an intact cache of material associated with a single voyage survive like this,” said company president John Case. “And it touches several areas of collecting: Civil War, flags, and maritime history.”
Other items in the LaGrone collection include an early 19th-century folk art painted regimental drum, an Andrew Jackson campaign lantern and signed War of 1812 document, a rare Secession era palmetto badge, an 1862 Confederate seal medallion struck in copper, an Andrew Johnson impeachment ticket, a rare Davy Crockett lithographed image and signature, numerous Civil War and other historical prints, and a grouping of George Washington memorabilia including a 19th-century portrait of the first president after Gilbert Stuart.
LaGrone’s collection of American Classical period furniture includes an outstanding carved sleigh bed prominently pictured in a 1999 Art and Antiques article profiling his home, as well as a fine Baltimore secretary-bookcase, a Boston dressing bureau, and a marble-topped “mixing table” used for preparing drinks, attributed to Anthony Quervelle of Philadelphia. There is also a Federal Pembroke table bearing the label of New York maker Charles Christian. There also numerous carved eagles in all sizes. Many of the items in the auction were pictured in a January 1999 feature article on LaGrone’s home and collection, published in Art & Antiques magazine.
Two limestone sculptures by Nashville-born William Edmondson (1874-1951) lead the fine art offerings: a “varmint” animal figure, and a birdbath. Both were acquired by the consignor’s parents directly from the artist. Edmondson, the Davidson County born son of freed slaves, was a self taught sculptor and the first African American artist to receive a solo exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He is considered among the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. From the same consignor is a portrait of a woman by Spanish born artist Angel Botello, also acquired directly from the artist.
Other art in the sale includes a tonalist landscape by J. Francis Murphy, a Smoky Mountain landscape by Rudoph Ingerle, a floral still life by Jane Peterson, and an oil painting of Elvis Presley by Tennessee native Red Grooms. The Elvis piece is one of four Grooms works in the sale, along with a portrait of LaGrone by Grooms. There are also 3 outstanding colored woodcuts by Bror Julius Nordfeldt, a Lyonel Feininger woodcut, an aquatint/etching, “The Razor’s Edge” by Robert Motherwell, a Charles Fazzino collage, and a sculpture of a man in free fall by North Carolina artist Bob Trotman, recently displayed at a North Carolina Museum of Art exhibit of his work. The auction also features a number of pieces of folk art, from a 19th century watercolor depiction of General Andrew Jackson, weathervanes, and carvings, to works by 20th century artists such as B.F Perkins, Homer Green, James Harold Jennings and R.A. Miller.
In May, Case sold a “Meet the Beatles” album for $63,250 (including premium). It was signed by all four band members and given by them to Jules Gordon, the Plaza Hotel doctor who treated George Harrison for a sore throat the day before the Fab Four’s history making appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The October auction will feature the second (and final) album given by the band to Dr. Jules Gordon. Like the previous album, it is signed by Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, but also inscribed “Thanks for the Jabs!”
Silver and jewelry items account for a significant portion of the auction. A Chinese export silver presentation tray with inscription and history related to the Liddell Brothers company of Shanghai, and a single owner collection of Russian enameled silver are among the more exotic lots. But there are also many American sterling flatware sets including Tiffany, Whiting, and Gorham, hollowware, and Southern coin silver including some rare Tennessee and South Carolina makers.
Other Southern regional treasures include a Carolina Piedmont walnut secretary-bookcase, a Tennessee cherry sugar chest in original surface, a rare pair of Campeche chairs, a Kentucky painted wooden hangman’s stand, a scarce Tennessee needlework sampler, Southern quilts, and a large collection of ephemera, souvenirs, and medals related to the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition of 1897. As usual, there is a good quantity of Southern pottery, including a pitcher by Isaac Thomas of Kentucky, a Piedmont N.C. redware jug, a rare Tennessee cream pot and four jars from the recently discovered 19th century Mort pottery of East Tennessee.
A Dale Chihuly 2-piece Parrot Green Persian sculpture leads a good selection of art glass. Also featured are a Lalique Bacchantes vase and Ganymede champagne cooler, several pieces of Rindskopf art glass, and a pair of enamel-decorated Webb art glass vases.
The sale also features a number of single owner collections, including a collection of Meissen and KPM porcelain from a Tennessee estate, a large collection of sewing boxes and figural sewing notions from an Iowa estate, a collection of architectural antiques, a collection of Miriam Haskell signed jewelry, a collection of Japanese ivory okimono figures and ojime beads, and a collection of Chinese Early Republic period porcelain.
A campaign chest with most of its original contents, belonging to Major Christopher Van Deventer (1788-1838) and descended in his family, is one of the most interesting military-related items in the sale. Also expected to attract attention is a Civil War era albumen print of fighting on Morris Island in South Carolina, Civil War maps and currency, tintypes of soldiers, and weapons. There are also groupings of miniature firing cannons and powder flasks from the LaGrone collection.
The auction will commence at 9:30 AM EST. For more information, call the gallery in Knoxville at (865) 558-3033 or the Nashville office at (615) 812-6096.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
‘Varmint,’ a carved limestone sculpture by the important African American artist William Edmondson, acquired directly from the artist, is estimated at $20,000-$30,000. An Edmondson birdbath is also being offered. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.An early 19th-century folk art decorated drum with painted eagle, ex-Guthman, is estimated at $3,000-$3,500. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.There are many silver and gold lots in the sale, including this 18K and 22KGreek Classical-style gold medallion necklace, est. $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.An elaborate American Classical period secretary-bookcase, probably Maryland, est. $4,000-6,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.A tonalist landscape painting by John Francis Murphy (American, 1865-1921) retains its original carved frame attributed to Foster Brothers. Est. $12,000-$16,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques Auction.
Elvis Presley’s first guitar, a gift on his 11th birthday, January 1946. Est. $350,000-$500,000. Guernsey’s image.
NEW YORK – Guernsey’s massive Sept. 24-25 auction – with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com – features the entire Astrid Kirchherr photographic archive of the Beatles, including prints, negatives and most importantly, the photographer’s copyrights to the iconic images.
As most Beatles fans well know, in 1960 the Beatles traveled to Hamburg, Germany, where they a met a beautiful young photographer who proceeded to take the most memorable photos of the Fab Four and the exciting scene around them. Half a century later, virtually every book written about the Beatles includes Kirchherr’s work. The award-winning 1990s film Backbeat was the story of her love affair with the “Fifth Beatle,” Stuart Sutcliffe.
Were Astrid Kirchherr’s important Beatles archive not enough for a great auction, this remarkable event also includes the complete collection from New York City’s legendary Manny’s Music Shop. Since the 1930s, famous musicians traveled to Manny’s to buy their instruments. It quickly became a tradition that when music legends stopped in to the store, they left a photo of themselves inscribed to Manny. Starting with the big band and crooner eras and including jazz and blues greats, the real focus of the Manny’s collection became rock & roll.
Now that Manny’s has closed its doors, the collection featuring autographed and inscribed photos has been removed from the walls. Images of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, The Who, Tom & Jerry (a very young Simon and Garfunkel), U2, the Talking Heads, the Ramones and virtually everybody in between represents perhaps the most extraordinary collection of its type in existence. It also includes classic artists Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, as well. The entire collection – divided into roughly 250 lots – is part of this unprecedented event.
In addition to everything above, the auction will include such wonderful individual items as Elvis Presley’s very first guitar, six original paintings by Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon’s last car (a Mercedes station wagon), a baseball signed by the Beatles and countless other treasures. Nearly one thousand lots are currently posted, but many others will be added as the auction grows nearer.
For questions on any lot in the sale, call Guernsey’s at 212-794-2280 or e-mail auctions@guernseys.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Left to right: George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, John Lennon, circa 1980 at the Hamburg Fun Fair, 6.5 x 9 inches. One of two vintage silver gelatin prints to be sold as one lot. Signed Astrid Kirchherr. Guernsey’s image.
Framed original artwork by Jimi Hendrix titled ‘Three Psychedelic Floating Figures. Colored marker pens on paper, image 11.5 x 8.75 inches. Est. $40,000-$60,000. Guernsey’s image.
One of three media photographs of John Lennon during the shoot for A Hard Day’s Night. Signed Astrid Kirchherr silver marker, 8 x 10 inches. Est. $3,000-$5,000. Guernsey’s image.
Bob Dylan photograph, 8 x 10 inches, autographed with the inscription: ‘Keep one eye closed at all cost.” Est. $4,000-$6,000. Guernsey’s image.
Stuart Sutcliffe original collage, Hamburg period, circa 1960-62, oil and ink on paper, 23 x 32 inches (sight). Est. $50,000-$90,000. Guernsey’s image.
Janis Joplin photograph, 8 x 10 inches. Inscription reads: ‘To Manny’s Musik Love, Janis Joplin.’ Est. $3,000-$4,000. Guernsey’s image.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Florida man was arrested Thursday and charged with defrauding a Los Angeles art collector out of more than $2 million by selling him forged works of Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.
Matthew Taylor, 43, of Vero Beach, Fla., was indicted on seven felony counts, including wire fraud and money laundering, by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.
The former art dealer is accused of altering paintings from unknown artists to make them appear to be those from their famous counterparts and selling the bogus pieces at much higher prices than their actual worth.
He also placed fake labels on the artwork to claim they were once part of prestigious collections at such museums as the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, authorities said.
Taylor is believed to have sold more than 100 false paintings to the collector in Los Angeles for more than $2 million.
He is also is accused of stealing a Granville Redmond painting for a Los Angeles art gallery. Prosecutors said Taylor later sold the painting, entitled Seascape at Twilight to a different gallery for $85,000.
He was expected to make a court appearance in Fort Pierce, Fla. It wasn’t immediately known if Taylor had retained an attorney.
If convicted of all counts, he faces up to 100 years in federal prison.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv. Image by Deror avi. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli lifeguards plunged into the Mediterranean sea this month on an unusual rescue mission: to pull out an ancient ship’s anchor.
Lifeguard Avi Afia first spotted the tip of the anchor on a daily swim five years ago. It was peeking out from the sandy ocean floor about 150 feet from the coast.
It wasn’t until this month that the sands shifted to reveal the treasure in its entirety: a nearly 7-foot, 650-pound iron anchor, probably a spare in the belly of a Byzantine ship that crashed and sank in a storm about 1,700 years ago, said archaeologist Jacob Sharvit of Israel’s Antiquities Authority.
“It’s a feast for the eyes,” said Afia, whose colleagues walked out to the spot, in water about six feet deep and dragged it into the lifeguard shack in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.
The anchor dates back to the fourth or fifth century, estimated Sharvit, who heads the marine archaeology branch of Israel’s Antiquities Authority.
He said it attests to the vibrant sea trade of the Byzantine era, when merchant ships would carry oil, wine and stones for construction to ports along the coast and across the Mediterranean. The anchor also may point to a previously unknown ancient harbor on the coast, he added.
He said his team of archaeologists would go diving this week to search for the rest of the shipwrecked treasure. He expects to find ancient wine and oil jugs, coins, the seafarers’ personal items—and more anchors.
Shipwrecked finds, while not rare, are especially valuable for archaeologists, Shavit said. Ancient ships often carried brand-new items on their way to be sold in markets. That means researchers can examine those items in their original condition, before they were used.
The collection of items found on the ocean floor also tells a complete story of the seafaring routes and technological advances of that moment in history.
“It’s like a time capsule,” Sharvit said. “Every find, especially in the sea, tells a story of disaster.”
The region’s 5,000 years of seafaring have seen numerous tragedies. Every few days, Sharvit’s divers discover remnants of sunken ships on the ocean floor. So far they’ve found 500 groups of shipwrecked items along Israel’s coast, though he said the anchor is among the most impressive finds.
A particularly strong storm at the end of 2010 moved large amounts of sand, unearthing ancient objects close to the coast. A passer-by on the beach in Ashkelon, south of Tel Aviv, found a 4-foot-tall white marble Roman statue of a woman in a toga and sandals on a cliff that had crumbled under the weight of strong winds and high waves.
The rise in discoveries also led to an increase in looting, Sharvit said. They include scuba divers who go looking for treasure to sell on the black market, as well as fishermen who discover antiquities in their nets and take them home along with the fish.
Looters caught face a possible three-year prison sentence, according to Sharvit.
But the “Indiana Jones” lifeguards are being given a hero’s welcome.
“We knew it was there for years,” Afia said. “We’re happy and proud to give it as a gift.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
One of the many highlights of the Schmidt collection is this circa 1896 paper sign printed by J. Ottmann Litho. Co., New York. The restored 30-by-40-inch sign carries an estimate of $25,000-$30,000. Image courtesy of Richard Opfer Auctioneering, Inc. ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) – Coca-Cola memorabilia collectors get a chance this weekend to buy thousands of items collected through the years by the Schmidt family of Elizabethtown. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
More than 700 items are on the auction block Saturday and Sunday at the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia. The proceeds will go to a charitable foundation started by the family, The News-Enterprise reported.
The family plans to close the museum and, in a series of auctions over several years, sell its entire collection of about 80,000 items collected since the 1970s. The family says the estimated value is about $10 million.
Among the items up for sale this weekend is a restored 1920s delivery truck. The estimated value is $28,000 to $30,000.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at:
Henri Cartier-Bresson gelatin silver print of Alberto Giacometti and his sculptures, 1961. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Phillips de Pury & Co. PARIS (AFP) – Alberto Giacometti’s life-changing encounter with the ancient sculpture of the Etruscans is the starting point for a major Paris show that brings his art face to face with the works that inspired him.
More than 150 rare pieces by the Etruscans, a mysterious, seafaring civilization that ruled swathes of the Mediterranean until it was swallowed up by Rome in the first century B.C., have made the trip from Italian museums for the show.
Alongside them stand some 30 works by the Swiss sculptor, gathered at the Pinacotheque from this week until Jan. 8 for “Giacometti and the Etruscans,” one of the top events on this year’s European arts calendar.
Giacometti, who died in 1966, was long fascinated by the so-called primitive arts of the Aztecs, Maya and African civilization.
“But it was the meeting with Etruscan art and its elongated figures that brought about a real turning point in his work,” explained Marc Restellini, the museum’s artistic director and curator of the show.
The sculptor first discovered the Etruscans while visiting the Louvre’s archaeology department, but he “had a revelation” after viewing a 1955 exhibition on the lost civilization, said Restellini.
Undertaking a journey to the former Etruscan lands—in modern-day Tuscany in central Italy—he came face to face with a figure known as The Shadow of the Evening, an elongated bronze 57 centimetres long, dated to around 350-300 B.C., in a museum near the city of Pisa.
Giacometti was left speechless before the statuette, which has never before left Italy and is viewed nowadays as the Etruscan Mona Lisa, according the curator.
Seen side by side, there is a powerful kinship with the stretched lines of Walking Man I, a powerful 1961 sculpture by the Swiss artist, as well as with his “Venice woman” series.
“It was a meeting of two worlds, two aesthetics, two philosophies. That is why we decided to bring the art of Giacometti and the Etruscans face to face,” Restellini said.
“When it is genuinely justified, confronting the work of different artists takes history of art forwards,” he argued. “And in this case, the confrontation with Etruscan art is essential to understanding Giacometti’s work.”
For the Italian Claudia Zevi, who co-curated the show, the light shed on Giacometti’s work “is the only thing that can justify the effort of moving such exceptional, fragile works as the ones that have made the journey to Paris.”
“I believe that Giacometti can be considered the last of the Etruscans. His work descends from the Etruscans, intellectually and artistically.”
The show offers a “perspective on Giacometti’s work that would not be available any other way,” added the curator, who was moved to tears to see the works side by side at last.
This Stormtrooper is ready to pitch. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.
FLUSHING, N.Y. (ACNI) – On a lovely Tuesday night at Citi Field in Flushing, N.Y, Star Wars and the New York Mets joined forces for Stand Up to Cancer and celebrated the Lucasfilm’s release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-Ray DVD.
A portion of each ticket sold for this special Sept. 13, 2011 game was donated to Stand Up to Cancer, which funds cancer research. Fans, and even some of the players, like Mets pitcher R.A Dickey, who is an avid Star Wars fan; and Mets’s relief pitcher, Ryota Igarashi, showed support by doing a meet-and-greet and posing with costumed Star Wars characters who were there to promote the cause and get the crowd hyped.
Where did the amazing costumed characters seen in our photos come from, you ask? They are all members of the 501st and Rebel Legion, which is a fan-based Star Wars costuming organization that volunteers its time to charity events and fundraisers taking place in their local area. There are more than 5,000 active members in 40+ countries. They were gracious enough to let me follow them around and capture some fantastic moments.
I took a break from photographing to asked Ruby Rinekso why he joined the 501st. This is what he had to say: “When I went to Star Wars Celebration III in 2005, I saw the 501st for the very first time. The idea of joining an international organization that specialized in Star Wars costuming intrigued me. I, too, could be a Stormtrooper. It was a calling. It was a message. It was my….. destiny!”
Not only were there screen-accurate costumers in attendance at the game, children also dressed up in their best Star Wars attire for the chance to win fabulous prizes, such as a Darth Vader alarm clock, and the opportunity to join a few of the Mets players on the field before the game. For those who supported the cause and love Star Wars, a complimentary “Stand Up to Cancer, Use the Force” T-shirt was given out just for purchasing a ticket for this game.
It was amazing to see so many fans and supporters come out to be a part of this great event. A very special thank you to the New York Mets and Lucasfilm for teaming up with Stand Up to Cancer to spread the word and raise money for a very worthy cause.
Copyright 2011 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
This Stormtrooper is ready to pitch. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.A hand-painted Star Wars Volkswagen sits outside Citi Field, welcoming all fans and supporters. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.Your Auction Central News reporter Tiffany Mamone as a half human, half Stormtrooper. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.Its Chewbacca! Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.Boba Fett poses with fans who support Stand Up to Cancer. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.A few Stormtroopers and a Rebel X-Wing Pilot watching the Mets vs. Nationals game on the Pepsi Porch at Citi Field. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.‘Lets Go METS’ on the JumboTron in Star Wars font. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.Mr. Met, Chewbacca, a Tusken Raider and a couple of Stormtroopers launching T-shirts into the stands. Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.‘Use the Force.’ Image courtesy of Tiffany Mamone, Auction Central News.Boba Fett and Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey. Image courtesy of Christopher Pasatieri.
Girolamo Romanino’s oil on canvas painting ‘Christ Carrying the Cross.’ Image courtesy of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science. MIAMI (AFP) – U.S. authorities ordered a Florida museum not toreturn an Italian Renaissance painting on loan from a Milan collection to determine if it was stolen from a Jewish family in France in World War II, the museum said Thursday.
Chucha Barber, chief executive of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee said the museum was told to hold the Girolamo Romanino work Christ Carrying the Cross, part of a larger exhibit of Italian paintings, to determine its rightful owner.
Before the end of an exhibit Sept. 4, Barber said she was contacted by U.S. attorney’s office, which ordered the 16th century painting to remain in the United States while the question of ownership is determined.
“Federal officials have requested my museum not to return one of 50 paintings on loan from a museum in Italy,” she told AFP.
The 1538 painting, on loan from the Brera Art Gallery in Milan, could belong to the Gentili family, a Jewish family which left Italy and were in Vichy-ruled France in World War II when their collection was seized, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, the newspaper that first reported the story.
The daily said that the museum was contacted by Lionel Salem, a descendant of the Gentilis who has been seeking to recover artwork stolen from his family.
Barber declined to discuss specifics of the case, saying that “the family members behind this case were told they cannot give statements to the press until the hearing that will be held in Rome the week of Sept. 26.”
“A couple of them (family) are in England and a couple of them in France,” Barber said.
The Tallahassee paper said the Gentili has recovered five paintings from France’s Louvre museum in court proceedings and was pursuing similar efforts elsewhere.
The painting, which the daily said was insured for $2.5 million, remains on display during the judicial proceedings.
Colorful and early Northwood water set, opalescent blue swirl with four tumblers. Image courtesy of Specialists of the South.WEWAHITCHKA, Fla. – Hundreds of items from the once-thriving (but now closed) Finders Keepers antiques shop, plus a massive mostly Lionel toy train set (many pieces from the 1930s), will be sold Sat., Sept. 24, in an on-site auction at Lake Alice Park, located across from what was once the Finders Keepers storefront in Wewahitchka, 25 miles east of Panama City. The sale will be conducted by The Specialists of the South, Inc., with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com.
“For ten years, Finders Keepers was one of the Florida Panhandle’s premier destinations for people searching for quality antiques and collectibles,” said Logan Adams of The Specialists of the South. “The shop was filled with pottery, books, period furniture, glassware and more.”
Susan Burnette, who owned Finders Keepers, said, “Being from North Carolina, I would regularly travel up and down the Southeast to find the treasures that would make Finders Keepers the store it became. In a bittersweet move back to North Carolina, I must regretfully turn these treasures over to whoever will be lucky enough to win them. I wish a happy auction to all.”
The train set is a separate consignment, from James Quirk of Panama City, whose grandfather built a predominantly Lionel collection that dates back to the Depression era. About 45 lots – to include seven engines, numerous box cars, extensive track, instruction manuals, a book about Lionel trains and more – will be offered, with some of the items sold in multiple lots.
Highlights of the collection include several GM diesel trains (Santa Fe edition), older Lionel engines, Tyco H-O scale examples still in their original boxes, a Shell Gasoline tin tanker, passenger cars, railroad crossing signs, 150-200 pieces of track, transformers, control levers, cranes, steam plows and more. Some pieces have normal wear and patina, but all appear operational.
About half of Finders Keepers was dedicated to books, a passion of Burnette’s. One volume expected to generate bidder interest is a circa-1923 copy of Little Women, the Louisa May Alcott classic, in fine condition. Books of all kinds will be offered – rare, out-of-print, fiction, non-fiction, new authors and old.
An all-original circa-1830 mantel clock made by William, Orton, Prestons & Company of Farmington, Conn., and desirable Southern and Roseville pottery are among the highlights, as is vintage glass. Top lots include an enameled, decorated lavender-to-clear Mary Gregory pitcher with scene of a young girl with gilt rim, a hand-painted Fenton water set with ruffled edge and six tumblers, an early Northwood water set (opalescent blue swirl, with four tumblers), and a Roseville Holland beer stein set (large stein and three mugs), circa 1916, in excellent condition.
Furniture includes a beautiful circa-1890 Renaissance Revival tiger oak buffet with heavily carved claw feet, original dark chocolate patina and original hardware; a mahogany Chippendale-style vanity with tri-fold beveled original mirror, ball and claw feet and bead board around five drawers; and an English-made Art Nouveau hall tree with all the original hardware. Artwork and prints, decorative accessories and a wide mix of other “discovery” pieces round out the sale.
Most of the auction inventory will be sold “absolute” (hammer falls regardless of price) while other lots will carry reserves. For additional information on any lot in the auction, call 850-785-2577, or e-mail specialists@knology.net.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
.jpg "Boba Fett and Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey. Image courtesy of Christopher Pasatieri.")
