November 3, 2011 - Auction Central News

Skinner wine auction offers diverse, lively selections, Nov. 8

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2002, Pauillac, 1er Cru Classe, estimate $600-$800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Skinner Inc.

BOSTON – Skinner Inc. will host its fall auction of fine wines on Nov. 8 at 4 p.m. Eastern. The sale, realized through a partnership with Lower Falls Wine Co. of Newton, Mass., will offer 775 lots of fine vintage Bordeaux, a coveted allotment of recent vintage Screaming Eagle and Harlan, a wide variety of champagne, and a diverse number of dinner party lots.

For those who cannot attend the auction at Skinner’s Boston gallery at 63 Park Plaza, LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The significant volume of impressive large format bottles, from the Pacific Northwest to Bordeaux, Napa, Champagne, and Italy represent generous pours all around.

Bordeaux

Two consignments of great older vintage Bordeaux shine in the sale. From 1959, buyers will delight in lots 169, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, estimated to sell between $1,600-2,400; lot 172 Chateau Margaux, estimated between $600-800; from 1961, lot 108, a bottle of Chateau Ausone, estimated between $400-600; and lot 115, four bottles of Chateau Petrus 1961, estimated between $20,000-30,000. Also of note are a coveted allotment of recent vintage Screaming Eagle and Harlan including lot 247, three bottles of Screaming Eagle 2006, estimated between $3,000-4,500 and lot 182, six bottles of Harlan Estate 2007, estimated between $3,000-4,500.

Champagne, Port and Riesling

Skinner’s fine wine auction will help keep the holidays bubbly, with a wide range of champagne for all budgets and occasions. There is truly something for everyone, from lot 345, six bottles of Moet & Chandon Champagne Cuvee Dom Perignon Rose 1996, estimated between $1,600-2,400 to lot 354, a magnum of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne Cuvee Belle Epoque 1996, estimated between $200-300. A number of terrific port lots, such as number 81, a bottle of Quinta do Noval Nacional 1931, estimated between $1,200-1,800 will be of interest; and some rare 1976 Rieslings, including lot 735A, Bischoffinger Steinbuck Rulander Trockenberenauslese 1976, estimated between $300-400 and lot 735C, Vereingte Hospitien Wiltinger braune Kupp Sanctus Jacobus Trockenberenauslese 1976, estimated between $200-300, are also ones to watch.

Impressive New England Wine Collections

From an extensive Massachusetts cellar come particularly rare first growth highlights. Maintained in ideal climate-controlled storage, this collection includes lot 197, six bottles of Chateau Cos d’Estournel 1953, estimated between $1,200-1,900; lot 199, 12 bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982, estimated between $35,000-50,000; and lot 205, four bottles of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945, estimated between $16,000-24,000.

From another large and varied East Coast collection, maintained in a pristine, professional cellar, comes a remarkable collection that is ideal either for holding or drinking. Examples include lot 175, 12 bottles Chateau Beychevelle 2005, estimated between $850-1,200; lot 176, 12 bottles of Chateau Duhart Milon 2005, estimated between $900-1,300; and lot 179, 12 bottles of Chateau Leoville Poyferre 2005, estimated between $900-1,300.

“Given the variety of this sale, from region to vintage, this auction provides buyers an ideal and unique opportunity to round out their cellars in one event,” said Marie Keep, director of Skinner’s Fine Wines Department. “We are pleased to offer our buyers so many rare, vertical lots, which are a true testament to the patient and diligent collecting of the consignors featured in this sale.”

To arrange for a preview, contact Marie Keep at 508 970-3296 or email finewines@skinnerinc.com. Skinner is currently accepting consignments for its spring 2012 auction of Fine Wines and can accept a single noteworthy bottle or an entire collection.

For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner’s web site www.skinnerinc.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Fine European, American toys ‘on tour’ at Bertoia’s, Nov. 11-12

Marklin ‘Puritan’ ocean liner, handpainted, 20¼ inches, est. $25,000-$30,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

VINELAND, N.J. – There’s a Grand Tour planned for Nov. 11-12, but no passports are required. This particular excursion will bring together from points afar 1,400 lots of rare and beautiful European and American toys, all to be auctioned at Bertoia’s comfortable and spacious New Jersey gallery. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide the Internet live bidding.

Bertoia’s Toys on Tour auction promises an exciting mix of cast-iron automotive, early American tin, European and American dolls, toys and automobilia; as well as an outstanding collection of figural doorstops. As though that weren’t enough, the auction roster also includes 100 mechanical banks, approximately 100 choice penny toys and a fine collection of seldom-offered British and Continental biscuit tins.

“Much of the early American tin came from the late Ralph Tomlinson’s collection, and the cast-iron toys came from another advanced West Coast collector. There are so many highlights. Everything in this sale is extra nice,” said Bertoia’s associate Rich Bertoia.

The cast-iron vehicles to be offered run the automotive gamut from cars and busses to motorcycles and farm toys. “This collector sought both quantity and condition,” said Bertoia. “Some examples are rated ‘pristine,’ and a few come with Larry Sieber provenance, like the Hubley Panama Digger toy.” The collection also includes a few Vindex sample autos formerly in the Donald Kaufman collection.

One of the top cast-iron pieces is a very rare Arcade panel truck advertising Jewel Coffees on both sides. Finished in deep brown with tan, the truck has ribbed white tires not commonly seen on Arcade vehicles. Rich Bertoia believes the toy is one of a kind. “No one has ever seen this truck before,” he said.

A fresh to the market collection of European penny toys will make a timely appearance, as will an estate collection of 100 figural British and Continental biscuit tins. Among the top tins are a racecar, a Crawford’s gold bi-plane, Huntley & Palmers trucks and two segments of Peek Frean’s castle.

Many Lehmann and Martin clockwork toys await the auction spotlight, together with European merry-go-rounds, a Doll et Cie. Ferris wheel, and a host of European limousines and cars by premier makers. An early Marklin water tank auto and a Bing fire hand pumper are worthy of special mention.

A fleet of handsome German-made ships and boats will be dropping anchor at Bertoia’s. Marklin rarities lead the way and include a Puritan oceanliner, Philadelphia battleship and several gunboats.

One hundred cast-iron mechanical banks will cross the auction block, among them an Acrobat, Boy Scout Camp, Butting Buffalo and boxed Calamity.

The auction will feature another fine assortment of American comic character toys from the Ron and Sandy Rosen collection. More than 100 popular TV stars and Marx characters will be available, and as is the case with all of the Rosens’ toys, they are in the best condition anyone could ever hope to find.

Rich Bertoia tipped collectors to be watching for a few “surprise entries” in the early American tin section, which is already confirmed to include some George Brown designs, riverboats, and Ives clockwork trains and walking figures.

Bertoia’s has always enjoyed a strong following among collectors of holiday antiques, who regard the company’s annual November sale as a sort of mini convention. This year, Christmas enthusiasts can look forward to a fine array of early German-made goods. “Everything for the 12 days of Christmas can be found in this sale,” said Bertoia. “There are ornaments of every type – glass, spun cotton, more than 50 Dresdens, and some exceedingly rare moon-face ornaments that double as candy containers.” Trade stimulators and belsnickels round out the Christmas section. Easter and Halloween antiques have been added to the sale, as well.

Many lovely European dolls have been cataloged, from manufacturers such as Jumeau, Steiner and Kestner. Among the highlights are a mechanical bisque doll in original wood box, a very rare 17-inch French fashion doll, a 37-inch Tete Jumeau and a scarce 39-inch wide-eyed Steiner. The category also features several automata.

The Barbara and Chuck Cook cast-iron doorstop collection will debut during the Nov. 11-12 auction. Because the Cooks’ collection is so extensive, Bertoia’s will be auctioning it in three parts, with parts II and III to follow in future sales. Many exceptional florals are included, as well as several 1920s/’30s doorstops in the form of historic New England houses, each hand-painted by Sara Symonds. Additionally, the collection includes a large-size Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, a Wine Man, Hubley Grace Drayton designs and several Hubley Fish productions. A menagerie of animal-theme doorstops starts with “feathered” varieties such as a full-figure pheasant, a Turkey, and a large-size Bradley & Hubbard Rooster. The grouping concludes with depictions of various types of dogs.

Start times for Bertoia’s Toys on Tour auction are 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Nov. 11; and 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12. For additional information, call 856-692-1881 or e-mail toys@bertoiaauctions.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

English wooden doll, late Queen Anne or early Georgian period, 21 inches, est. $4,500-$6,500. Bertoia Auctions image.

Circa-1885 Kyser & Rex ‘Merry Go Round’ cast-iron mechanical bank, est. $10,000-$12,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

Girl Kicking Flower cast-iron doorstop, rare book example, est. $1,500-$2,500. Bertoia Auctions image.

Early American Philadelphia street trolley attributed to Francis Field & Francis, 26½ inches, est. $8,000-$10,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

Circa-1930 lithographed tinplate Mickey Mouse ‘Slate Dancer,’ 6 inches, est. $6,000-$8,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

Yonezawa tin ‘Atom Jet’ racer, 26½ inches. Est. $6,000-$8,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

German skittles set, cat with nine kittens, ex Atlanta Toy Museum collection, 10¾ inches, est. $2,000-$2,500. Bertoia Auctions image.

Late-19th-century Pennsylvania German folk art chalkware belsnickle, 22 inches, est. $10,000-$12,000. Bertoia Auctions image.

Roland Auction presents 20th Century Modern, Nov. 12

A set of six Tobia and Scarpa chairs. Their co-joined back legs give the effect of a triangulated base. Image courtesy of Roland Auction.

NEW YORK – When Roland Auction received 20th-century furniture by Tobia and Afra Scarpa, whose work can be seen at MoMA, abstract steel sculptures by Magpantay and fine 19th-century figurative bronzes by Jean-Paul Aube and August Peiffer for its Nov. 12 auction, the words “high style” rippled through the gallery.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding for the auction, which will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern.

According to Robert Roland, co-founder, naming the auction “20th Century Modern Antiques” more accurately reflects the vast range of properties. And with highlights spilling out the front door and into the lobby of the Roland Auction gallery at 80 E. 11th St., previewers will get an eyeful immediately.

For starters, there is a large steel sculpture by Magpantay in the form of a worktable on which surreal anthropomorphic male and female forms with industrial style elements are being crafted. The nearly 50-inch table and its abstracted forms stand 60 inches high. The catalog estimate tops off around $7,000, and interest has been strong.

Nearby, a contemporary steel sculpture of a chair issuing forth yet more anthropomorphic skeletal forms with industrial style elements, also by Magpantay, is startlingly familiar. The chair is expected to command around $7,000 as well.

These are offset by two remarkable 19th-century figurative French bronzes. One, of a muse with palette titled Harmonie, was created by Jean-Paul Aube. It carries an estimate of $1,400 to $1,800. The second allegorical bronze, by Auguste Peiffer, of two wood nymphs fleeing, is estimated at $1,800 to $2,500.

The joy of the sale, however, is its diversity, and nothing expresses this better than a 4-foot-tall tall wire sculpture by Curtis Jere of three birds in flight, their naturalistic wings created from lengths of steel. They soar above a pyramid form base. The bird sculpture is expected to command around $1,800.

Two oil on canvas portraits by Nathan Wasserberger, born 1928, provide the figurative counterpoint. One, a three-quarter portrait of a seated female on blue ground, is expected to fetch about $800. The second, a nude, also on a blue ground should reach $1,500.

Meanwhile, an 80-inch-tall gray and white abstract by Francis Sherron, titled Skybreaker, 1973, creates the perfect ambiance for the snakeskin covered coffee table and the tessellated stone coffee table that are just warm-up acts for several Karl Springer items. The Springer lots include a parchment covered table, console and desk. Catalog estimates on the Karl Springer items range from $3,000 to $4,000.

A gigantic mirror, 5 feet by 4 feet, and U-form console, reflect Springer’s influence.

Six dining chairs by Tobia and Afra Scarpa give the impression of having a triangulated base when, in actuality, they are four legs with two co-joined.

A square modern mirror with crème surround by Milo Baughman for Thayer Coogan, carries the designer’s mark on the back. If purchased with a lot of six upholstered side chairs with scroll-top backs, by the same designer, also for Thayer Coogan, the buyer could call it a lucky day.

Other modern furniture includes a Dunbar olivewood dining table, a rosewood chest by Gerhard Berg and a low table inspired by Gabriella Crespi. A delightful Italian top brass daisy-top pedestal table on faux marble base embodies the spirit of the ’60s and ’70s.

Finally, a high-style designed circular mirror, with a wooden circle offset just inches from the perimeter, justifies the accolades given Italian designers.

With properties still arriving, collectors and designers are advised to frequent the Roland Auction catalog at LiveAuctioneers.com. Pictures and descriptions are being uploaded daily.

Roland Auction’s 20th Century Modern Antiques sale will preview Thursday, Nov. 10, and Friday, Nov. 11, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Interested parties who cannot view the properties in person are advised to call the gallery for details and condition reports. Bill and Robert Roland can be contacted at 212-260-2000. The Nov. 12 sale will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern in the gallery and on LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Allegorical bronze statue by Auguste Peiffer. Image courtesy of Roland Auction.

Oil on canvas by Nathan Wasserberger of seminude female on a blue ground. Image courtesy of Roland Auction.

A sculpture of three birds in flight of wire. Image courtesy of Roland Auction.

$1.1M German museum piece falls victim to cleaning lady

The Dortmunder U Building, home of the Museum Ostwall. Photo by Mbdortmund, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

BERLIN (AFP) – A cleaning woman at a German museum who mistook a sculpture for an unsightly mess has destroyed the valuable artwork beyond recognition, a spokeswoman for the western city of Dortmund said Thursday.

The cleaner at the city’s Ostwall Museum went to work on the Martin Kippenberger installation titled When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling, which was valued by insurers at 800,000 euros ($1.1 million), she said.

The late contemporary master had created a tower of wooden slats under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paint representing dried rain water.

Taking it for an actual stain, the cleaner scrubbed the surface until it gleamed.

“It is now impossible to return it to its original state,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the damage had been discovered late last month and that the work had been on loan to the museum from a private collector.

She said that cleaning crews had orders to remain 20 centimetres (eight inches) away from artworks but it was unclear if the woman had received the directive from the external company that employed her.

Works of art not infrequently fall victim to zealous cleaners. In 1986, a “grease stain” by Joseph Beuys valued at around 400,000 euros was mopped away at the Academy of Fine Arts in Duesseldorf, western Germany.

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Pop art, ’60s monochromes share spotlight at Guggenheim

Roy Lichtenstein, 'Interior with Mirrored Wall,' 1991, oil and magna on canvas, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 92.4023, copyright Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.

NEW YORK – This fall the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents two focused exhibitions selected from the museum’s permanent collection, one exploring pop art and the other featuring 1960s monochrome works.

The explosion of pop art in America in the early 1960s signaled the return to representational images following the Abstract Expressionists of the preceding decades, who favored large gestural canvases and expressive colors. Other artists at this time investigated the aesthetic potential of paintings and sculpture dominated by a single color or limited to a narrow spectrum of tones. Presented simultaneously in two exhibitions installed in three galleries, the works produced from these contemporaneous yet radically different movements demonstrate the various artistic experimentations that emerged in the mid-twentieth century.

“Pop Objects and Icons from the Guggenheim Collection” is on view on Annex Level 5 now through Jan. 11, with an additional gallery on Annex Level 7 opening on Nov.19, on view through Feb. 8. “Surface, Support, Process: The 1960s Monochrome in the Guggenheim Collection” is on view from Nov. 19 through Feb. 8.

Pioneered in England in the late 1950s, the pop art movement took hold in America after support from critics, including British critic Lawrence Alloway, who coined the term “pop art” in 1958 and organized the seminal 1963 Guggenheim exhibition “Six Painters and the Object.” Encouraged by the economic vitality and consumerist culture of post-World War II America, artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol explored the image world of popular culture – from which the movement’s name derives – and and took inspiration from advertisements, pulp magazines, billboards, movies, television and comic strips. The cool detachment and harsh, impersonal look of pop art signaled a direct assault on the hallowed traditions of “high art” and the personal gesture, so strongly championed by the previous generation of abstract expressionists. The images, presented with – and sometimes transformed by – humor, wit and irony, may be read as both an unabashed celebration and a scathing critique of popular culture.

“Pop Objects and Icons from the Guggenheim Collection” features a focused group of works by nine artists, from forerunners of the movement such as Robert Rauschenberg, to early practitioners who continued to work in this vein throughout their careers, including Lichtenstein and Rosenquist. The paintings and sculptures on view examine various artists’ engagement with pop art and the Guggenheim’s ongoing interest in the legacy of the style.

The monochrome has a rich history in 20th-century art. Since the late 1910s, artworks that explore the aesthetic potential of a single color or narrow spectrum of tones have emerged from a diverse range of artistic practices. This survey of monochrome works from the 1960s reveals how this apparently simple formal device served for many artists as the point of departure for a complex reevaluation of painting and sculpture. From the ethereal interplay of light and space in Mary Corse’s work, to the pristine “painting objects” of Ellsworth Kelly’s freestanding folded sculptures, the monochrome affords a nuanced lens through which to understand the art of this decade.

This focused exhibition presents works from the permanent collection by Corse, Kelly, Tadaaki Kuwayama, Robert Mangold, Agnes Martin and John McCracken. Also on display are two 12-foot-square paintings from Robert Ryman’s “Surface Veil” series (1970–72) that demonstrate the artist’s sustained interrogation of the fundamental materials and processes of painting.

New wing doubles space at Tel Aviv Museum of Art

A sculpture by Henry Moore is installed in front of Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Picture taken by David Shay. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel’s main modern art museum is unveiling a striking new wing Wednesday that provides a permanent home for hundreds of works by Israeli artists, a space lacking until now.

The $55 million addition, which doubles the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s previous space, will present dozens of rotating exhibits every year but still will not suffice to permanently showcase one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art, mostly held in storage.

“Today Israeli artists are known around the world … They have exposure and a reputation around the world. Therefore Israeli art needs to be presented properly here as well,” said Shuli Kislev, the museum’s acting director. “They now have a home.”

Fresh, airy and modern, the wing is set in a five-floor, 195,000-square-foot triangular structure with a concrete exterior.

The centerpiece is an 87-foot-tall atrium, where the walls of the 10 new galleries subtly bend and groove, creating a spiraling effect over different levels. A glass ceiling sends light splashing down.

“The mingling of architecture with the spaces of curatorial freedom is what the building is all about,” said Preston Scott Cohen, the Cambridge, Mass., architect behind the project. “It’s a marrying of two very different attitudes,” said Cohen, who also chairs the department of architecture at Harvard University.

Cohen said the space offers curators a flexibility when planning exhibitions, rather than being limited by a particular architectural element, like the circular, winding walkways of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, for example.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s cultural hub with the art museum a main attraction. It houses works by more than a dozen masters, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Amadeo Modigliani.

The new wing’s permanent exhibit of Israeli art presents three galleries with 150 works from such renowned Israeli artists as Reuven Rubin and Igael Tumarkin, with certain pieces rotating in and out. The works range from painting to sculpture and were created over the last century.

For the inauguration, the wing’s other galleries will show photographs and design installations. The new space will also feature an exhibit by German painter-sculptor Anselm Kieffer.

The museum’s distinctive design did attract some criticism.

Yaarah Bar-On, a deputy director of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, said the galleries displaying the Israeli art were missing dividing walls, which would limit how many paintings could be displayed.

She also said the buildings surrounding the new wing were architecturally distinct from it, creating a sense of “a bunch of things that don’t go together.”

Cohen said the white panels of wall around the atrium evoke Tel Aviv’s traditional Bauhaus style, whereas the heavy concrete that cascades and winds throughout the building and its exterior points to the city’s Brutalist architecture from the mid-20th century.

AP-WF-11-01-11 1644GMT

Love at First Bid’s Nov. 13 debut auction features designer goods

NEW YORK – Love at First Bid has announced details of its debut auction titled “Passion For Fashion,” which will be held on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 12 noon Eastern Time at the company’s spacious Greenwich Village pop-up loft. Located in New York City’s exciting downtown section, the new venture into vintage couture, designer wear and accessories is sure to attract the city’s best-dressed residents and fashionistas worldwide, who can bid live online through LiveAuctioneers.com.

The sale features stylish and wearable vintage clothing by internationally acclaimed designers, as well as precious, studio and costume jewelry; chic leather accessories, fashion illustrations and out-of-print reference materials.

An important feature of this specialty sale is its all-inclusive nature. With a wide variety of quality fashion ranging in estimates from $80-$8,000, there is something for every level of collector.

Within the jewelry category, for example, there is a selection of serious estate diamonds, artful silver in sculptural forms, and fun fashion pieces such as the colorful acrylic Missoni suite with its opening bid of only $100. Clothing includes an array of timeless choices by Chanel, Valentino, Trigere, Lanvin, Halston, Yamamoto and more. And, just in time for winter, there is a fine offering of elegant outerwear, including a Gucci leather coat with removable fur lining, chinchillas and other furs, and lots of designer gloves and Hermes scarves to complete the look. Collectible handbags, and other noteworthy leather goods abound. Lastly, a collection of artist-decorated and signed cowboy boots provides a well-heeled conclusion.

Founder Annegret von Winterfeld’s enthusiasm for fashion is infectious. Her warm, welcoming personality assures the viewer of a comfortable, fun shopping experience, whether viewed in Love at First Bid’s hip downtown Manhattan loft or online. Her years of experience in dealing with couture and vintage fashion coupled with her extensive contacts have buyers and sellers lining up to take part in this much-anticipated sale.

When asked about goods consigned to future sales, von Winterfeld replied that she has already secured a collection of Hermes handbags and other coveted iconic pieces

For additional information on any item in Love at First Bid’s “Passion For Fashion” Nov. 13 debut auction, call 646-580-7443 or e-mail inquiry@loveatfirstbid.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.liveauctioneers.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Clars aims to better last year’s record auction, Nov. 12-13

One of Wayne Thiebaud’s (California, b. 1920) earliest landscapes, appropriately entitled 'Landscape, 1965' is estimated to earn $150,000 to $200,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

OAKLAND, Calif. – On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12 and 13, Clars will bring to the block fine art, furnishings, Asian offerings and rich special collections that will likely even exceed the firm’s November 2010 auction which was the largest in their history.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

On Nov. 7, 2010, President Redge Martin dropped the hammer on the final lot knowing that sale would go into their record books earning over $1.6 million. A look at what is coming this November to Clars fuels the prediction that this sale will surpass last year’s.

The fine art offerings are exceptional with works by American and California artists headlining this category. Coming from a private collection, one of Wayne Thiebaud’s (California, b. 1920) earliest landscapes, appropriately titled Landscape, 1965 is estimated to earn $150,000 to $200,000. John Fery’s (American, 1859-1934) Black Feet Glacier, Glacier National Park, one of his largest oils to ever enter the market, was originally commissioned by the Great Northern Railroad and will now be offered with an estimate of $20,000 to $40,000. Sailing Boat at Sea, 1905, an ethereal early oil on canvas on wood by Eustace Ziegler (American, 1881-1969) is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.

California artists will be represented by William Keith (California, 1838-1911) with an oil on board entitled Springtime estimated to earn $15,000 to $25,000.

Jumping to the contemporary, Untitled by Gordon Onslow Ford (California, 1912-2003), an acrylic on paper mounted on canvas, carries an estimate of $10,000 to $20,000.

Fine American sculpture to be offered includes Richard MacDonald’s (California, b. 1946) bronze Elena Study II, estimated at $10,000 to $20,000 and Cabeza Contado by Elizabeth Catlett (American, b. 1915) is expected to earn the same.

European offerings include a unique mixed media fresco by Pierre Marie Brisson (French, b. 1955) from the estate of Jean Deleage, San Francisco, purchased through Bowles/Sorokko Galleries and Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s (Austrian, 1928-2000) Regentag: Look at in on a Rainy Day, 1971-72, portfolio of 10 color screenprints with metal imprints.

A look at furnishings finds a strong focus on the finest mid-century modern designers including Nakashima, Nelson, Ponti, Miller, Frank Lloyd Wright and Knoll. From designer George Nelson for Herman Miler will be a marshmallow sofa that carries an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. From George Nakashima, will be a slab walnut coffee table executed in 1963 for the consignor who paid the hefty price of $300 at the time. Exemplifying furniture becoming art, this work is expected to earn $20,000 to $30,000.

While the art and furnishings categories will offer exceptional works, it is the rich “special collections” that will likely launch this sale over the top.

The first special collection of note is an impressive collection of rare and important ethnographic items from African New Guinea, Dutch Guiana, Native American, and Alaskan and Uzbeck ikats. Several examples of 19th century Dogon, Malu carved figures and masks will be offered as part of this collection.

Fashionistas take note of the next special collection, which comes to this auction from a well-dressed London, New York and Beverly Hills socialite. This recent well-“heeled” collection will include luxury shoes from Prada, Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci with like luxury handbags so necessary to accessorize. Five highly sought-after Hermes Birkin bags, Chanel purses to perfectly complement the vintage Chanel Boutique suits, Dior and Gucci handbags plus an entire case for Louis Vuitton including luggage, purses and wallets. And yes, there’s the jewelry to go with the richness of the clothes and the leather by makers such as Cartier, Rolex, Tiffany and Erte to name just a few.

In September, Clars gained worldwide attention when they offered the exceptional collection of Amelia Earhart memorabilia. The November sale continues this theme with an expansive collection of early aviation memorabilia. Charles Lindbergh signed photographs, glass plate negatives and a series of gelatin silver prints of the Graf Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg are among the highlights. The Hindenburg photos include 12 views chronicling the state of its destruction on May 6, 1937 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The destruction and aftermath of the USS Shenandoah in 1925 are preserved in seven negatives, which will be offered, and Amelia Earhart will once again take the block with an autograph book from the USS Roosevelt, the ship that carried Earhart back to America after her famous 1928 flight.

Joyce Kwong, Asian art coordinator at Clars, has assigned estimates knowing they will likely be tempered when actual bidding ensues. The lot to watch in this category will be a Chinese coromandel 12-panel screen from the Qing dynasty. Coming from the Christensen Estate, this multipanel screen depicts figures in a pavilion with a bird-and-flower scene on the verso (estimate $15,000 to $25,000). Also to watch will be a mammoth Chinese ivory tusk carved in high relief with the Queen Mother of the West and entourage, which is estimated at $8,000 to $12,000 and an ink and color on paper hanging scroll attributed to Huang Binhong (Chinese, 1864-1955) that carries an estimate of $6,000 to $8,000.

Now to dazzle the eyes with the incredible diamond ring that will take center stage during the jewelry portion of the sale. Conservatively estimated at $70,000 to $90,000, this 18k white gold ring sports a 7.08 round center diamond accented by round and baguette cut diamonds weighing 3 carats.

Whether seeking important art on canvas or art in furniture design, historic memorabilia whose value is timeless or the most exquisite fashions to wear, Clars’ Nov. 12 and 13 auction will offer it all and the best there is.

Check back frequently to www.clars.com as other very important special collections and offerings are being added each day for this major auction event.

Clars’ November Fine Art and Antiques Sale will be held on will be held Saturday, Nov. 12th at 9:30 a.m. and Sunday, Nov. 13, at 10am. Previews for this sale will be Friday, Nov. 11, from 1 to 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. each auction day and by special appointment. A full catalog will be available online at www.clars.com prior to the sale. Bidding for Clars auctions is available in person, by phone, absentee and live online @ www.clars.com, and through www.liveauctioneers.com. To register to bid and for more information, call Clars Auction Gallery at 888-339-7600, or email: info@clars.com .

Clars Auction Gallery is located at 5644 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA 94609.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

From designer George Nelson for Herman Miller will be a marshmallow sofa that carries an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

From George Nakashima will be this slab walnut coffee table executed in 1963, which is expected to earn $20,000 to $30,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

A special collection of note to be offered is an impressive collection of rare and important ethnographic items from African New Guinea, Dutch Guiana, Native American, and Alaskan and Uzbeck ikats. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This Chinese coromandel 12-panel screen from the Qing dynasty is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Estimated at $70,000 to $90,000, this 18k white gold ring sports a 7.08 round center diamond accented by round and baguette cut diamonds weighing 3 carats will be the highlight of the jewelry category. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Gallery features outsider artist known only as ‘Wireman’

Untitled (wire, pen cartridge, pencil sharpener), Wireman, c. 1970, 6 1/2 x 3 x 1 inches. Image courtesy of Fleischer Ollman Gallery.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Three decades after hundreds of strange wire-bound oddities were saved from the trash heap, an art gallery eight blocks from where they were dumped at a curb is featuring a selection of works made by a mystery artist now known only as the Philadelphia Wireman.

“What was unique about this was the discovery, how it was found, and how many there were,” said John Ollman, an expert in self-taught art whose Fleischer/Ollman Gallery has 29 Wireman works on view through Dec. 10. “They’re like a Western interpretation of what you’d find in western Africa. They’re personal power objects.”

They were found in the late 1970s or early 1980s by Robert Leitch, an eagle-eyed passer-by who spotted them curbside in bags and cardboard boxes on a run-down block of homes and rooming houses. Leitch loaded his car with what apparently had been set out as trash and turned out to be 1,200 pieces of wire-wrapped cocoons containing broken reflectors, mirror shards, crumpled cigarette packs, junk jewelry, coins and nails.

Leitch, whose identity as finder of the Wireman’s work was kept secret until his death, gave away some as gifts, thinking they had little value other than as urban curiosities until friends persuaded him to take part of his treasure-trove to gallery curator Ollman. He bought Leitch’s collection in 1984 and presented the work for the first time the following year, long before the concept of “outsider” art by people on society’s fringes was understood or accepted. Some accused Ollman of creating the pieces himself as part of an elaborate hoax; others condemned the aesthetic elevation of what they saw, literally and figuratively, as garbage.

“There was a great deal of hostility about presenting things like this as art – it didn’t get press coverage, it wasn’t shown in museums,” he said. “It made lots of people very angry. They’d come in the gallery and you could just see they were just appalled.”

That has all changed. A museum in Baltimore is devoted exclusively to “visionary artists,” while esteemed institutions in the United States and abroad exhibit works by the self-taught from James Castle to Howard Finster and the Wireman himself (or herself).

A handful of fans snapped up Philadelphia Wireman pieces in those earliest days for $100, Ollman said. Now, the current show lists Wireman works from $2,200 to $9,000. Most are a size and shape that allow them to fit comfortably in your hand, like a talisman or relic. Some include several gauges of wire, tautly wrapped in very specific and painstaking ways that hide or highlight the items inside.

“There’s a lot of energy in the Wireman works,” said Cara Zimmerman, executive director of The Foundation for Self Taught Artists, a nonprofit group. “The things embedded in them … speak to the city and to a life that’s being teased out in these objects.”

Among the assumptions about the artist: He was male (the heavy wire was bent by hand, requiring considerable strength) and African-American (they were found in one of the city’s oldest historically black neighborhoods). It is also surmised that the Wireman either died and a landlord put out his possessions as trash, or he was evicted and left his belongings behind.

Those guesses have been subject to much debate, which will surely continue as long as the Wireman remains nameless and faceless. That is no small part of why the works are appealing.

“The mystery surrounding their creation enables people to consider them (apart) from any specific narrative. … We can apply any number of stories to them because we don’t know who made them,” Zimmerman said. “The fact is that the story, or lack thereof, becomes so integral to what they are.”

Leitch’s recollection vacillated over time regarding the exact year and location on the block where he found them, leaving few solid leads to pursue. To date, efforts to unmask the enigmatic artist have proven futile.

“There were many graduate students who came here determined to find the identity of the Wireman,” Ollman said. “No one did.”

Included in the show are West African spiritual objects called nkisi, many with striking similarities to the Philadelphia Wireman pieces, as well as several works by the late Emery Blagdon. A self-taught artist from Nebraska who lost both parents and three siblings to cancer, Blagdon created large and elaborate “healing machines” he believed generated electromagnetic energy that cured disease.

Ollman said he still marvels at the notion that had Leitch not beaten the trash collector to those boxes, the mystery artist’s life’s work would have been destroyed. He said many self-taught artists are known only thanks to similar timely interventions by a stranger or friend.

“The most amazing thing is that they survived,” Ollman said. “You have to wonder whether for every piece that survives, there are 100 that are lost.”

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Online:

http://www.fleisherollman.com

AP-WF-10-31-11 1936GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

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