Rene Magritte, Son of Man, lithographed poster. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Rare Posters, Brooklyn, NY.
VIENNA (AFP) – The absurd world of Rene Magritte, an artist known for his bowler-hatted men and green apples, is shown in a new light with a comprehensive exhibit at Vienna’s Albertina museum opening late Tuesday.
With some 250 pieces from private and public collections all over Europe, North America and Japan — some of them rarely seen — the exposition retraces the surrealist artist’s progress from collages to his famous “Empire of Light” phase.
“It’s a world we know from our dreams,” Albertina director Klaus Albrecht Schroeder noted at a preview of the show Tuesday.
“But he doesn’t depict dreams, it’s just the same principles: the change in proportions, metamorphosis … this attack on rational reality.”
Some of Magritte’s best-known works are included in the display, from his fragmented women’s bodies to his sky-colored birds and suspended rocks.
The chronological order also takes the visitor from his mind games — “Ceci n’est pas une pipe,” a painting of a pipe with the inscription “This is not a pipe” — to his pop culture-inspired “Periode Vache” and his later focus on mystery.
Created in collaboration with Britain’s Tate Liverpool, the exhibit also features whimsical short films, letters, posters and advertisements, as well as pictures of friends and family, which he often composed like a painting, with an element of the absurd.
“I think this exhibit brings a new level to Magritte, a new significance,” said Tate Liverpool director Christoph Grunenberg. “He’s an artist you can rediscover.”
Magritte, who was born in 1898 and died in 1967, created many of his works at a time of social, political and economic unrest so that the timing of the exhibit could not be more appropriate, Schroeder also told AFP.
Today, “certainties that we thought were unshakeable have suddenly fallen apart … and in this sense, Magritte’s absurd language is an apt metaphor for this paradoxical combination of opposites.”
In the Belgian artist’s world, smoke coming out of a fireplace is actually steam from a locomotive, a dark street is topped by a bright blue sky and shards from a broken window still have fragments of the view imprinted on them.
“It is a truly quiet, motionless, even petrified world, and … we too are frozen in shock at the moment,” Schroeder says.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Christo, the artist famous for wrapping landmarks around the world, revealed Tuesday his next project: suspending silvery fabric over the Arkansas River in the western United States.
“Over the River” will see eight sections of the river between Salida and Carson City in Colorado covered with a total of 5.9 miles (10 kilometers) of billowing aluminized panels that will change shade over the course of each day.
Formal approval for the ambitious undertaking came Monday from the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency within the Department of the Interior that administers public lands in the United States.
Seen from above, the panels — to be hung two to eight meters (6.5 to 26 feet) above the river — “will resemble waves at sea,” the Bulgarian-born artist told AFP at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
“It’s a fabric with many folds, but not always horizontal because one river bank can be higher than another,” he said, adding that from below, kayakers will get a sense of clouds and rolling mountains.
Christo, 76, started conceptualizing “Over the River” in 1992 with his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009.
Together they had undertaken 22 works of “environmental art” including the wrapping in fabric of such international landmarks as the Pont-Neuf in Paris and the Bundestag in Berlin.
“Over the River” will be financed entirely by Christo, who is selling preparatory drawings to the public. It has already cost him $10 million and the final price tag could be five times that amount.
Christo already has another project in the works: a re-creation of a mastaba, or ancient Egyptian tomb, in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi with 390,500 brightly colored oil barrels.
Very early original Walt Disney pen and ink ‘Fill Up My Can’ drawing by Walt Disney with signature. Measures 8 inches x 4 3/4 inches. This pre-Laugh-O-Gram Studio cartoon is in excellent condition. After 1925 Walt Disney rarely put a pen or pencil to paper. As the head of a thriving movie studio, he could leave the draftsmanship to others. Image courtesy of Holabird-Kagin Americana. RENO, Nev. – Unique artifacts from Ruth Disney, Walt Disney’s sister, will be featured at the Holabird-Kagin Americana auction Nov. 29 and 30 at the Atlantis Casino Resort. The auctions will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific both days. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
This unique collection, which was purchased by the consignor in 1971, is new to the market and shows the genesis of a career and man that has become a worldwide icon in the entertainment industry. Hitting the auction block is an original, autographed, early illustration by Walt Disney, entitled Fill Up My Can. The pen and ink work was done in the early 1920s, most likely prior to Mickey Mouse, who didn’t make his screen debut until 1928.
The collection also includes several stock certificates issued by the O-Zell Co. of Chicago, including what may be the very first stock ever issued to Walt Disney. These items were formerly owned by Walt Disney, his parents Flora and Elias, and his sister Ruth. They may be the only surviving O-Zell items known to exist.
In the spring of 1917 Elias Disney, had tired of the newspaper delivery business and decided to make a career change, which also included bringing his youngest son, Walter into the venture. There is a distinct possibility that family revenue gained from work at the O-Zell Co. gave Walt his first needed grubstake that allowed him to venture into the world of animation. While it’s unknown what happened to the O-Zell Co. in later years, that 16-year-old from Kansas went on to make quite a name for himself in Hollywood.
This once-in-a-lifetime offering of incredible collectibles from America’s rich animation history, and the man who built it, is estimated to bring $70,000-$100,000.
The Ruth Disney archive is part of the “2011 Grand Finale Auction” of Holabird-Kagin Americana and is also available for viewing and bidding on the Internet through the company’s website.
The Holabird-Kagin Americana auction will also include two photos taken by Mathew Brady, an archive from Comstock silver king William Sharon, a photo collection by early 20th-century photographer N.E. Johnson, trade tokens from a myriad of trades, businesses and locales, and gold and mineral specimens.
For more information on the auction or to request an auction catalog, visit www.HolabirdAmericana.com or call 775-852-8822.
This lot consists of approximately 42 letters, receipts and documents to and from to Elias Disney, Walt’s father, who bought heavily into the O-Zell Jelly Company. Walt Disney was not only a stockholder in the O-Zell company at the age of 15, but that he was employed there part-time later. A complete, detailed inventory available upon request. Image courtesy of Holabird-Kagin Americana.
This is the first stock ever issued to Walt Disney. Certificate number 1644 for 50 shares issued to Walter E. Disney. Walt was 15 years old when his dad invested his money for him from the paper route in this stock. Image courtesy of Holabird-Kagin Americana.
This item is a compilation of U.S. Disney Dollar production file and production model artwork. Original 1987 Disney Dollar and five dollar plus 1989 Disney ephemera relating to 10 dollar denomination. Twenty-five pieces total, mostly design margin related choices. Made of paper with 100 percent cotton content, Disney Dollars had the look and feel of real currency. They were used in Disney parks and stores. Image courtesy of Holabird-Kagin Americana.
Henri Matisse, Sword Swallower, from the Jazz Suite series, edition of 100, 1947, 15¾ x 11¾ in., framed, est. $31,050-$38,815. Universal Live image.
NORTHBROOK, Ill. – High-quality collections of fine art from three Chicago estates and other private consignors have created an unprecedented buying opportunity for those participating in Universal Live’s Nov. 17, 2011 online-only auction. Internet live bidding for the 344-lot sale will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
Martin Shape, owner of Universal Live, described the combined trove of art to be auctioned as “the finest selection [we] have ever presented,” adding that two of the consignment sources are estates of former art dealers. “There’s a tremendous range of styles, from a 1620 da Vinci drawing to works by Modern masters like Warhol and Calder,” Shape said.
A highly priced entry is the Leonardo da Vinci, first-state etching of standing man, circa 1651, from work conceived between 1490-1513 for the Trattato della Pittura. Measuring 4¼ x 6½ in., it is expected to realize $5,000-$6,250.
An original lithograph on Japon Imperial paper by Jacques Villon (French, 1875-1963), is artist-signed and was produced in 1953. Villon’s Cubist style is evident in the sketching of the artwork, which measures 22 x 32½ in., and is estimated at $2,790-$4,290. A second Villon print depicting the Place de la Concorde in Paris also dates to 1953, and is estimated at $2,390-$3,680. Both Villon lots are nicely framed.
Dating to 1890, an 8ft. stone lithographed original Jules Cheret (French, 1836-1932) lithograph advertises a masked ball taking place every Tuesday at a dance hall in Montmarte. The full-color image depicts a free-spirited young woman high-stepping alongside a man dressed as a clown. An important work, it is estimated at $35,000-$50,000.
Several Marc Chagall prints will be auctioned, including a 1978 original lithograph hand-signed by the artist. Titled Message Biblique, its central figure is an angel against a surreal background in shades of blue and green. It is expected to make $2,500-$3,000.
Many vibrant Picasso prints are included in the sale inventory. Among them are a hand-embellished giclee on canvas, 20 x 26in., of the famed Dora Maar portrait, est. $525-$750; and The Artist, also a numbered, hand-embellished giclee on canvas. It, too, is estimated at $525-$750.
The quintessential American artist Norman Rockwell produced the Thanksgiving family scene titled Freedom from Want. An artist-signed and numbered lithograph of the famed artwork is entered in the sale with a $12,000-$15,000 estimate.
From the popular Jazz Suite comes a limited-edition 1947 print of Henri Matisse’s Sword Swallower. Intensely hued, the framed print is from an edition of 100 and measures 15¾ x 11¾ in. It carries a presale estimate of $31,050-$38,815.
Alexander Calder is in the news with the $5 million auction price realized on Nov. 7 by the American artist’s 1972 metal mobile titled Trepied. More affordable but no less colorful are Universal Live’s offerings of Calder’s Spirals, a signed and numbered lithograph, 26 x 38 in., estimated at $5,000-$6,000; and his 1973 print titled Triangles & Spirals, estimated at $300-$460.
Many other desirable artworks will be auctioned on Nov. 17, with the list of artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Joan Miro, Jim Dine, Red Grooms, Leroy Neiman, Max Gottlieb, Roy Fairchild and Carla Ponti. Additionally, there will be works by Robert Winslow, Georg Baselitz, Roy Fairchild and many other notable leaders of the art world.
For additional information on any lot in the Nov. 17 auction, call 847-412-1802 or e-mail sales@universallive.com. View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Leonardo da Vinci, first state etching of standing man, appeared in a book published circa 1651, originally from a work conceived between 1490-1513 for the Trattato della Pittura, black ink on thin laid paper, 4¼ x 6½ in., est. $5,000-$6,250.
Jacques Villon original lithograph on Japon Imperial paper, circa 1953, 22 x 32½ in., est. $2,790-$4,290. Universal Live image.
Red Grooms, portrait of Picasso, 3-D print, 1997, from edition of 75, 22 7/16 x 13 3/8 in., est. $13,800-$17,250. Universal Live image.
Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want, signed and numbered lithograph, est. $12,000-$15,000. Universal Live image.
Alexander Calder, Spirals, signed and numbered lithograph, 26 x 38 in., est. $5,000-$6,000. Universal Live image.
LeRoy Neiman, Willie Mays, signed and numbered serigraph, 32 x 28 in., est. $7,500-$9,000. Universal Live image.
Lot 33, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), ‘Tete de Femme,’ oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers. CLEVELAND – On Nov. 17 Gray’s Auctioneers will hold their 53rd auction: Fine Art, Decorations and Jewelry. This multifarious auction boasts fine art pieces from artists such as Renoir, Albert Bierdstadt and Ansel Adams, as well as Asian scrolls, sculpture and wardrobe, gorgeous diamonds, stunning silver and a rare 19-foot vintage cedar canoe.
Live online bidding for this auction is offered by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The focal point of this auction is centered on lot 33, Tête de Femme, an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919.) From extended loan at the Dallas Museum of Art, through Christie’s auction house in 1997, this painting comes to Gray’s from a private Northeast Ohio collector. The significance of this painting can be found in its subject matter.
While the impressionist artists steered away from portraiture in favor of landscapes, Renoir transformed the constructs of the traditional portrait. “When Renoir decided, in mid-career, to try his hand at fashionable Parisian Portraiture, he revolutionized the form by treating it with the same freedom that his friends were bringing to landscape painting” (G. Néret, Renoir Painter of Happiness: 1841-1918, Los Angeles, 2009, p. 188). The Renoir at Gray’s is no exception to this and is a distinctive example of his portrait work. This piece is initialed lower left ‘AR’ and is estimated at $70,000-90,000.
Among the other star lots at Gray’s is a hand-colored engraving entitled the Common American Deer, Fawn (Cervus Virginianus, Pennant) drawn from nature by John James Audubon (1785-1851) and lithographed, printed and colored by J.T. Bowen, Philadelphia, 1845. This piece is from the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America and is estimated at $5,000-7,000. Moreover, Albert Bierstadt’s (German, 1830-1902) The Last of the Buffalo from 1891 is a hand-colored photogravure and a powerful example of his sweeping landscapes of the American West. This work is estimated at $8,000-12,000. Lot 34 presents a lithograph by Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) from the Dix Danseuses series entitled Danseuse au Divan. This piece is signed in pencil and numbered 29/130 with an estimate of $10,000-15,000.
Once again, Gray’s is able to offer some exciting Asian pieces including lot 276, a watercolor and ink scroll attributed to Qi Baishi, (1864-1957) entitled Crabs. This playful piece by the influential Chinese painter is signed with his pseudonym, Qi Huang, and is dated to circa 1920-1930. Another influential Chinese artist honored in Gray’s Nov. 17 auction is Cui Bai (fl. 1050-1080). The watercolor and ink on paper depicting a landscape with peacocks is described as after Cui Bai, meaning a piece of art created in his style and honor. This large piece measures in at 64 1/2 by 33 inches and is estimated at $1,500-2,500.
Another featured lot is lot 282, an exquisite 10th-century buff sandstone figure of the Hindu deity Vishnu. At over 31 inches tall and mounted on a museum grade mount, the ornately detailed figure is beautifully preserved.
Lot 320 boasts a 19-foot vintage cedar rowing canoe, in the style of Herald Brother’s, Rice Lake Canoe Co. This tremendous canoe from the early 1900s has teak and oak on the front and rear decks with brass rivets and two luminous bow and aft copper flotation tanks and includes two cedar rowing oars with Page Brand labels.
Two substantial bronze pieces are being offered in this auction. Lot 122, a powerful piece titled Cossack Bidding Farewell by Evgeny Alexandrovitch Lanceray (1848-1886), depicts the passionate departing of a man to battle, while The Archer by Victor Heinrich Seifert (1870-1953), lot 124, is strong and bold, depicting a beautifully sculpted man holding and aiming an archers bow. It is signed on base “Pro V.H Seifert” and is estimated at $3,000-5,000.
In addition to the aforementioned notable artists, this auction includes Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) and Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984) pieces. Rockwell’s Four Seasons, lot 52, is a significant set of four lithographs, matted and framed, signed at the lower right and dated 1976, edition 122/200. The set includes the original portfolio envelope and title page. Lot 54 by Adams is titled Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, Calif., circa 1926. This lush gelatin silver print is typical of Adams, whose uncanny eye for composition and ability to place the viewer directly into the imagery remains unmatched. The photograph is signed ‘Ansel Adams’ on the mount at the lower right and is estimated at $15,000-20,000
Throughout this auction, Gray’s is offering a wide variety of objects from fur coats and rugs to a large number of netsukes and Chinese jade bi-discs, as well as a multitude of jewelry, including lot 139, a 14-karat white and yellow gold round brilliant cut diamond ring. This stunner is approximately 2 carats and is surrounded by six round brilliant cut and 28 tapered and straight cut diamonds, conservatively estimated at $4,500-5,500.
Rounding the sale out are a few notable silver items. Lot 193 is a Georgian sterling silver flatware service with a threaded fiddle and shell pattern, consisting of 109 pieces by various silversmiths circa 1809-1834. This particular silver service was made in London with the mark of 15 different silversmiths including Paul Storr, with four family crests including a winged sword, knight on horseback, unicorn head and arm holding a sword. At an incredible total troy ounce of 245, combined with the impressive assortment of silversmiths, makes this set one not to be missed. A pair of George II sterling silver candlesticks by William Café, lot 196, 36 troy ounces, has a $3,000-5,000 estimate.
Gray’s will be open for preview at their spacious showrooms, 10717 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland, from Thursday, Nov. 10 – Wednesday, Nov. 16, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. The auction will take place at 11 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, Nov. 17. Gray’s also accepts absentee bids and telephone bid registration on their website. The complete illustrated catalog for this auction can be found on Gray’s web site at www.graysauctioneers.com and also on LiveAuctioneers.com.
Lot 37, after John James Audubon (1785-1851), ‘Common American Deer, Fawn (Cervus Virginianus, Pennant),’ hand-colored engraving. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 39, Currier and Ives (1834-1907), ‘Lake Lugano, Italy,’ hand-colored lithograph. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 54, Ansel Adams (1902-1984),’Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, Calif.,’ circa 1926, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 52, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), ‘Four Seasons,’ lithograph. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 34, Henri Matisse (1869-1954), ‘Danseuse au Divan from the “Dix Danseuses,’ lithograph. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 204, carved ivory netsuke. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Lot 122, Evgeny Alexandrovitch Lanceray (1848-1886), ‘Cossack Bidding Farewell,’ bronze. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers.
Charlotte Bronte, 1854 photograph. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
LONDON (AFP) – An unpublished manuscript by Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, could fetch up to £300,000 ($480,000, 350,000 euros) when it is auctioned next month, Sotheby’s said Tuesday.
Experts described the manuscript, a miniature magazine written when the author was just 14, as the most important by any of the Bronte sisters to appear at auction in more than 30 years.
Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2 is dated August 1830 and contains characters who inhabited the imaginary world of Glass Town that Charlotte Bronte and her three siblings created when they were growing up.
It also includes a passage very similar to a scene in Jane Eyre, the novel Bronte wrote 17 years later, in which the insane wife of the eponymous heroine’s love interest, Mr Rochester, sets fire to his bed curtains.
“Crafted with extraordinary care, this minute manuscript marks Charlotte Bronte’s first burst of creativity and, significantly, provides a rare and intimate insight into one of history’s great literary minds,” said Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s senior books specialist.
“It contains a colorful tale of murder and madness which includes a precursor to one of the most famous scenes in ‘Jane Eyre’—the moment when Bertha, Mr Rochester’s insane wife, seeks revenge by setting fire to the bed curtains in her husband’s chamber.”
The manuscript includes 19 pages measuring approximately 35 millimetres (1 1/2 inches) by 61 millimetres (2 1/2 inches), the original protective red folder and a brown slip-off case with gilt lettering down the spine.
It goes on sale at Sotheby’s in London on Dec. 15 with an estimated price of £200,000-£300,000.
Portrait of Mary Boykin Chestnut. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Nearly 200 photographs that famed Civil War diarist Mary Boykin Chestnut collected to illustrate her epic account of that conflict have been reunited with her original journals, 125 years after her death.
Chestnut’s descendants have given the photos to the University of South Carolina, where several dozen will be on public display through Jan. 31 in the school’s South Caroliniana Library. Chestnut’s seven original journals and dozens of her later edits have been at the university since the early 1960s.
Chestnut’s daily accounts, which she expanded in later edits to create an autobiographical tone, have long been a historical source as one of the better depictions of the South in the Civil War. The best edited and well-known version, published in 1981, is widely considered the finest literary work of the Confederacy.
“The albums are basically the eyes, the faces, the hands of those who figure in the diary,” Henry Fulmer, the library’s curator of manuscripts, said Thursday.
The images—small photographs on card stock called “cartes de visite” swapped in that era—include images of President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, newspaper editor Horace Greeley, and European leaders from whom Southern leaders sought support, including Pope Pius IX. They also put a face to lesser-known family and friends mentioned in her diary.
“They absolutely confirm and illustrate her panoramic view of the Civil War as a great epic tragedy,” said her great-great grand-niece Marty Daniels, 67, who is among 12 in her generation responsible for the upkeep of the family’s historic Mulberry Plantation near Camden.
“She was writing not just of the Confederates but the whole world stage,” Daniels noted.
The family donated Chestnut’s three albums to the university in September, nearly four years after winning at auction those albums once considered lost to history. Family members and scholars knew they existed. But the albums that Chestnut referenced in her journals disappeared in 1931, after the niece who inherited them died.
They resurfaced in November 2007 on eBay.
“Of course, where else would they be in this day and age?” Daniels asked, laughing.
She credits a Civil War collector who recognized their worth for saving the albums from an owner who had begun taking them apart and selling the photos separately. Alerted to the eBay notice about a live auction in Nashville, the family pooled their resources. Daniels said even her elementary school grandchildren wanted to contribute, and the family urged libraries and museums across South Carolina not to bid against them.
“We were very afraid we wouldn’t be able to afford them,” Daniels said. In making the request, the family promised “we’d do the right thing and get them to the people of South Carolina and reunite them with her diaries, but we also dearly wanted to see the photographs of our ancestors.”
Purchased for “less than six figures,” the albums were delivered to Daniels’ mother at Mulberry Plantation just before Christmas 2007. Martha Williams Daniels, the great-granddaughter of Chestnut’s sister, has since died.
The family has spent the past several years putting together an illustrated edition of Chestnut’s diary, published last month as a two-volume set titled Mary Chesnut’s Illustrated Diary: Mulberry Edition.
It may look very much as Chestnut intended for the daily diary she began keeping in February 1861, two months before the first shots of the Civil War were fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.
An opponent of slavery, who lamented women’s subordinate roles, Chestnut had a front-row view on history. The daughter of a former South Carolina governor and U.S. senator, she accompanied her husband to Washington in 1858 when he became a U.S. senator. They returned to South Carolina after Lincoln’s election, and James Chestnut—who helped negotiate the surrender of Fort Sumter—became an aide to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and one of his top generals, P.G.T. Beauregard.
“Scholars can now fully grasp that she intended this to be an epic work of words and pictures,” Fulmer said.
Fulmer noted that Chestnut meticulously labeled each photo in the albums. Of the 200 or so originally in the albums, 186 were still intact. The library is trying to replace the missing photos, based on the captions that identify them.
Chestnut, who had no children, began editing her diaries in the 1870s and 1880s with obvious literary intent, Fulmer said. While she inquired about publishing the diary in her lifetime, it was deemed too soon after the Civil War. After she died in 1886 at age 63, a Columbia schoolteacher, at her request, began compiling the manuscript, which appeared in segments in the Saturday Evening Post before being published for the first time in 1905, though still not in its entirety, as A Diary From Dixie, he said.
“By the time 20 more years had elapsed, it was an immediate hit,” he said.
A fictionalized version of her diary came out in 1949.
Decades later, the best-known edition of her diary, edited by the late Yale scholar of Southern history C. Vann Woodward, the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning Mary Chestnut’s Civil War catapulted Chestnut’s fame and earned her respect as a great literary writer of her time. Excerpts from the diary were used prominently in Ken Burns’ documentary film The Civil War.
Chestnut’s biography, Mary Boykin Chestnut: A Biography, was also published in 1981. It was written by Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, who assisted Woodward in his research as a University of South Carolina graduate student and later became president of Sweet Briar College in Virginia.
Chestnut’s original journals, before her own edits, were published as The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries, in 1985. And two of Chestnut’s manuscript novels were published in 2002 for the first time.
Daniels implores all families to salvage and preserve their history.
“There are attics and trunks of letters all over South Carolina, parts and pieces of our collective story,” she said. “We’re just the custodians of a few threads. It’s our challenge to pass it on.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates. MOUNT CRAWFORD, Va. – Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates is pleased to announce its 21st annual fall cataloged auction of Americana and fine antiques spotlighting Virginia and the South. The auction will take place on Saturday, Nov. 12, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern at the firm’s gallery at 2177 Green Valley Lane in Mount Crawford. The sale will feature deaccessioned material from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts along with fine consignments from more than 40 estates and collections from throughout Virginia and the Eastern United States.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding for the more than 900 lots.
The sale will include a large selection of Virginia and other Southern decorative arts; 18th- and 19th-century American furniture; fraktur and folk art; samplers and other textiles, folk pottery, a large collection of ironware, antique firearms, a collection of Southern silver, a large selection of 18th- and 19th-century English and Asian ceramics and fine jewelry. Ninety-nine percent of the lots will sell without reserve.
Virginia furniture is highlighted by a fine Chippendale walnut corner or smoking chair (lot 536) from the second half of the 18th century. This rare survivor is attributed to Isle of Wright County and was published by John Bivins in his 1988 volume The Furniture of Coastal North Carolina, 1700-1820 (p. 173). Another closely related example resides in the Colonial Williamsburg collection and is illustrated on page 108 of Southern Furniture 1680-1830 by Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown. The Colonial Williamsburg example is attributed to Southampton or Greensville County, Va., just west of Isle of Wright Co. The chair offered in this auction is from the private collection of Dr. Charles and Elizabeth Umstott of Newport, News, Va., and was acquired from the late John Bivins Jr. It carries an estimate of $6,000-9,000.
Additional important Southern furniture includes a signed “John Fessler / Frederick Town,” Md., Chippendale walnut tall-case clock (lot 530) retaining an outstanding historical surface (estimate $4,000-8,000). This late 18th-century timepiece was published on page 157 of Maryland Clockmakers by Whisker, Hartzler and Petrucelli, and was first recorded by MESDA (file S-6052) in 1976. An extremely rare late 18th/early 19th-century northern Shenandoah Valley Federal walnut block-front bureau (lot 562) is probably of western Maryland origin (estimate $4,000-6,000). Its provenance includes MESDA and Sumpter Priddy, III. Another example constructed by the same artisan is in the collection of the Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum.
A large collection of 16th-19th-century ironware will be offered including an extremely rare and important Augusta County, Va., stove plate (lot 318) manufactured at Bird and Miller’s Mossy Creek Furnace in 1775 (estimate $5,000-8,000). This plate was originally part of a five-plate jamb stove installed in the George Hanger homestead in the Churchville area of Augusta County and has descended directly in the Hanger family. It represents one of only two intact examples recorded.
Valley of Virginia works on paper include frakturs/birth records by Peter Bernhart (lots 420 and 426), the Stony Creek artist (lot 425), and the Frederick County Record Book Artist (lot 424); a watercolor double portrait of Joseph and Sarah Fisher dated 1854 (lot 429) and attributed to itinerant folk artist Thomas Skynner; and a pair of profile portraits of Dr. Jacob Haller (1796-1877) and his wife. Priscilla Nye Haller, (1805-1871) of Wytheville, Va., (lot 430) that retain their original frames and have descended in the Haller family.
Two Shenandoah Valley of Virginia long rifles will be offered including a signed John Lauck, Winchester, Va., example (lot 129) that was published on page 40 of Long Rifles of Virginia by Butler and Whisker, and a Frederick, Md., example signed by Jacob Metzger (lot 130). Both are from the MESDA collection and are being deaccessioned to benefit the museum’s acquisition fund.
The auction will also feature a large selection of American folk pottery including many rare examples from the Shenandoah Valley. Leading the group is an important and possibly unique mottle-glazed earthenware lamb figure on base (lot 1), attributed to J. Eberly & Co. of Strasburg, Va. The figure was produced from the same mold as the often-seen Eberly lamb doorstop/grave marker; however, this is the first example to be recorded affixed to a base and displaying this particular decorative glazing. It carries an estimate of $8,000-12,000.
On Friday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. the Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Fall Lecture Series will be held at the firm’s Mount Crawford. The featured speaker will be Catherine B. Hollan, author of the newly released 1,000-page tome Virginia Silversmiths, Jewelers, Clock- and Watchmakers, 1607-1860, Their Lives and Marks. The lecture and book signing is free and open to the public.
Visit the firm’s website, www.jeffreysevans.com or call (540) 434-3939 for additional information including a schedule of their monthly cataloged auctions.
Pelican soaring along Driggs Avenue. Wheatpasting by Erik Berglin. Photo by Kelsey Savage Hays.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Beautiful, wheatpasted birds popped up around Williamsburg early this fall, courtesy of the Swedish artist Erik Berglin. Scanned from books, or downloaded from the Internet, and installed on the fly with wallpaper glue, Erik’s feathered friends represent what he sees as the best of creatures that have adapted to urban environments.
From parrots to pelicans, Erik brings our attention to the endless variety of avian species with his delicate, realistic depictions. Berglin’s lighthearted decals aren’t an invitation to find a deeper meaning, according to Berglin, but rather to get onlookers to appreciate the animals that surround us. Erik takes his task very seriously – he’s pasted approximately 3,000 birds throughout Europe and the United States. Erik’s website proclaims his love of the animals, citing their ability to “have mastered all the elements, in addition to outstanding flyers among them can also be found fast swimmers, daring divers, runners and climbers.”
Berglin’s playful and flexibility is displayed in his other projects include “Surrounding Camouflage,” a work in progress that involves the infrared photographs hunters use to track deer, and his photographs that explore an eruption of the volcano Eldfell on the Icelandic island Heimaey. He’s had solo exhibitions, featuring his photographs in Sweden, Norway and Germany, as well as New York. For more information, check our ErikBerglin.com.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
A parrot greets travelers on the L train. Wheatpasting by Erik Berglin. Photo by Kelsey Savage Hays.
