Andy Warhol ‘Saint Apollonia’ screenprint. Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. image. TOWSON, Md. – Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. will sell more than 1,300 lots of outstanding antiques, decorative and fine art in their auction Dec. 14-16. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The sale bill includes antique and reproduction furniture and decorations; extraordinary collection of Oriental ivory, hardstone and art; paintings and prints; contemporary art; porcelain; glass; a Tiffany lamp; jewelry; sterling silver; Oriental rugs; two Steinway grand pianos; books; stamps; and collectibles.
The auction Saturday, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, includes Oriental rugs, stamps, books, toys and military collectibles.
Sunday’s big session – 724 lots – will begin at 10 a.m. In the lineup are antique and reproduction furniture and decorations; an extraordinary collection of Oriental carved items; paintings and prints; contemporary art; porcelain; glass; the Tiffany lamp; the Steinway grand pianos; and collectibles.
Monday’s sale, also beginning at 10 a.m. will be devoted to silver, jewelry a fur coats.
Frederic Remington, American, 1861–1909, ‘The Broncho Buster,’ 1895 (cast 1906), 22 5/8 × 22 × 15 in. (57.5 × 57.8 × 38.7 cm). The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Hogg Brothers Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg (43.73). NEW YORK – At the turn of the 20th century, artistic images of American Indians, cowboys and cavalry, pioneers and prospectors, and animals of the plains and the mountains served as visual metaphors for the Old West and, as such, were collected eagerly by an urban-based clientele. Through some 65 bronze sculptures by 28 artists, the traveling exhibition “The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925,” opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Dec. 18, will explore the aesthetic and cultural impulses behind the creation of statuettes with American western themes so popular with audiences then and now.
It is the first full-scale museum exhibition devoted to the subject and brings together examples from public and private collections nationwide.
In addition to representative sculptures by such archetypal artists as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, the exhibition will explore the work of sculptors who infrequently pursued western subjects – such as James Earle Fraser and Paul Manship – yet profoundly informed widespread appreciation of the American bronze statuette. The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 will offer a fresh and balanced look at the multifaceted roles played by these sculptors in creating three-dimensional interpretations of western life, whether those interpretations are based on historical fact, mythologized fiction, or, most often, something in-between.
Although the 28 artists represented in the exhibition are bound together by their use of bronze, they are distinguished by varying life experiences. Alexander Phimister Proctor and Solon Hannibal Borglum, for instance, grew up in the West, and that first-hand experience informed their work, even after the artists had moved to cosmopolitan centers, especially New York and Paris. Some resided in the West their entire lives—notably Russell, who settled in Montana—punctuated only by brief travels east or abroad. Others, such as Edward Kemeys and Charles Schreyvogel, were transitory explorers, ethnologists, and front-line recorders of the western experience. Still others rarely traveled west of the Mississippi River—Frederic William MacMonnies, for example, spent most of his career in France.
Despite inherent differences, these sculptors collectively glorified an Old West past of Indians and wildlife, cowboys and pioneers, in marked contrast to the gritty realities of industrialization and immigration then altering East Coast cities and pushing inexorably westward. Remington no doubt spoke for many of his colleagues when in 1907 he stated, “My West passed utterly out of existence so long ago as if to make it merely a dream. It put on its hat, took up its blankets and marched off the board; the curtain came down and a new act was in progress.”
A special feature about “The American West in Bronze” will appear on the Museum’s website (www.metmuseum.org). It will include a blog and a selection of 360-degree photography of selected objects in the exhibition.
The exhibition was organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum.
The exhibition is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Enterprise Holdings Endowment.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Frederic Remington, American, 1861–1909, ‘The Broncho Buster,’ 1895 (cast 1906), 22 5/8 × 22 × 15 in. (57.5 × 57.8 × 38.7 cm). The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Hogg Brothers Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg (43.73).Paul Manship, American, 1885–1966, ‘Indian Hunter and His Dog,’ 1926, 21 × 23 × 8 1/8 in. (54.6 × 59.7 × 20.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Thomas Cochran, 1929 (29.162).Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American, 1866–1947, ‘The Moqui Prayer for Rain,’ 1895–96 (cast ca. 1897), 22 × 11 × 25 in. (56.5 × 27.9 × 64.1 cm). Daniel and Mathew Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf.
Christopher Columbus’ fleet is pictured on this 1893 U.S. postage stamp. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. BILOXI, Miss. (AP) – Replicas of two of Christopher Columbus’ ships – the Nina and the Pinta – are scheduled to dock Thursday for a three-week stay at the Schooner Pier Complex of the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi.
The ships will remain in Biloxi until Jan. 2.
Robin Krohn David, the museum’s executive director, says both ships tour together as a new and enhanced sailing museum to educate the public and school children about Columbus’ explorations.
The general public may visit the ships for a walk-aboard, self-guided tour. Admission charges are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $6 for students ages 5 to 16. Children 4 and under are free.
The ships will be open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until their departure.
The Frank Lloyd Wright chandelier bought by the St. Louis Museum Art Museum is from the Francis W. Little House in Peoria, Ill. Image by mrknightgbs. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Art Museum’s governing board has signed off on spending $825,000 for a 110-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright chandelier.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports purchase approved Monday will add the 1903 chandelier in brass, bronze and leaded glass to a Frank Lloyd Wright chair the museum already owns.
Museum curators call the chandelier purchase with private donations a “rare opportunity” and something that’s “been top of our wish list forever.”
The chandelier is one of two from the master bedroom of the Wright-designed Francis W. Little House in Peoria, Ill.
Wright, who died in 1959, designed 1,141 architectural works, including everything from houses to bridges and museums. More than one-third of his buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places or are in a National Historic District.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-12-11-13 1350GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Frank Lloyd Wright chandelier bought by the St. Louis Museum Art Museum is from the Francis W. Little House in Peoria, Ill. Image by mrknightgbs. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
American Nation Paige styled pedal car. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Bertoia Auctions. NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) – Pedal cars skirt the perimeter of the 2,100-square-foot building designed specifically for their housing. Above them float shelves upon shelves with every size and shape of toy imaginable, while metal airplanes suspended from the rafters seem frozen in time.
Unless he’s relocated to rural East Texas, this is not his Santa’s toy workshop, though it’s possible that is the way it appears. It’s an antique toy-collection museum that has been several decades in the making.
“The fun part of collecting is you do it because you enjoy it,” said toy collector Randy Legler. “You don’t do it for investment. You don’t do it with the idea that you’re going to make a big killing on it someday when you sell it off. Markets change, times change, people change. You collect because you enjoy it – you get satisfaction out of it.”
Legler began collecting antique metal toys 42 years ago, and it all started with a flea-market surprise.
“I got out of the Navy, came back to Houston and my wife and I went to a flea market to buy some furniture for a rent house we rented,” Legler said. “I found two very unusual cast-iron toys that I fell in love with. I ended up spending the money we were going to use for furniture on these toys and that started the collection.”
Those cast-iron pieces catapulted Legler into what would transform a hobby to basically a second job.
His toy museum doubles as a workshop, allowing him to tinker away, refurbishing and restoring worn pieces.
“Mostly all my money I spent is a private, separate hobby from my normal income,” he told The Daily Sentinel. “My wife and I had that understanding when I got into this. Everything I have has been wheeling and dealing. If I make money by fixing toys, then that money goes right back into it, I just keep turning it back into it.”
Five thousand was the last known figure Legler had for the number of toy pieces he owns. Though he stopped counting years ago, he believes he now has anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 adorning the rows of shelves in the toy hut he designed and had built.
“I’ve really only been able to play at this big time more seriously for the last 10 years,” Legler said. “I have more money to work with, but I’m also networking. And being around as long as I have, people know me and I’m able to sell higher dollar toys and acquire better toys.”
A 1926 Franklin American National pedal car is Legler’s most expensive piece. Eighteen months of haggling with the car’s Chicago-based owner is how long it took him to finally acquire the prize.
“It’s one of the best pieces if you want a pre-World War II pedal car,” he said. “It’s very rare and in its original condition. All those factors determine value. If it’s not been restored, there are no replacement parts. Original paint and everything is complete on it (and) it doubles to triples the value.”
Legler blames his infatuation with antique toys on being “toy deprived” as a child, “so I’m making up for it as I got to be an adult and could afford toys.”
To be classified “antique,” a toy must be at least 50 years old. Legler said a majority of his toys are from 1965 or earlier, with potentially a few exceptions.
“My oldest one is probably 1885 French tricycle,” he said. “I bought that at an antique show in downtown Dallas in 1985.”
Legler’s rural toy-collection museum can be toured by appointment, but some of his smaller pieces are set up in a booth at the Antique Market on U.S. 59 South in Nacogdoches.
“My problem is a lot of the stuff I buy I end up getting attached to,” he said. “And I don’t want to sell it. Especially if I’ve never had one or don’t have one in my collection, then I’ll keep it. That’s how my collection grew to what it is today.”
He discourages children from perusing his items, wanting only individuals who understand the pieces’ fragility and history before handling them.
“Usually, it’s those who I think would understand and have an interest in it – who could relate to it from when they were a kid,” Legler said. “I don’t want to show it to someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking at or whose first statement is, ‘Boy, how much money do you have tied up in this junk?’ Right then, you know you don’t need to show it to them because they’re not going to appreciate it.”
