December 2013 - Page 4 of 18 - Auction Central News

Kovels Antiques & Collecting: Week of Dec. 23, 2013

This Noma Christmas-tree stand was made in the late 1920s or 1930s. The base is 14 1/2 inches in diameter. The stand is made of lithographed tin and pictures Santa's sleigh and reindeer. It sold for $270 at a November 2013 Rich Penn auction in Iowa.

BEACHWOOD, Ohio – Holiday-related collectibles are especially popular if they relate to Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July, Easter, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and even St. Patrick’s Day. But the most popular holiday for collectors is Christmas.

Families save tree ornaments, toppers, trim and lights, but it is harder to find a Christmas tree stand or fence. Early commercial tree stands were made of cast iron. Three or more legs held a tube large enough for the trunk of a tree and had large screws that dug into the tree trunk. The designs for the iron legs were much like the patterns found on iron stove feet or garden benches. The stands kept changing in style to match dominant furniture styles. By the 1920s, cone-shaped metal stands with lithographed tin pictures of Santa were popular. They resembled lithographed tin toys. Some of these stands were electrified for lights or hid a mechanism that made the tree revolve. Noma, the American company that made strings of Christmas tree lights and developed the bubble light in 1945, had started making stands in about 1926. By the 1960s, the Art Deco aluminum tree was popular, and stands with colored lights were made of shining metal to match. The most expensive antique stands are the early 1900 figural iron stands that look like a small Santa, a group of people or even reindeer. They sell for $200 to $750 each. Noma stands sell for about $200 to $300, and old aluminum stands with lights are $250 to $350. But beware. These have all been copied.

Q: I have a six-pack of 1955 Blatz Holiday flat-top beer cans. The pack has never been opened and it includes cans in all six colors. I think the cans, especially the pink and light blue, are valuable. What is the whole set worth?

A: There are many dedicated collectors of old and rare beer cans. Some would be eager to buy your rare set of 1955 Blatz holiday steel cans. In addition to light blue and pink, the set included green, chartreuse, dark blue and orange cans. Beer, previously sold in bottles, was first sold in cans in 1934. The cans were made of steel until 1958, when aluminum cans were introduced. Blatz Brewery opened in Milwaukee in 1846 and continued to operate under various owners until 1958, when it was sold to Pabst. The brand name is owned by Pabst today, too, but the original Blatz brewery has been converted to condos. We have seen a single green 1955 Blatz holiday sell for more than $250, so your complete set could top $1,000. To sell your cans, do some research and find the right market. Contact experts at the Brewery Collectibles Club of America (BCCA.com) and at Breweriana.com.

Q: I have a 6-foot-tall silver metallic Christmas tree that’s at least 50 years old. Does it have any value? Should I sell it?

A: Aluminum Christmas trees were popular in the 1960s. The first ones were made by the Aluminum Specialty Co. of Manitowoc, Wis., in 1959. The trees have wire branches wrapped with aluminum strips to represent “needles.” Early trees had collapsible tripod bases. Later, revolving bases were made, some with music. The trees came in various sizes and colors, but silver was the most popular. Since lights couldn’t be put on aluminum trees, most people used a lighted revolving color wheel at the base of the tree. Millions of aluminum trees were made in the 1960s by several manufacturers. They went out of fashion by the end of the decade and could be picked up at garage sales for just a few dollars. Reproduction and new aluminum trees are being made. Collectors have recently become interested in the old aluminum trees, and prices have risen. Some sell for over $100. If you like the tree, you may just want to keep it and display it during the holidays.

Q: About 25 years ago, I bought an “M.I. Hummel” signed print of the Madonna for $12. It’s 12 by 18 inches. My children had it framed for me. My daughter tried to search online for information about Hummel prints, but all she could find were figurines. Can you help?

A: Sister Maria Innocentia (Berta) Hummel (1909-1946) is most famous for the Goebel figurines based on her artwork. But before and after she became a nun in 1933, she drew and painted pictures that were also published as prints. The signature she used on yours is her convent name and means the original painting was done in 1933 or later. Your print would not sell today for much more than you paid for it, even with the frame.

Q: My husband’s grandfather’s uncle, named Otto Stark, was of German descent. He lived much of his life in the Indianapolis area and belonged to the “Hoosier Group.” We have a few pieces of his artwork and wondered if they would be of any value.

A: The Hoosier Group was made up of five Indiana artists whose paintings, murals and portraits of Indiana people and places were featured in many exhibitions and public buildings in the “Hoosier State.” The name “Hoosier Group” was first used to refer to them in 1894. Otto Stark (1859-1926) was born in Indianapolis and is known for his impressionist landscapes dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s. He started out as a woodcarver’s apprentice and later worked as a lithographer. Stark studied art in France. He opened a studio in Indianapolis in 1894 and later taught art. His oil paintings are offered for $2,000 to $4,000, and his watercolors for $400 to $1,000.

Tip: Store fragile Christmas tree ornaments in plastic zip-lock bags. Be sure there is some air in each bag when you zip it. The air bubble protects like bubble wrap.

Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel answer questions sent to the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of photographs, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The amount of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

CURRENT PRICES

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

Lefton Christmas girl figurine, muff & holly, 1950s, 3 3/4 inches, $20.
Hull Magnolia vase, footed, handles, matte glaze, c. 1946, 8 1/2 inches, $80.
Sevres inkwell, birds, branches, double well, black trim, 19th century, 3 x 8 1/2 inches, $120.
Mickey Mouse bowl, alphabet, Mickey on train, Bavaria, c. 1932, 7 inches, $170.
Flying Nun lunchbox, Sister Bertrille flying, children, metal, Thermos, Aladdin, 1968, $330.
Steuben glass owl, big eyes, 5 x 4 inches, $360.
Tea table, tilt top, Chippendale style, mahogany, Kittinger Furniture Co., 28-inch diameter, $450.
Porcelain group, four children collecting flowers, Meissen, 6 1/2 x 6 inches, $600.
Cane, wooden, ivory skull handle, 36 inches, $960.
Effanbee Patsy Mae doll, composition, muslin, sleep eyes, human hair, box, 1935, 27 inches, $1,570.

Ralph and Terry Kovel, syndicated newspaper columnists, best-selling authors, avid collectors and national authorities on antiques, hosted the HGTV series Flea Market Finds with the Kovels. Watch the Kovels’ HGTV shows to become an expert on almost anything you see at a flea market. DVD sets of Seasons 1 and 2 (12 episodes each, plus a DVD of the final episodes of Seasons 1-4.) Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com for $59.90 plus $4.95 postage, by phone at 800-303-1996; or mail to Kovels, P.O. Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Detroit-owned Van Gogh appraised at up to $150M

Van Gogh's 'Self Portrait with Straw Hat' at the Detroit Institute of Art. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

DETROIT (AP) – The fair market values of some of the most popular pieces in the Detroit Institute of Arts – including Bruegel the Elder’s The Wedding Dance and a Van Gogh self-portrait – have been released.

Christie’s auction house appraised about 2,800 paintings, sculptures, pottery and other city-owned artwork at the city’s request. The list of the items and how much each would fetch at sale were released Thursday by the city.

The Wedding Dance is valued at $100 million to $200 million, while Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Straw Hat was given a price tag of between $80 million and $150 million.

State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr hired Christie’s to do the work. Orr has said city-owned art in the museum can be considered an asset and could be vulnerable during a bankruptcy. He filed for bankruptcy in July, and federal Judge Steven Rhodes approved the petition Dec. 3.

The high values of some of Detroit’s pieces are not surprising, said Charles Guerin, director of the Hyde Collection in Glen Falls, New York.

“The art market has become a place to invest large sums of money,” Guerin said. “Art is a commodity, especially when you get into those numbers. It’s amazing somebody would even have $150 million to spend. There are a lot of wealthy people in the world who can look at $150 million as if it’s chump change.”

According to the appraisal by New York-based Christie’s, the city-owned pieces at the Detroit Institute of Arts are collectively worth between $454 million to $867 million. They represent about five percent of the museum’s estimated 66,000-work collection.

Orr has said the city’s debt is at least $18 billion. That includes $5.7 billion in unfunded health care obligations and $3.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. He is expected to present a plan of adjustment for fiscal restructuring to the bankruptcy court in early January that will include his recommendations for the art.

Guerin cautioned against selling any of the art, saying it would be “short-sighted.”

“Detroit is a great city. One of the things that make it a great city is that it has an absolutely great museum,” he said.

Here are some of the highlights of the appraisal:

– The Wedding Dance, Pieter Bruegel I, $100 million-$200 million.

– Self Portrait with Straw Hat, Vincent Van Gogh, $80 million-$150 million.

– The Visitation, Rembrandt Harmensz. Van Rijn, $50 million-$90 million.

– Le guéridon, Henri Matisse, $40 million-$80 million.

– Gladioli, Claude Monet, $12 million-$20 million.

– The Palla Altarpiece: Tobias and Three Archangels, Neri Di Bicci, $8 million-$15 million.

– Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius, Frans Hals, $6 million-$10 million.

– Madonna and Child, Giovanni Bellini and Workshop, $4 million-$10 million.

– Saint Jerome in His Study, Workshop of Jan Van Eyck, $4 million-$8 million.

– A dead hare with flowers and onions on a ledge, Jean-Simeon Chardin, $5 million-$7 million.

AP-WF-12-20-13 0214GMT

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Chinese national pleads guilty to smuggling rhino horns

Black rhinos in Tanzania. Image by Brocken Inaglory. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – A Chinese national acknowledged Thursday that he was the mastermind of an international smuggling operation that illegally transported more than $4 million in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory from the U.S. to China over the last several years.

Zhifei Li, 29, of Shandong, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to 11 counts including conspiracy, smuggling, illegal wildlife trafficking and making fake documents. Each of seven smuggling counts carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Li’s sentencing is scheduled for April.

“Rhino horn can sell for more than gold and is just as rare, but rhino horn and elephant ivory are more than mere commodities,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Dreher said in a statement. “Each illegally traded horn or tusk represents a dead animal, poaching, bribery, smuggling and organized crime.”

All species of the rhinoceros are protected under U.S. and international law, and international trade in rhino horns and elephant ivory has been regulated since the mid-1970s. Elephant herds in Africa have been critically depleted over the years by ivory hunters.

According to court documents, Li paid a Long Island City antiques dealer for horns that had been acquired by two other people based in several U.S. states. One of the sources for the horns was a wildlife auction business in Missouri. The horns were allegedly shipped to Hong Kong and then mainland China wrapped in duct tape and hidden in porcelain vases.

Federal investigators began focusing on Li two years ago, after a confidential informant sold two raw rhino horns to a middleman at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. The horns, which had been supplied by the government, were then sold to the Long Island City antiques dealer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office estimated the total value of the horns, plus other smuggled objects made from the horns and from illegally obtained elephant ivory, was about $4.5 million.

The Long Island dealer, Qiang Wang, was sentenced to 37 months in prison two weeks ago in New York.

AP-WF-12-19-13 1918GMT

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Lavish array of silver, jewelry & art in Stephenson’s Jan. 1-2 auction

Examples from a collection of Wedgwood to be offered in 60 lots. Stephenson's Auctioneers image.

PHILA., Pa. – Stephenson’s most anticipated auction of the year is their big New Year’s event held at the company’s suburban-Philadelphia gallery in Southampton, Pa. Traditionally, their first auction of the year – which in 2014 will take place on Jan. 1 and 2 – is known not only for its premier estate antiques and art, but also the unexpected treasures set aside throughout the year for inclusion in the New Year’s sale. As always, Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Collectors will want to give the succession of nearly 700 auction lots their full attention, as this is a sale whose level of quality is consistent throughout. The Wednesday session of decorative art and “smalls” contains an exceptional collection of 18th, 19th and 20th-century Wedgwood from the estate of Edgar “Ned” Simmons Jr. of Philadelphia. Most of the 50 pieces to be auctioned are Jasper dip, meaning they were created using a technique in which solid white forms are dipped into colored clay to impart particular colors or combinations of colors.

“We sold a portion of the Simmons estate a few years ago. The Jasperware was retained and stored at the Churchville, Pennsylvania home of Mr. Simmons’ parents, who are now deceased,” explained Stephenson’s owner, Cindy Stephenson. “It’s a very nice collection that includes some Jasper tri-color, some beautiful mini medallions and other Wedgwood.” Also from the Simmons estate comes some drabware, creamware and Lalique.

More than 70 lots of choice Indo-Persian silver – all from a single-owner collection – are entered in the opening session. Leading the gleaming array is an elegant 5-piece, .900-silver tea and coffee service decorated in heavy repousse style. Another top lot is a .900-silver centerpiece with liner signed “M. Tariliyan.” The Wednesday session also includes English and Chinese export silver.

If Santa wasn’t as generous as he should have been this Christmas, there will be many opportunities for gift-givers to make amends, starting with a superb 1920s platinum jabot pin resplendent with cabochon emeralds, pink sapphires, oval blue sapphires and 17 mine-cut diamonds. The brooch is expected to realize $4,000-$6,000. A gold pocket watch and many other pieces of fine jewelry, some of them late entries, will cross the auction block, as well.

A Manhattan estate was the source for some of the jewelry, furniture and art in the sale. It also produced a special luxury highlight for the ladies: several coveted Judith Leiber purses (rhinestone, faux-reptile, velvet, etc.), plus an 18in pearl necklace with jeweled clasp and pair of cased reading glasses, also by the revered New York designer.

The Thursday, January 2nd session will present a strong selection of art crossing many genres. There are two Edmund Coates (American, 1816-1871) Hudson River School pastorals that came from a Princeton, New Jersey estate. One of the paintings depicts ice skaters; the other is a landscape of the Lower Hudson River Valley showing farmers cutting wheat in a field.

A Philadelphia man who decided to deaccession some of the paintings in his vast collection selected several prized works for inclusion in Stephenson’s New Year’s Auction, knowing that the sale is a perennial drawcard for art buyers in the tri-state area. Within the grouping of 10 paintings he consigned is an appealing E.I. (Eanger Irving) Couse oil on canvas depicting a Native American with a patterned blanket in earth tones.

“Couse is a significant Taos school artist,” said Stephenson. “He was a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists, and his work is highly sought after.”

A 1992 serigraph by noted pop artist Alex Katz (American, b. 1927-) is titled “Gray Day” is listed in the artist’s online catalogue raisonne. From an edition of 75, the work is appropriately presented in a modern floating frame.

The art section also includes five John Lear paintings, a Paul Gorka oil-on-canvas surrealist landscape, a David True mixed-media abstract, and a Jack Barnett oil on canvas of reclining nudes.

Also awaiting bidders are furniture – including fine inlaid designs from a Manhattan estate – clocks, lamps and a few hand-tied rugs. Of all the furnishings, the pieces that have drawn the most attention during the run-up to the sale have been the paint-decorated chests-of-drawers by Julia Gray Ltd. New York. “Every decorator who has walked into the gallery has gravitated to the pair immediately,” said Stephenson. “They’re from the 1960s or ’70s and have that stylish Hamptons look, with faux-marble tops and fancy paintwork.”

Another highlight from the aforementioned Princeton estate is a Handel floor lamp with reverse-painted shade. Of dome form, the shade is a mustard color with a black band and floral motif.

The auction is rounded out with primitives, stoneware crocks, Canton china, and a collection of World War II daggers and knives in sheaths.

Stephenson’s Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 1-2, 2014 New Year’s Auction will commence at 10 a.m. Eastern Time at the company’s gallery located at 1005 Industrial Blvd., Southampton (Greater Philadelphia), PA 18966. Inspection is on Monday, Dec. 30 from 3-6 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 31 from 1-6 p.m.; and from 9-10 a.m. prior to the auction sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 1 and 2.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Cindy Stephenson at 215-322-6182 or e-mail info@stephensonsauction.com.

View the fully illustrated online 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

Alex Katz 1992 screenprint 'Gray Day,' 37/75. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — Alex Katz 1992 screenprint ‘Gray Day,’ 37/75. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

Pair of Julia Gray Ltd. paint-decorated chests-of-drawers. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — Pair of Julia Gray Ltd. paint-decorated chests-of-drawers. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

French platinum, emerald, diamond and sapphire jabot pin. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — French platinum, emerald, diamond and sapphire jabot pin. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

Indo-Persian .900 silver tea and coffee service. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — Indo-Persian .900 silver tea and coffee service. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

One of two Edmund Coates (Hudson River School) oil-on-canvas landscapes to be auctioned. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — One of two Edmund Coates (Hudson River School) oil-on-canvas landscapes to be auctioned. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

Examples from a collection of World War II military daggers and bayonets. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — Examples from a collection of World War II military daggers and bayonets. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

E.I. Couse oil on canvas painting of Native-American with colorful blanket. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — E.I. Couse oil on canvas painting of Native-American with colorful blanket. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

Ornate .900 silver centerpiece with .900 silver liner and accompanying miniature. Stephenson's Auctioneers image. — Ornate .900 silver centerpiece with .900 silver liner and accompanying miniature. Stephenson’s Auctioneers image.

Indian baskets, Southern folk art lead John Coker’s Jan. 4 auction

Two men’s gold Rolex wristwatches (left and right) and an 18K gold Tiffany pocket watch. John W. Coker Auctions image.

NEW MARKET, Tenn. – An old Tennessee estate that includes collections of important antique Indian baskets and Southern folk art serves as the centerpiece of John W. Coker’s Jan. 4, 2014 New Year’s Auction. All forms of bidding will be available, including live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.

“As we delved into the contents of this estate, it very quickly became evident to us that the owner had the heart of a collector and the eye of a knowledgeable buyer. This is by no means an average estate,” said auction company owner and principal auctioneer John W. Coker.

More than 125 Cherokee Indian baskets display a pleasing variety of forms and intricate patterns, some incorporating color. They are joined by a selection of beautiful Western Indian baskets whose motifs feature human and deer figures. Still others are woven in sophisticated abstract patterns. A particular highlight is a tightly woven 1880-1900 olla.

“It is highly unusual to encounter a collection of Indian baskets whose contents are of such consistently high artistic quality and condition throughout,” Coker observed. “This grouping comes from a well-known private collector of Indian baskets whom it would be safe to say is ‘legendary’ in these parts. Their collection includes some marvelous forms and designs. I think collectors are going to be very excited about the opportunities here.”

An abundance of Southern folk art pottery and stoneware includes designs by M.P. Harmon of Mohawk, Tennessee; and William Long of Crawford County, Georgia; as well as rare Tennessee pots by W.W. McFarland and Hull Mohawk. Also to be auctioned is a large collection of impressively sized, highly expressive Southern “ugly” face jugs. Each is a well-detailed, distinctive work of art; some with craggy, applied teeth visible from their smiling mouths.

An outstanding textile, an 1824 Pennsylvania Dutch bordered cross-stitch sampler by Susanna Thomas, is richly hand-decorated with doves, flowers, trees, butterflies, bowls of fruit, and many additional embellishments. Its motto reads: “This work in hand my friends may have / When I am dead and in my grave / And when my work each time you see / With fond remembrance think on me.” At the bottom it is hand-stitched “Susanna Thomas’s Work made in the 17th year of her age 1824.”

More than 60 pieces are included in a collection of early glass candy containers. Rare forms, some with paint or metal components, include a handled handbag, red-suited Santa standing next to a chimney, rocking horse, Chinese man, Charlie Chaplin, and a large rabbit upright on its haunches. A well-detailed windmill retains its original red, white and blue metal “pinwheel” topper with windmill blades and accessory piece marked “Teddy.”

Two fine men’s gold Rolex watches will be offered, one of them an Oyster Perpetual Date model. Joining them is an especially fine 18K gold Tiffany pocket watch.

The top ephemera lot is an 1865 document hand-signed by President Andrew Johnson in which he pardons a man named Jerry Cowles of Macon, Georgia. It is presented in a beveled dark-wood frame that may be the original.

A framed newspaper color panel cartoon from the Saturday, August 6, 1904 Evening Chronicle (city not known) is titled “How the Coonville Ball Team Won Out.” Its theme would interest collectors of either early baseball-related material or black Americana.

An abstract artwork of note is an original 1934 nautical watercolor by Expressionist artist Lyonel Feininger (German/American, 1871-1956). Depicting a ship at sea with all masts facing the wind, the work is signed by Feininger at lower left. Feininger was a versatile artist with a background as an illustrator and cartoonist.

“Many who were not previously aware of his work realized his importance as an artist when the Whitney Museum of American Art hosted a major Feininger retrospective in 2011,” said Coker.

Three large dovetailed blanket chests hold what appears to be an untapped trove of antique and vintage toys and cruise ship mementos, Coker said. “These chests belonged to a family that traveled extensively and always brought back toys from Europe. We haven’t even begun to delve into the contents, but it all looks very intriguing,” he said. The blanket chests will be auctioned separately from the goods they hold.

A final collection of note consists of late 19th and early 20th century decorative and utilitarian objects from the rustic Glentonian Bar in Lock Haven, Pa. Located in north-central Pennsylvania’s canal country, the Glentonian served a clientele that included loggers, boatmen and others who traveled the West Branch Canal of the Susquehanna River. Held in the same family for over a century, the collection runs the gamut from pickle crocks to barware and signs.

John W. Coker’s January 4 auction will be held at the Coker gallery located at 1511 W. Route 11-E in New Market, Tennessee, outside Knoxville. The opening session will commence at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. A 45-minute to 1-hour intermission will precede a 3 p.m. session devoted exclusively to the Indian basket collection.

For information on any item in the sale or to arrange a phone line, call 865-475-5163 or email john@antiquesonline.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

1824 Susanna Thomas sampler, Pennsylvania Dutch, created at age 17. John W. Coker Auctions image.

1865 Andrew Johnson Presidential Pardon for Jerry Cowles of Macon, Georgia. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Lyonel Feininger (German/American, 1871-1956) 1934 original watercolor. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Examples from a collection of 60+ early glass candy containers, some with paint or original metal accessories. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Southern folk pottery including pieces by M. P. Harmon, Mohawk, Tenn.; William Long, Crawford County, Ga.; J.A. Bishop, Georgia. Also includes rare pots by W.W. McFarland and Hull, Mohawk, Tennessee. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Large-size Southern ‘ugly’ face jugs, part of an extensive private collection. John W. Coker Auctions image.

More than 125 Cherokee Indian baskets are included in the auction. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Western Indian basket whose motif includes human figures and deer. John W. Coker Auctions image.

From a collection of Western Indian baskets. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Prized Indian olla, circa 1880-1900. John W. Coker Auctions image.

Greece to build Holocaust museum in Thessaloniki

The famous Stein Building on Eleftherias Square in Thessaloniki, Greece, as seen from the The Ritz, a hotel that was occupied by German forces during World War II. Photo taken in April, 1941.

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AFP) – Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, unveiled plans on Friday to build a Holocaust museum to honor some 46,000 Jewish residents deported and killed at German Nazi death camps during World War II.

“This is the fulfilment of a historic responsibility for Thessaloniki,” said Yiannis Boutaris, mayor of the city once known as the ‘Jerusalem of the Balkans.’

The museum will be created at the old railway station where the trains left Greece’s northern city for the notorious Auschwitz camp in Nazi-occupied Poland starting on March 15, 1943.

Thessaloniki, a multicultural city that served as a link between the Balkans and the East and had a population of more than 50,000 Jews before World War II, today is home to only about 1,000 Jews.

More than one million people, mostly European Jews, perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau, operated by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945.

The 10,000 square-meter (108,000 square foot) Holocaust museum is expected to be completed in 2020.

The museum will be built in a country that today is concerned about the rise of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which is Greece’s third most popular party despite an ongoing criminal investigation into its leadership.

Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and a number of his fellow lawmakers have been indicted following the murder of an anti-fascist musician by a neo-Nazi supporter in September.

For the first time in Greek political history, the party elected 18 deputies to the country’s 300-seat parliament last year, capitalizing on the country’s economic crisis and anger towards unchecked immigration.

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NY-based Lichtenstein foundation gives photo trove

Artist Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997). Fair use of low-resolution, copyrighted image of a historically significant, now deceased, individual, under the guidelines of US Copyright Law. Photo is used for informational purposes only and relates directly to the news article it accompanies. From the website of Marc Selwyn Fine Art; it is part of

NEW YORK (AP) – A trove of photographs of more than 400 artists at work is being given to five major American and European museums by the New York-based Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.

The foundation announced Thursday it’s donating about 200,000 black-and-white prints, negatives and other materials from its collection of works by Harry Shunk and János Kender.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Tate in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris will receive the works.

The German-born Shunk and Hungary-born Kender formed a photographic partnership called Shunk-Kender in 1958. Over 15 years, they photographed visual artists including Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol and Lichtenstein, as well as dancer Merce Cunningham and rocker Lou Reed.

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SC Johnson sues to stop auction of Frank Lloyd Wright furniture

Shown as an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's furniture-design ethic, but unrelated to the pending court case, this dining room table and chairs sold for $77,500 + buyer's premium at Michaan's June 8 auction in Alameda, California. The set was produced by Bowerly Brothers Furniture Co., Chicago, in 1903, based on a commissioned design by Wright. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Michaan's.

RACINE, Wis. (AP) – A desk and chair designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for SC Johnson in Racine is off the auction block for now while a federal judge decides who owns the furniture.

An order filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York says the auction house Sotheby’s will hold on to the pieces until the ownership issue is resolved. The pieces together have an estimated worth of $480,000 to $720,000 and were to be auctioned Wednesday.

The Racine Journal Times says SC Johnson filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s asking that the pieces be returned to the company. The desk and chair had once been in the SC Johnson administration building, which Wright also designed. Sotheby’s says the pieces were sent to it on consignment by an unidentified California man.

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Information from: The Journal Times, http://www.journaltimes.com

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Van Gogh’s ‘Green Wheat Fields, Auvers’ at Nat’l Gallery of Art

Vincent Van Gogh, 'Green Wheat Fields, Auvers,' 1890, oil on canvas. 28 3/4 x 36 5/8 inches (73 x 93 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.

WASHINGTON – Vincent van Gogh’s powerful and intense Green Wheat Fields, Auvers (1890), likely painted just weeks before the artist ended his life, goes on view in the National Gallery of Art’s West Building, Gallery M-83, beginning December 20. The painting was bequeathed to the Gallery by renowned philanthropist, art collector, and founding Gallery benefactor Paul Mellon (1907–1999), subject to a life estate in his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon, which gave her the right to possess the work for her lifetime. She has now relinquished the remainder of her life estate, allowing the Gallery to take immediate possession of the work.

“Green Wheat Fields, Auvers is a marvelous complement to the Gallery’s Van Gogh collection and represents his wildly prolific late Auvers period,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “Thanks to the generosity of important benefactors such as Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Chester Dale, Pamela Harriman, and John Hay Whitney, we now have nine outstanding paintings by this master, of which six are already on view in Washington.” (The Gallery owns 11 prints and drawings by Van Gogh that may be seen by appointment by calling 202- 842-6380.)

Measuring 283/4 x 36 5/8 inches (73 x 93 cm) Green Wheat Fields, Auvers was likely painted in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, during the spring/early summer of 1890, following Van Gogh’s voluntary confinement at the asylum of Saint-Rémy. In this village just north of Paris, and as he did before in the countryside surrounding Arles and Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh painted what could be called “pure landscapes,” in addition to the Auvers Romanesque church, town hall, and picturesque thatched-roof houses.

In this painting, Van Gogh eliminates the rural figures, stony walls, wooden carts, dramatic trees, and rustic buildings that populate so many of his landscapes and focuses instead on the windblown clouds and tall grasses. Two-thirds of the composition consists of the field in a rich range of greens and blues, punctuated by outbursts of yellow flowers. The artist wrote of his return to northern France as a kind of homecoming, a peaceful restoration in which the vibrant, hot colors of the south were replaced by cool, gentle hues in green and blue. Van Gogh’s energetic strokes describe the movement of grassy stalks in the breeze, their patterned undulations creating a woven integral form anchored at the right by a juncture point between field, road, and sky.

“Because there is so little to read in the composition, the focus is on the color but even more so on brushwork―the clouds whipping around in spinning circles, opening out and closing in, Van Gogh’s brush squiggling across the surface in long calligraphic strokes. The paint is applied in thick impasto, creating the marvelous textured surface of Van Gogh’s best loved paintings. Through his dynamic touch and vivid, unmediated color, Van Gogh expresses the intense freshness of this slice of countryside,” said Mary Morton, curator, French paintings, National Gallery of Art.

Green Wheat Fields, Auvers will hang in a gallery with other Van Gogh works: Girl in White (1890), and also from Auvers, La Mousmé (1888), The Olive Orchard (1889), Roses (1890), and Self Portrait (1889). Green Wheat Fields relates strongly to three of the Gallery’s pen and ink drawings by Van Gogh, all from 1888―Harvest–The Plain of La Crau, Harvest, and Ploughman in the Fields near Arles―in the rhythmic weave of the marks made to describe the artist’s connection to nature’s unifying energy.

The painting spent its early life first in Van Gogh’s brother Theo’s holdings, then in Germany, represented as early as 1905 by the brilliant modern art dealer Paul Cassirer, and sold in 1906 to Curt Herrmann in Berlin. His son, Frederick (Fritz) Herrmann, sold it through the Carstairs Gallery, New York, to Paul Mellon in December 1955. It has remained in the Mellons’ home in Upperville, VA, until now, with the exception of an exhibition devoted to their collection and that of Paul’s sister Ailsa Mellon Bruce at the National Gallery of Art in 1966.

General Information:

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. With the exception of the atrium and library, the galleries in the East Building will be closing gradually beginning in July 2013 and will remain closed for approximately three years for Master Facilities Plan and renovations. For specific updates on gallery closings, visit www.nga.gov/renovation.

For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov. Follow the Gallery on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngadc

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor’s back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 by 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

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Jimmy Stewart Museum in Pa. is rebounding after financial gift

James Stewart (1908-1997) in a studio publicity photo for the 1948 film 'Call Northside 777,' released by 20th Century Fox.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Jimmy Stewart Museum in western Pennsylvania is rebounding, after flirting with disaster.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Wednesday that the museum was considering closing in 2010 due to a funding shortfall. But like the 1947 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” some good Samaritans stepped in to help the small museum, which is located in Stewart’s hometown of Indiana, Pa. That’s about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Museum director Tim Harley says that in 2012 Ken and Carol Schultz began donating $25,000 per year to help keep the museum open.

The museum showcases artifacts from Stewart’s family, including his childhood bed, movie memorabilia, costumes, scripts and the front door from his Beverly Hills home.

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