Ewbank’s to sell items collected on Singapore sojourn May 29

Large and rare Chinese ancestor portrait on canvas, stating: 'the ancestors appearance is still in our mind'. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank's image.

Large and rare Chinese ancestor portrait on canvas, stating: 'the ancestors appearance is still in our mind'. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank's image.

Large and rare Chinese ancestor portrait on canvas, stating: ‘the ancestors appearance is still in our mind’. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank’s image.

LONDON – A fascinating collection brought home by their British owner after a period spent working in Singapore highlights a sale of Asian Art at Ewbank’s on Thursday, May 29.

LiveAucitoneers.com will provide Internet live bidding. The auction is composed of over 400 lots.

The collection consisting of more than 70 lots was acquired by its owner, mostly from one of Singapore’s leading dealers in Oriental art and antiques, House of Huanghuali, over a period of seven or eight years while traveling around Asia on business.

Other pieces were purchased in such places as China, Tibet and Vietnam, but a spring cleaning has resulted in them being offered at Ewbank’s.

Leading the collection is a fine and rare Chinese Tang dynasty Sancai figure of a Lokapala wearing an elaborate headdress. In Hindu mythology, Lokapala is a deity who protects the four compass directions. Depicted standing on rocks and trampling a demon, the nedarly 3-foot-tall figure dates from circa A.D. 618-907 and is estimated at £5,000-£8,000. Sancai is an ancient type of Chinese pottery. The name translates literally to “three colors.”

A Chinese famille verte (green family of colors) baluster vase having a waisted neck and painted with two panels of an official with attendants, on a flower and butterfly ground, dates from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) and is estimated at £2,000-£3,000.

The House of Huanghuali takes its name from the indigenous wood of the same name, also known as the “yellow flowering pear,” a type of rosewood classified as Dalbergia odorifera. It was particularly prized in furniture of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and early years of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). It is appreciated for its color, scent and distinctive grain. Its hardness allowed craftsmen to create elegant, slender yet strong pieces.

The collection includes a carved huanghuali chair with a reclining back and carved with a Shou character for longevity, a pair of plant stands and a horseshoe back two-seater sofa, each estimated at £1,000-£1,500.

Two large and rare 18th century portraits on canvas, which are illustrative of the respect and devotion the Chinese place in their ancestors, are featured in the collection. One depicts the male family to the right, the female line to the left; each ancestor is named in a rectangular cartouche. A four-character gilt mark in a blue cartouche at the top of the portrait translates as: “The ancestors’ appearance is still in our mind.” It measures more than 8 feet high and is estimated at £1,500-£2,500, as is a second, even larger ancestor portrait of the female side of a family, the cartouche reading: “Three generations of female ancestors.” It stands 9 feet tall. A 19th century ancestor painting depicting four figures, each with their birth and death dates ranging from Kangxi to Daoguang dynasty (1821-1850), is estimated at £500-£800.

The sale also includes a significant number of late 18th and early 19th century Asian textiles. One of the most important is also from the Singapore collection. The Chinese yellow and gold silk tapestry weave robe is decorated with the symbolically important eight dragons picked out in gold thread set in a representation of the universe in the brocaded fabric. The contrasting hoof form cuffs and collar are also finely embroidered with dragons and further emblems. The robe is estimated at £1,000-£1,500.

The remainder of the textiles are from a collection formerly kept at Hampton Court Palace. The top item is a large 19th century Japanese embroidered wall hanging, depicting a woodland landscape with stream and houses worked in silk long stitch within an applied dragon-patterned fabric border. It measures 80 by 56 inches and is estimated at £400-£600.

The auctioneer dispersed the European textiles in this collection in a previous sale, but reserved some pieces for the more relevant Asian auction. They include wall hangings and embroidered panels and tribal and other garments, notably a Chinese silk wedding jacket extensively embroidered in silver and gold and silk thread. It dates from the first quarter of the 20th century and is estimated at £150-£250.

The Asian sale catalog is now closed but unlike most other auctioneers, Ewbank’s operate a late entries system. All lots, including late entries, are illustrated on the Internet and live bidding is available.

For further information or to make an appointment to see a valuer, please contact the auctioneer on 01483 223101 or antiques@ewbankauctions.co.uk.

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

Large and rare Chinese ancestor portrait on canvas, stating: 'the ancestors appearance is still in our mind'. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank's image.

Large and rare Chinese ancestor portrait on canvas, stating: ‘the ancestors appearance is still in our mind’. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank’s image.

Chinese blue and white Yen Yen vase painted with mountainous landscapes, Kangxi, 1662-1722. Estimate: £3,000-£5,000. Ewbank's image.

Chinese blue and white Yen Yen vase painted with mountainous landscapes, Kangxi, 1662-1722. Estimate: £3,000-£5,000. Ewbank’s image.

Pair of Chinese famille rose vases with dragon side handles, decorated with exotic birds amid flowering branches. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank's image.

Pair of Chinese famille rose vases with dragon side handles, decorated with exotic birds amid flowering branches. Estimate: £1,500-£2,500. Ewbank’s image.

Chinese Tang dynasty Sancai figure of a Lokapala trampling a demon, A.D. 618-907. Estimate: £5,000-£8,000. Ewbank's image.

Chinese Tang dynasty Sancai figure of a Lokapala trampling a demon, A.D. 618-907. Estimate: £5,000-£8,000. Ewbank’s image.

Twentieth 20th Chinese carved huanghuali chair with reclining back, and carved with a Shou character. Estimate: £1,000-£1,500. Ewbank's image.

Twentieth 20th Chinese carved huanghuali chair with reclining back, and carved with a Shou character. Estimate: £1,000-£1,500. Ewbank’s image.

Nineteenth century Japanese carved Ivory figure of Gama Sennin, signed on base with character marks. Estimate: £1,000-£1,500. Ewbank's image.

Nineteenth century Japanese carved Ivory figure of Gama Sennin, signed on base with character marks. Estimate: £1,000-£1,500. Ewbank’s image.

Tibetan mandala with a central tantric figure surrounded by bodisatvas, buddhist monks and tantric figures, 17th-18th century. Estimate: £2,500-£3,500. Ewbank's image.

Tibetan mandala with a central tantric figure surrounded by bodisatvas, buddhist monks and tantric figures, 17th-18th century. Estimate: £2,500-£3,500. Ewbank’s image.

Chinese famille verte baluster vase, with painted with two panels of an official with attendants. Kangxi period. Estimate: £2,000-£3,000. Ewbank's image.

Chinese famille verte baluster vase, with painted with two panels of an official with attendants. Kangxi period. Estimate: £2,000-£3,000. Ewbank’s image.

Met acquires monumental 17th century portrait by Charles Le Brun

Charles Le Brun (French, Paris 1619–1690 Paris), 'Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family,' circa 1660, oil on canvas, 92 × 128 in. (233.7 × 325.1 cm). Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 2014. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Le Brun (French, Paris 1619–1690 Paris), 'Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family,' circa 1660, oil on canvas, 92 × 128 in. (233.7 × 325.1 cm). Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 2014. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Le Brun (French, Paris 1619–1690 Paris), ‘Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family,’ circa 1660, oil on canvas, 92 × 128 in. (233.7 × 325.1 cm). Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 2014. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

NEW YORK—Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that the Museum has purchased Charles Le Brun’s monumental portrait of Everhard Jabach and his family.

In making the announcement, Mr. Campbell said: “This magnificent canvas by the leading painter of King Louis XIV is a landmark in the history of French portraiture. It depicts the family of a major figure in the world of finance and one of the most important collectors in 17th-century Europe. Its acquisition transforms the Museum’s European paintings collection by adding a defining work both in the history of art and in cultural and political history.”

Keith Christiansen, John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of the Department of European Paintings, added: “The acquisition of Le Brun’s masterpiece transforms the Metropolitan’s collection of French painting. Its patron was a figure of immense importance: a German banker whose collection of paintings and drawings was sold to the French crown and forms the core of the Louvre’s collection. He deeply admired Le Brun, who in this picture included himself, reflected in a mirror, at work on the canvas, making the work the French equivalent of Velázquez’s Las Meninas—an allegory of the relationship between painter and patron and the act of painting. Its importance for the history of French baroque portraiture is equivalent to that of two other masterpieces in the Met’s collection—Jacques Louis David’s great neo-classical portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie-Anne-Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836) and Renoir’s Impressionist portrait of Madame Georges Charpentier (née Marguérite-Louise Lemonnier, 1848–1904) and Her Children, Georgette-Berthe (1872–1945) and Paul-Émile-Charles (1875–1895).”

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) was easily the most important painter at the court of Louis XIV. He supervised the decoration of major projects such as the Louvre and Versailles, and headed the Gobelins manufactory for tapestries and furniture. His work rarely appears on the market, since almost all of his major paintings reside in the collection of the Louvre. Last spring the Museum acquired The Sacrifice of Polyxena (1647), an early work by the artist in the field of history painting, in which he excelled. The newly acquired work is entirely different in character and ambition: it is a life-size family portrait of one of his principal, non-royal patrons. It dates from circa 1660, at the height of Le Brun’s career.

Among Le Brun’s works, Everhard Jabach (1618-1695) and His Family can only be compared to the portrait of Royal Chancellor Pierre Séguier on horseback accompanied by pages, which is in the collection of the Louvre and is illustrated in virtually every history of French painting. The newly acquired work—long thought lost—is comparable in importance to the Louvre picture and ranks as one of Le Brun’s masterpieces. It was admired by no less a critic than Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), who saw it during a visit to Cologne, where the picture was moved following Jabach’s death.

Everhard Jabach was a banker, patron, and collector of German origins. Born in Cologne, he was a naturalized French citizen who lived in Paris for most of his life. He built the imposing Hôtel Jabach at the corner of rue Neuve-Saint-Merry and rue Saint-Martin (designed by Pierre Bullet and now destroyed) as his main residence in the city—this is likely the setting for the family portrait. There he assembled one of the most significant collections of paintings of the second half of the 17th century in Europe. Jabach was Cardinal Mazarin’s (1602-1661) personal banker and followed the examples of his father and of Thomas Howard (1585-1646), second Earl of Arundel, in his collecting tastes. He was one of the chief buyers at the sale of the royal collection in London in 1650-51, after the beheading of King Charles I, purchasing, among other things, Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint John the Baptist, Holbein’s Portrait of Erasmus, Titian’s Concert Champêtre, Guido Reni’s Labors of Hercules, and Caravaggio’s Death of the Virgin. His first major collection (more than 100 paintings and about 6,000 drawings) was sold in two installments (1662 and 1671) to Louis XIV and provided the foundation of what is now the Musée du Louvre’s collection. Jabach’s second collection included 687 paintings and another 4,000 drawings, which were dispersed at his death.

Jabach was one of the great personalities of his age. He was portrayed twice by Van Dyck (1636, private collection; 1641, Hermitage, Saint Petersburg), by Peter Lely and possibly Sébastien Bourdon (both ca. 1650, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne), and by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1688, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). Le Brun was one of the sitter’s favorite artists and the two were united—in the words of Claude Nivelon, Le Brun’s earliest biographer—by “friendship and shared interests” (‘il était uni d’amitié et d’inclination’). The family group was one of the few pictures Jabach did not sell to the King of France, and therefore one of the few that did not enter the collection of the Louvre.

The picture is at once a portrait of family relations and of a painter’s relationship to a key patron. The assemblage of objects lying on the floor at the feet of Jabach symbolizes his cultural interests: a Bible, an open copy of Sebastiano Serlio’s architectural treatise, a compass (architecture and geometry), a porte crayon and drawn sheet (drawing), an ancient marble head (sculpture), a book (literature and poetry), and a celestial globe (astronomy). Most prominent among these objects is a bust of Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts. She is identified by her distinctive helmet and the Medusa on her chest. Behind Jabach is the mirror in which we see Le Brun at work.

This canvas is a recent and major rediscovery for European art history. Le Brun painted two versions of the portrait—both for Jabach—and both evidently of comparable high quality. They were kept in the 18th century in two different family houses in Cologne, where they were seen by visitors to the city, including Goethe and Reynolds. The second version was acquired by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1836. Destroyed in 1945, during World War II, it is known today only from a black-and-white photograph. Until recently, the present version was considered lost. It was, however, in a private collection in England where it has been since the late 1790s, when Jabach’s descendent, Canon Johann Matthias von Bors of Cologne, sold it to Henry Hope (1735-1811) in London. Its provenance is unbroken. Because the present picture has not been easily accessible, the Berlin canvas has often been given precedence, though various scholars already recognized that the “lost” (present) version was probably the prime one.

After conservation and framing, Everhard Jabach (1618-1695) and His Family will go on view in the Metropolitan Museum’s European Paintings Galleries (Gallery 617) in 2015.

Extensive information about the painting is available on the Metropolitan Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Charles Le Brun (French, Paris 1619–1690 Paris), 'Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family,' circa 1660, oil on canvas, 92 × 128 in. (233.7 × 325.1 cm). Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 2014. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Le Brun (French, Paris 1619–1690 Paris), ‘Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family,’ circa 1660, oil on canvas, 92 × 128 in. (233.7 × 325.1 cm). Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 2014. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

First Wolverine art page brings world record $657,250 at Heritage

Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, original art from 'The Incredible Hulk' #180, final page 32: the first-ever appearance of Wolverine. Auctioned by Heritage on May 16, 2014 for $657,250. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, original art from 'The Incredible Hulk' #180, final page 32: the first-ever appearance of Wolverine. Auctioned by Heritage on May 16, 2014 for $657,250. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, original art from ‘The Incredible Hulk’ #180, final page 32: the first-ever appearance of Wolverine. Auctioned by Heritage on May 16, 2014 for $657,250. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
DALLAS – The original artwork featuring the first ever appearance of Wolverine, by artists Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, on the final page of The Incredible Hulk #180 (1974), arguably the most important debut of a comic book character in the last 40 years, tied a record for any page of American comic art and set a world record price for any page of interior comic art, by far, when it brought $657,250 (including 19.5% Buyer’s Premium) on May 16, 2014, at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.

It was sold to East Coast collector Thomas Fish, a sports card dealer.

“We knew when this artwork surfaced that is was, without doubt, one of the most significant pieces of original comic art ever drawn,” said Todd Hignite, Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “It has now brought a final price realized commensurate with that status.”

The final price realized by the piece ties the world record price also set by Heritage in July of 2012 for Todd McFarlane’s original 1990 cover art for The Amazing Spider-Man #328.

Another world record price was set in the auction for the highest price ever realized at auction for a piece of original comic strip art when Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon Sunday comic strip original art, dated Aug. 28. 1938 (King Features Syndicate, 1938), a piece used to create a USPS 1995 comic strip classics stamp, decimated its $50,000+ pre-auction estimate to realize $215,100.

The top comic book offering in the auction came in the form of an exceedingly rare copy of Wonder Comics #1 (Fox, 1939) CGC NM 9.4, which realized $68,713. The issue featured the debut of Wonder Man, who appeared on the stands at the very same time as Batman, who premiered in Detective Comics #27. The Wonder Man character was perceived by the competition at DC Comics as having ridden on the coat-tails of their prized character Superman. Accordingly, Wonder Comics publisher Victor Fox was slapped with a lawsuit by DC (national Periodical) for infringement on the Superman character, causing Fox to withdraw his creation from future issues.

Further highlights of the Heritage sale included Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland Sunday comic strip original art dated 1906 (New York Herald, 1906), which brought $89,625, a new price record for the artist; Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers’ Incredible Hulk #5 Tyrannus “Beauty and the Beast” splash Page 1 original art (Marvel, 1962), finishing at $71,700; and the original art to a Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, this one dated May 9, 1987 (Universal Press Syndicate, 1987), which doubled its’ $20,000+ to bring $47,800; and All-American Comics #16 (DC, 1940) CGC VG- 3.5, the key first appearance of Green Lantern, which realized $44,813.

Heritage Auctions is the largest auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $900 million, and 850,000+ online bidder members. Visit them online at www.ha.com.

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Auction Zero launches free-to-seller model

LONDON – Auction Zero is a new auction house giving potential consignors the opportunity to sell jewelry, gold, silver, gemstones, coins, gold bullion, antiques and objets de vertu with agreed reserves at no cost to the sellers.

That means free – free lotting, free photography and free online valuations.

Auction Zero says that, to its knowledge, it is unique in the auction industry, as it is the only auction house today that will offer to sell consigned goods free of all charges, but with agreed reserves.

The auctioneer is inviting consignments for inclusion in their debut June 26 sale. The deadline to consign merchandise is May 31.

Auction Zero, in partnership with www.liveauctioneers.com, is also offering Internet bidders the incentive of no additional buyer’s premium. The auction house will absorb the 3 percent Internet charge within their standard 20 percent buyer’s premium. Because Auction Zero believes the future of the auction industry worldwide online auctions, the London-based firm has decided to cover those extra expenses for bidding online.

Email auctionzero@auctionzero.co.uk for details.

Visit Auction Zero’s website at www.auctionzero.co.uk.

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Museo Thyssen-Bornemisze exhibition probes pop art myths

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), 'Big Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Black Bean),' 1962, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf. Image provided by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), 'Big Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Black Bean),' 1962, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf. Image provided by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), ‘Big Torn Campbell’s Soup Can (Black Bean),’ 1962, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf. Image provided by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

MADRID – This summer, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is presenting Pop Art Myths, the first exhibition on this subject in Madrid since Pop Art at the Museo Reina Sofía in 1992. More than 20 years later, the exhibition’s curator Paloma Alarcó, Head of Modern Painting at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, will offer a reassessment of this artistic trend from a 21st-century viewpoint.

Featuring more than 100 works ranging from pioneering British pop art to the classic American version and its expansion into Europe, the exhibition aims to trace the shared sources of international pop art and undertake a revision of the myths that have traditionally defined the movement. It will reveal how the legendary images created by artists of the stature of Warhol, Rauschenberg, Wesselmann, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Hamilton and Equipo Crónica, among many others, conceal an ironic and innovative code of perception of reality and one that still prevails in contemporary art today.

The exhibition is sponsored by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and will include works from more than 50 museums and private collections around the world, with important loans from the National Gallery of Washington, the Tate, London, the IVAM, Valencia, and the prestigious Mugrabi Collection in New York, to name but a few.

Learn more about the exhibition online at www.museothyssen.org .

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), 'Big Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Black Bean),' 1962, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf. Image provided by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), ‘Big Torn Campbell’s Soup Can (Black Bean),’ 1962, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf. Image provided by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Family challenges seminary’s sale of Thomas Eakins portrait

''The Right Reverend James F. Loughlin' (1902), by Thomas Eakins, one of the portraits to be sold by St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

''The Right Reverend James F. Loughlin' (1902), by Thomas Eakins, one of the portraits to be sold by St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
”The Right Reverend James F. Loughlin’ (1902), by Thomas Eakins, one of the portraits to be sold by St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Descendants of Msgr. Patrick Garvey are challenging the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s plans to sell a portrait of Garvey painted by Thomas Eakins.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that former federal prosecutor Robert E. Goldman is helping the family and says that the seminary does not own the portrait from 1902. He says that the portrait was given to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary to be exhibited, not sold.

The Archdiocese announced plans in March to sell part of the art collection at its St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, including five portraits by Eakins.

Archdiocese spokesman Ken Gavin says the portrait was given to the seminary by Garvey’s nephew.

Church officials said they plan to use the money to help overhaul the seminary’s St. Charles’ Main Line campus.

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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com

Copyright 2014 Associated Press All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-17-14 1101GMT

Gianguan to sell U.N.-displayed China Farmers’ Art, May 25

'Man with Oxen.' Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
'Man with Oxen.' Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
‘Man with Oxen.’ Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.

NEW YORK – China’s Farmers’ Art, the contemporary art genre that is gaining in popularity among folk artists of rural China, will be on view at the United Nations headquarters in New York City for three days, May 21- 23. The exhibition of paintings will be followed by a benefit auction at Gianguan Auctions New York on Sunday, May 25.

Titled “World Mind-China Dream,” the UN exhibition features more than 80 folk paintings selected from regions across China by the Chinese Peasant’s Calligraphy and Painting Research Association. The rustic, often quirky, works of art offer vibrant and personal interpretations of country life in China. The emphasis is on local customs, festivals, children and farmwork. In short, Chinese Farmers’ Art is China’s version of outsider art – naive, insightful and instantly appealing.

Created by rural artists with little or no training, the paintings are primarily gouache watercolors on rough paper. The compositions range from simple to complex, with some employing the hard-edged “keyline” technique of China’s propaganda posters, while others display abstractions reminiscent of Matisse and Picasso. China’s rich mythology and design heritage also plays a role in the telling of the stories that also range from basic representations to complex genre paintings.

Chinese Farmers’ Art got its start in the 1950s when the communist party encouraged rural communities and members of the army to engage in the pursuit of art. Notably, the farmers’ vision of the Communist paradise was straightforward, appealing in both its intensity and insightfulness, a characteristic inherent in the best folk art. In the 1980s, as China began to expand its influence worldwide, Chinese Farmers’ Art began to be shown internationally. This is the first time Farmers’ Art is being shown at the United Nations.

Three regions of China dominate the rural art scene. They are Jilin and Shanghai Fengxian, Jinshan District, Shaanxi Huxian. Although some of the farmer artists represented in the exhibition have studied at institutions such as the Jinshan Peasant Painting Academy, many others are self-taught.

The works of art in the UN show will not be for sale. They will, however, be auctioned off for the benefit of the Farmers’ Art communities at a special sale on Sunday, May 25, at Gianguan Auctions New York, located at 295 Madison Ave. The works of Chinese Farmers’ Art will be on view at Gianguan Auctions on Saturday, May 24. Bidding can be done in person or on the Internet at www.gianguanauctions.com.

“World Mind-China Dream” enjoys the sponsorship of the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, the International Health & Environment Organization, Chinese Peasants Calligraphy and Painting Research Association, and the Dongfeng County People’s Government, Jilin Province, China.

Gianguan Auctions, New York, is the city’s only fully Chinese-American owned and operated auction house. Its CEO and chief auctioneer Kwong Lum is a noted artist and scholar. An alumnus of Ontario College of Art in Toronto, he has been honored by the Chinese government which funded the Kwong Lum Museum in Xinhui district in the city of Jiangmen.

The United Nations headquarters is located at 405 E. 42nd St. “World Mind-China Dream” will be on view May 21- 23, 9:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. The paintings can be previewed at Gianguan Auctions, New York, 295 Madison Ave., Saturday, May 24, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The benefit auction begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

'Man with Oxen.' Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
‘Man with Oxen.’ Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
'Deer Drinking Among Oxen.' Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
‘Deer Drinking Among Oxen.’ Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.
Image courtesy of Gianguan Auctions.

Sam Doyle painting of midwife garners $204,000 at Slotin auction

This house paint on found roofing tin work by Sam Doyle (1906-1985) sold for $204,000, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.
This house paint on found roofing tin work by Sam Doyle (1906-1985) sold for $204,000, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

This house paint on found roofing tin work by Sam Doyle (1906-1985) sold for $204,000, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

BUFORD, Ga. – A folk art rendering by the renowned self-taught artist Sam Doyle (1906-1985), titled St. Helena’s First Blak Midwife Trane By Dr. White, soared to $204,000 – a new world auction record for the artist – at Slotin Folk Art Auction’s Delta Blues to Visual Blues Auction, held April 26 and 27 at the Historic Buford Hall in Buford.

LiveAuctioneers.com facilitated Internet live bidding.

The painting, 28 inch by 50 inches, was created from house paint on found roofing tin. It was in excellent condition and depicted Mr. Doyle’s grandmother, a midwife, holding a newborn baby. It was the top lot of the April 26 session, dedicated to Visual Blues (folk art, typically from the Deep South). The April 27 session was themed Delta Blues and featured photographs, concert posters, records and more.

“We married two entirely American-born and inspired phenomena, folk art and the blues, into one massive two-day sale, and it went very well,” said Amy Slotin of Slotin Folk Art Auction, based in Gainesville, Ga. “It was one of our most successful auctions to date. Bids poured in literally from around the world, prices were strong and several world records were shattered.”

The auction came on the heels of another successful sale held by the firm on Nov. 9-10, also in Buford. That event, a Masterpiece Sale (Slotin Folk Art Auction has held many of those) was packed with around 1,200 lots of folk art creations. The top lot of that auction was an enamel on wood painting by Howard Finster (1916-2001) titled Vision of Mary’s Angel. It fetched $51,600.

“It is heartening to know that, even now with the economy still in a state of recovery and many collecting categories seeing a downturn in sales, prices and the market for self-taught art seems to be on an upswing and stronger than ever,” Slotin said. “The November Masterpiece Sale grossed $1.1 million, which astounded us, then the April auction did even better – $1.2 million.”

Following are additional highlights from the April 26-27 auction. All prices quoted include a 20 percent buyer’s premium. Online bids, phone bids and left bids combined totaled around 3,000. About 200 people attended the auction.

An important and rare folk art sugar chest in the form of a desk, made circa 1825-1850 by an unknown craftsman – or possibly slaves – in South Carolina, and the only known example of its kind to exhibit such an extraordinary inlay design, changed hands for $36,000. The inlay and apron profiles suggest upstate South Carolina, an area of Southern slave-holding plantations.

An enamel on Masonite painting by William Hawkins, titled Rider on Horseback, 1980, signed and dated, with Hawkins’s birth date, measuring 48 inches by 36 inches (less the frame), gaveled for $43,200; and a graphite and silver pencil on paper by Chris Hipkiss (British husband and wife artists, both born 1964), titled Trans Whispered, rose to $19,200, a new auction record.

Additional record prices were achieved for Herman Bridgers (1912-1990) and the second-tier artist Myrtice West (1923-2000). Bridgers’s Two Churchmens, 1978, made from cutout wood with off-white paint, tar and nail head eyes, hammered for $13,200; while West’s Christ Returns As Church Gets Ready, a paint and glitter on canvas spiritual work, coasted to $11,400.

Two other lots achieved identical selling prices of $11,400. One was a pair of decorated Lee Godie photographs, circa 1970, both black and white with some hand-coloring by Godie and each one 4 inches by 5 inches (one signed). The other was an oil on canvas panel by Minnie Evans, titled Solomon’s Temple, 1963, signed and dated and measuring 20 inches by 16 inches.

A signed, dated (1980) and titled (Hurrying Home) oil on canvas painting boasting beautiful colors by Mattie Lou O’Kelley, with intricate details and great hill scenery, 32 inches by 24 inches, went for $18,600; while a pair of Indian motif whiskey jugs by Cheever Meaders, circa 1960s, done in an ash glaze and initialed on the bottom, each one 8 1/2 inches tall, made $13,200.

A hand-stitched cotton cloth plantation quilt with paper pattern backing by the centenarian folk artist Clementine Hunter (1886-1988), measuring 66 inches by 84 inches (framed) realized $10,080; and an interesting eight-blade fan made from paint on cardstock by Sister Gertrude Morgan, a Slotin Folk Art favorite, breezed to $9,600.

To learn more about Slotin Folk Art Auction and the firm’s calendar of upcoming events, call 404-403-4244 or e-mail auction@slotinfolkart.com.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

This house paint on found roofing tin work by Sam Doyle (1906-1985) sold for $204,000, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

This house paint on found roofing tin work by Sam Doyle (1906-1985) sold for $204,000, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Enamel on Masonite painting by William Hawkins from 1980, titled ‘Rider on Horseback.’ Price realized: $43,200. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Enamel on Masonite painting by William Hawkins from 1980, titled ‘Rider on Horseback.’ Price realized: $43,200. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Rare and important South Carolina folk art sugar chest in the form of a desk, circa 1825-1850. Price realized: $36,000). Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Rare and important South Carolina folk art sugar chest in the form of a desk, circa 1825-1850. Price realized: $36,000). Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Graphite and silver pencil on paper by the British husband-and-wife couple known as Chris Hipkiss. Price realized: $19,200, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Graphite and silver pencil on paper by the British husband-and-wife couple known as Chris Hipkiss. Price realized: $19,200, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Signed, dated 1980 and titled ‘Hurrying Home’ oil on canvas painting by Mattie Lou O'Kelley. Price realized: $18,600. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Signed, dated 1980 and titled ‘Hurrying Home’ oil on canvas painting by Mattie Lou O’Kelley. Price realized: $18,600. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Cut-out wood with off-white paint, tar and nail head eyes creation by Herman Bridgers, titled ‘Two Churchmens.’ Price realized: $13,200, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction imae.

Cut-out wood with off-white paint, tar and nail head eyes creation by Herman Bridgers, titled ‘Two Churchmens.’ Price realized: $13,200, a record for the artist. Slotin Folk Art Auction imae.

Pair of Indian motif whiskey jugs by Cheever Meaders, circa 1960s, done in an ash glaze, 8 1/2 inches tall. Price realized: $13,200. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Pair of Indian motif whiskey jugs by Cheever Meaders, circa 1960s, done in an ash glaze, 8 1/2 inches tall. Price realized: $13,200. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Pair of decorated Lee Godie photographs, circa 1970, black and white with hand-coloring, 4 inches by 5 inches. Price realized: $11,400. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Pair of decorated Lee Godie photographs, circa 1970, black and white with hand-coloring, 4 inches by 5 inches. Price realized: $11,400. Slotin Folk Art Auction image.

Metropolitan Museum provides free access to digital images

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art image.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art image.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art image.

NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that more than 400,000 high-resolution digital images of public domain works in the museum’s world-renowned collection may be downloaded directly from the museum’s website for noncommercial use – including in scholarly publications in any media – without permission from the museum and without a fee. The number of available images will increase as new digital files are added on a regular basis.

In making the announcement, Thomas P. Campbell, CEO and director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said: “Through this new, open-access policy, we join a growing number of museums that provide free access to images of art in the public domain. I am delighted that digital technology can open the doors to this trove of images from our encyclopedic collection.”

The Metropolitan Museum’s initiative – called Open Access for Scholarly Content – provides access to images of art in its collection that the museum believes to be in the public domain and free of other known restrictions; these images are now available for scholarly use in any media. Works that are covered by the new policy are identified on the museum’s website (http://www.metmuseum.org/collections) with the acronym OASC. (Certain works are not available through the initiative for one or more of the following reasons: the work is still under copyright, or the copyright status is unclear; privacy or publicity issues; the work is owned by a person or an institution other than the Metropolitan Museum; restrictions by the artist, donor, or lender; or lack of a digital image of suitable quality.

OASC was developed as a resource for students, educators, researchers, curators, academic publishers, noncommercial documentary filmmakers, and others involved in scholarly or cultural work. Prior to the establishment of OASC, the Metropolitan Museum provided images upon request, for a fee, and authorization was subject to terms and conditions.

Additional information and instructions on OASC can be found on the Museum’s website at www.metmuseum.org/en/research/image-resources/frequently-asked-questions.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art image.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art image.

Newly authenticated Rodin sculpture sells for $306,800 at Quinn’s

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa-1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Sold for $306,800 against an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa-1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Sold for $306,800 against an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa-1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Sold for $306,800 against an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ACNI) – Going the extra mile to authenticate a sculpture they suspected was an original Rodin has reaped a big reward for Quinn’s Auction Galleries. On Saturday, May 17, the metro-Washington, DC company auctioned a bronze-and-marble Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917) sculpture titled Le Desespoir [Despair] for $306,800, inclusive of 18% buyer’s premium. The 13¾ by 12 by 11-inch sculpture had been entered in Quinn’s Fine Art sale with a presale estimate of $60,000-$80,000.

The buyer of the artwork, whose name has not been released, is a collector from Germany who bid over the phone.

“It’s an important and very beautiful artwork that sold for what the marketplace said it was worth, with the knowledge that the Comite Rodin had issued its authentication on the piece. It attracted intense presale interest,” Quinn’s Vice President Matthew Quinn told Auction Central News.

Quinn, who is known to art fans nationwide from his role as an on-air appraiser with PBS Television’s Antiques Roadshow, knew the monetary difference it might make if he could obtain the blessing of Comite Rodin in Paris, which has the final word when it comes to verifying Rodin artworks.

“We felt an obligation to the consignor to use whatever resources were available to us to prove the sculpture was an original. We knew the difference it would make to the auction price,” Quinn said.

Quinn spent months going through the process of authenticating the sculpture, which consists of a bronze human figure on a natural-stone base. The first order of business, Quinn said, was separating the figure from the stone to which it was bolted to see if, and how, it was marked. It was a gutsy move that involved gently hammering away at the plaster around the bolt till it loosened.

Once the sculpture was freed, Quinn saw what he had been hoping for – the bas-relief signature “A. Rodin.” While locating the signature was an essential first step, it was not enough to confirm that the piece was an original as opposed to an authorized copy, so Quinn contacted Comite August Rodin in Paris and made arrangements to show the piece to the organization’s top expert, Jerome Le Blay. A renowned authority on all things Rodin, Le Blay also authored the Catalogue Critique de l’Oeuvre Sculpte d’Augustin Rodin.

In late April, Le Blay happened to be in New York on business. Quinn made an appointment to meet with Le Blay and drove up to Manhattan with the Rodin in the back seat of his car, wrapped securely in a soft flannel sheet.

When the layers came off, Le Blay – who has inspected 8,000 Rodin artworks over the past 15 years – reacted quickly and affirmatively.

“Within 15 seconds, he confirmed it was an original,” Quinn said. Because it was cast during Rodin’s lifetime, the sculpture immediately was deemed more valuable than any copies that may have been produced after the artist’s death in 1917.

Securing the stamp of approval from Le Blay and Comite Rodin was a game changer for the star lot in Quinn’s auction.

“We set the opening bid at $30,000, and that was quickly met. A person from New Jersey left an absentee bid in that amount, and not long afterward, there were seven requests to register for a phone line. Additionally, more than 800 bidders signed up for the sale through LiveAuctioneers, although we can’t know for sure how many specifically had their sights set on the Rodin,” Quinn said.

Thirteen bidders from the United States, UK and Germany battled over the prized sculpture. It opened at $37,500, leaped to $60,000, then rose in typical auction increments till it settled at $306,800. In all, the bidding took less than three minutes.

Members of the family that consigned the Rodin were in the audience during the auction and were said to have been on the verge of tears as bids escalated through the thousands, then hundreds of thousands. The Rodin sculpture previously had belonged to their parents, Elizabeth and Karl Mathiasen, who appreciated art but never conveyed much about the history of the sculpture to their children. All that was known was that the siblings’ grandfather had obtained the piece sometime after 1960 and it subsequently passed down to their parents.

“It’s amazing, but the siblings recall that while they were growing up, the sculpture was not regarded as anything particularly special — for a period of time it even sat alongside their pet gerbil’s cage,” said Quinn.

LiveAuctioneers online statistics for Quinn’s Auction Galleries’ May 17, 2014 auction:

• Total for items sold online: $171,845

• 182 items / 31.76% sold online

• 803 online bidder sign-ups

• 555 absentee bids / 1,151 live online bids

• 1,039 underbids from online bidders

• 621 bidders watched live online

• 7,844 visitors viewed the online catalog

• 65,200 online-catalog page views

View the fully illustrated catalog for Quinn’s auction, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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Copyright 2014 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa-1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Sold for $306,800 against an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa-1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Sold for $306,800 against an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image