October 14, 2014 - Auction Central News

Premier sculptures in Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ Nov. 1 sale

Sam Francis (American, 1923-1994), original acrylic on paper, est. $25,000-$35,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A top-notch selection of nearly 300 lots of modern and decorative art will be offered on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ exhibition center. Some of the most sought-after names in 20th-century art and design are represented in the lineup – Frank Stella, David Hockney, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning, to name but a few. Throughout, the imagination factor goes far beyond what one might expect to see at auction. For example, there’s an amusing Barbini “Aquarium” blown-glass lamp base with faux fish, and an actual U.S. $1 bill boldly signed in black marker by Andy Warhol.

Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com

Headlining the sale is Lot 73, a Fernando Botero (Colombian, b. 1932-) original bronze titled Venus. The 30-inch-tall female nude is artist-signed and was cast in 1977-1978. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Galeria El Museo of Bogota, it carries a presale estimate of $400,000-$600,000.

Lot 133 is an important original Jesus Rafael Soto (Venezuelan, 1923-2005) wall sculpture of metal, wood and filament. Soto was an acclaimed op/kinetic artist, sculptor and painter whose work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York; and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The 1970 artwork to be auctioned has a French gallery stamp on verso from Galerie Denise Rene and is estimated at $75,000-$150,000.

A trifecta of marvelous Harry Bertoia (American, 1915-1978) sculptures – entered as Lots 124, 125 and 126 – showcases the artist’s inventive mind and boundless creativity. The first of the three sculptures, titled Bush, is a complex 12- by 12-inch copper and bronze sculpture that comes with a Bertoia-signed photo of the work in an envelope from the artist. Most recently, it was included in a Sotheby’s cataloged exhibition (Feb. 11-March 9, 2014), “Bertoia: A Celebration of Sound and Motion.” Its estimate is $60,000-$80,000. Immediately following is a 43-inch-tall “spill cast” organic-shape bronze replicating a coral formation, estimated at $40,000-$60,000. Last among the three successive Bertoia auction lots is Split Gong, a bronze form with applied patina that was one of a trio of gongs created as a single work for the 1976 Norwegian exhibition “Harry Bertoia: Musikk A Sepa.” It is estimated at $60,000-$80,000.

The Nov. 1 auction also includes superior examples of midcentury modern glass, with a special inclusion being Lot 98, a 19-inch-tall “Fasce Orizzontali” blown-glass vase by Fulvio Bianconi for Venini. A stunning work of azure, turquoise, cerise and black irregular bands on clear glass, it is described by Palm Beach Modern Auctions partner and auctioneer Rico Baca as “… the largest Bianconi vase we have ever seen. On top of that, it was created by one of the masters of Murano glass design.” The vase, which is acid-etched “Venini Murano Italia” on its base, is referenced on Page 161 of the Venini catalogue raisonne by Anna Venini Diaz de Santillana. It is expected to reach $15,000-$25,000 on auction day.

A large and varied offering of Danish pottery includes an interesting collection of Arne Bang (1901-1983) glazed stoneware vessels. Entered as Lot 27, the grouping is a sampler of forms and finishes by one of Scandinavia’s most accomplished 20th-century potters. There are three vases, a bowl and a lidded container with sculptural finial. The lot estimate is $2,000-$3,000.

The distinctive stoneware and metal designs of Gunnar Nyland for Rorstrand and Numolle come together as a 14-piece collection in Lot 29. Vases, vessels, an avian figurine, and a deeply edged decorative plate with pinwheel pattern comprise the assortment, which is collectively estimated at $3,000-$4,500.

Other highlights include Lot 53, a massive 98- by 93-inch Red Grooms (American, b. 1937-) painting titled Franz Kline, estimate $20,000-$30,000; Lot 115, an original 1966 Sam Francis (American, 1923-1994) acrylic on paper, $25,000-$35,000; three Motherwell signed editions, and drawings by Warhol and Picasso.

The sale is nicely rounded out with colorful abstract woven-wool tapestries, two surrealist paintings by Robert Lincoln Springfels (American, 1911-1984), and photos by Diane Arbus, Jan Groover, Frank Worth and Dennis Stock, including Lot 198, a Stock-signed 1955 gelatin silver print (15/125) of James Dean smoking a cigarette and walking along a rainy street at New York’s Times Square. The iconic photo with Palm Beach provenance is estimated at $4,000-$6,000.

Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ Modern Art, Decorative Arts & Sculptures sale will commence at noon Eastern time on Sat., Nov. 1. For additional information, call 561-586-5500, e-mail info@modernauctions.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Group lot of five stoneware vessels by Arne Bang (Danish, 1901-1983), est. $2,000-$3,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Red Grooms (American, b. 1937-), ‘Franz Kline,’ pastel and wash on paper with artist-hand-painted oil-on-wood frame, 98 x 93in., est. $20,000-$30,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

David Hockney (English, b. 1937-), chromogenic print collage titled ‘George, Blanche, Celia, Albert and Percy,’ signed, 12/20, 1983 edition, est. $25,000-$35,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Fernando Botero (Colombian, b. 1932-) original bronze titled ‘Venus,’ 30in., 1977-78, est. $400,000-$600,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

One of three important Harry Bertoia (American, 1915-1978) sculptures included in Nov. 1 auction, ‘Split Gong,’ bronze with applied patina, 1976, est. $60,000-$80,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Jesus Rafael de Soto (Venezuela, 1923-2005), original wall sculpture, signed, 1970, est. $75,000-$150,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Robert Burns Motherwell (American, 1915-1991), ‘Untitled’ color silkscreen, Plate 4 from ‘The African Suite,’ signed, ed. 96/150, 41 1/2 x 28 1/2in, est. $2,500-$3,500. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Willem de Kooning (Dutch/American, 1904-1997), lithograph, signed 1979 artist proof, 24 x 30in sight / 32 x 38in framed, est. $6,000-$8,000. Palm Beach Modern Auctions image

Gala festival rolling for Belle of Louisville centennial

The Belle of Louisville, originally christened Idlewild, operated as a passenger ferry between Memphis, Tenn., and West Memphis, Ark. During the World War II she served as a floating USO nightclub for troops stationed at military bases along the Mississippi River. Image by Bo - Belle of Louisville. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Birthday parties don’t usually have hundreds of thousands of guests, but for riverboats turning 100, everything is a little bigger.

The Belle of Louisville’s centennial birthday celebration is this week. The event has been years in the planning, and six riverboats are expected for the Centennial Festival Riverboats Tuesday through Sunday.

Planned events include dozens of cruises, riverboat races and parades, fireworks, a balloon glow and musical entertainment. The Courier-Journal says the events on land are free and open to the public.

The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau expects all the activities to bring as many as 300,000 people, creating an economic impact of $6 million.

The Belle was launched in Pittsburgh as the Idlewild in October 1914. Jefferson County bought the boat at auction in 1962 for $34,000.

Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

AP-WF-10-13-14 0903GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

On a wing and a paintbrush at Milwaukee Art Museum

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's 'Burke Brise Soleil' at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Image by Michael Hicks (Mulad) - Flickr. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – That black speck walking precariously out on the Milwaukee Art Museum’s giant white wings? That’s a painter.

Matt Radmacher, owner of Wisconsin Industrial Painters, and two other painters are touching up 40 rust spots on the museum’s Burke Brise Soleil—affectionately called wings—and repainting 72 rusted plates at the base.

This is only the second time the museum’s addition, designed by internationally known Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, has needed touching up since it opened in 2001. At the time, it was Calatrava’s first completed American project.

The painters started Sept. 29 and are expected to finish by the end of this week.

Calatrava designed a secret passageway with ladders and tunnels to allow maintenance workers access to the base of the moveable wings. Once there, workers can climb a set of steep stairs along the spire to get to the top of the 11-story structure.

“The tunnels and ladders are a little scary if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights but once you are up there, once you are top of everything, you just forget and it’s so beautiful up there,” Milwaukee Art Museum spokeswoman Kristin Settle said.

Radmacher did the sanding, priming and painting of the wings. But before he went up there, he jumped up and down to try to pump himself up for the experience. While he works, he is harnessed and attached to the building and communicated with museum officials via two-way radio to have them position the wings so he could walk out.

“Where I was standing, if you look up you just see wing sections and down you just see wing sections—you really don’t see below you, which kind of made it easier, you know, not as scary,” Radmacher said.

AP-WF-10-13-14 0512GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Artist’s son loses $300M inheritance case against mother

Ink and color on paper by Xu Linlu. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Maple Auction Galleries.

BEIJING (AFP) – A Chinese painter’s son who sued his 95-year-old mother over the estimated $300 million artistic treasure trove left by his father has lost the case, state-run media reported Tuesday.

The legal action brought by Xu Huayi is reminiscent of high-profile trust fund disputes in the West, and the family feud is a far cry from long-held Chinese ideals of filial piety.

His father Xu Linlu, a prominent painter of flowers, birds and fish, died in 2011.

He left a collection of 72 paintings by some of China’s most renowned artists, including Qi Baishi and Xu Beihong, and three antique teapots.

The works are worth at least 2 billion yuan ($326 million), according to lawyers’ estimates, Chinese media have reported.

His widow Wang Lingwen filed a will with a Beijing court in which he left her everything but Xu Huayi sued, claiming it was a forgery and demanding the estate be split up between the relatives.

The couple’s five other living children, and the daughters of two who had died, are divided on either side in the court case.

The Second Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing ruled on Monday that the will was the true intention of the deceased and that the widow should retain ownership of the assets, the Beijing Morning Post said.

Internet users lamented the values revealed by the case.

“Family ties are nothing in the face of money,” said a posting on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Another user slammed the younger Xu.

“Children who sue parents for money: you need courage to stay alive,” he wrote.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Roland Auctions delves into massive upstate NY collection Oct. 18

Cast composition statue of 'Standing Lincoln' after Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s bronze unveiled in 1881 at Chicago’s Lincoln Park. This sculpture stands nearly 7 1/2 feet high. Roland Auctions image.

NEW YORK – Roland Auctions NY will hold a big Anniversary Auction on Saturday, Oct. 18. Celebrating its fourth year as Manhattan’s fastest growing regional—and only downtown—auction house, Roland is offering over 1,200 fresh-to-market lots.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding during the sale.

Roland Auctions NY recently acquired the entire holdings of Martin Parker’s Spencertown Arts & Antiques, an immense and encyclopedic collection built over 50 years in New York state’s Capitol District. As a demonstration of gratitude to Roland Auctions’ loyal customers over the past four years, half of the Oct. 18 Anniversary Auction consists of part one of the Spencertown Arts & Antiques hoard. Giving a sense of size and scope to the contents of this colossus, principal William J. Roland said, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, well imagine what you can say about a collection that contains 3,000 art works and over 15,000 individual objects.”

Among the featured selections in this auction is lot 410, a larger-than-life-size cast composition statue of Standing Lincoln after Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s bronze unveiled in 1881 at Chicago’s Lincoln Park. This sculpture, measuring nearly 7-1/2 feet high, was produced by the Boston Sculpture Co. circa 1909 and is situated on its original oak paneled plinth base for an impressive overall height of 9 feet.

Assembled from both the Spencertown Arts & Antiques holdings and some of the finest estates in Manhattan, Roland Auctions NY offers a spectrum of fine art that promises an exciting and well-attended auction day. Lots in this sale offer an art historical compendium spanning European old masters through modern vanguards and contemporary emerging artists. Sought after art includes works by: E.Shinn, M. Kahn, Loehman, Reginier, attr. A. Phillips, G. Rossi, M. Soyer, J. Lembeck, A.H. Bakhuyzen, A. Handel, A.D. Johansen, John F. Murphy and many more.

Twentieth century design is strongly represented at Roland Auctions NY this month. Vintage pieces in this category desired by collectors and enthusiasts alike feature works by designers Philip and Kelvin Laverne, John Stuart, Curtis Jere, Paul Frankl, Daum and a set of chairs after Andre Groualt. Prominent among these iconic objects is lot 401, a Tiffany Studios stamped and numbered counterbalance floor lamp with five-leg base and Tiffany Favrile art glass shade. Fueling excitement for the modernist are dozens of lighting pieces from acclaimed New York City collector Arthur Hindin, proprietor of Downtown Manhattan’s Retro Modern 20th Century Lighting.

Continuing to make a comeback, fine English 18th and 19th century furniture comprises several lots in this auction, among them a Victorian game table, a black chinoiserie tall case clock, a serpentine bachelor chest and a Georgian double-arch pediment secretary.

Always cultivating new areas of collecting, Roland Auctions NY will be offering a large assortment of high-end women’s fashions including many Chanel and Gucci handbags and apparel. Accompanying these pieces is a group of Louis Vuitton luggage and Hermes scarves.

Asian Arts and Orientalia include finely carved mineral specimens featuring a group of jadite articles. Other coveted items are pair of large yellow Peking glass bowls and an antique Chinese bronze and porcelain censor.

Saturday, Oct. 18, is certain to be a busy day at Roland. This mammoth sale begins at 10 a.m. Eastern.

For details phone Roland Auctions NY at 212-260-2000.

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

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