Willam S. Burroughs, who is the subject of the exhibition ‘Can You All Hear Me?’ at October Gallery from Dec. 4 to Feb. 7. Image courtesy of October Gallery. Photo copyright James Grauerholz. LONDON – There is a distinct American theme to this month’s report from rainy Britain, and we are not referring to the bizarre shopping phenomenon known as Black Friday, which has now crossed the Atlantic, bringing retail mayhem to British high streets as members of the public do pitched battle with over heavily discounted consumer durables.
Happily that style of shopping is yet to reach the art and antiques sector where a certain genteel restraint is still the order of the day. No, instead the American flavor referred to comes from two events this month, one in a London gallery, the other in a Yorkshire auction room.
London’s October Gallery is about to stage an exhibition devoted to the work and influence of William S. Burroughs, one of the leading figures of the 1960s counter-culture. Meanwhile, up in North Yorkshire on Dec. 6, the Leyburn auctioneers Tennants will sell a major collection of mainly British porcelain, furniture and works of art accumulated over the past 80 years from UK galleries and auctions by a long-standing client of the auction house based in Virginia, USA. What is the going rate for an older American flag, I hear you ask. Lot 270 is estimated at £60-100 ($95-$1,560).
An American flag, from an American private collection, estimated at £60-£100 ($95-$1560) at tenants in North Yorkshire on Dec. 6. Image courtesy of Tennants.
William Burroughs’s association with the October Gallery’s founders dates back to 1974. It was a friendship that led to the gallery staging Burroughs’s first UK exhibition in 1988. Burroughs died in 1997, but his off-center influence can still be felt, as the October show seeks to demonstrate.
Internationally renowned as the spiritual home of the Transvangarde, October Gallery promotes innovative creative projects by established and emerging artists from around the world. Located just a stone’s throw from the British Museum, it continues to provide a meeting place for discussion, experimentation and cross-cultural collaboration for artists, musicians, poets and performers and is thus the most appropriate place for “Can You All Hear me?” the current show of Burroughs’s work. The exhibition, which runs from Dec. 4 until Feb. 7, will include a number of Burroughs’ own abstract works and “talismanic objects” in a range of media. William S. Burroughs, ‘Ulysses not too late to seek a new world,’ 1992. Paint and spray on paper. Image courtesy October Gallery. Photo Jonathan Greet, copyright Estate of William Burroughs.William S. Burroughs, ‘The Assassins, Gun II’ circa 1990. Ink and spray paint on sketchbook page. Image courtesy October Gallery. Photo Jonathan Greet, copyright Estate of William Burroughs. Burroughs had an important influence on many of his contemporaries in Britain and beyond and the exhibition will communicate something of his impact on London-based and international avant-garde artists, poets and musicians such as Lilian Lijn, Genesis Breyer P. Orridge, Shezad Dawood, Cerith Wyn Evans and Brion Gysin. Gysin’s “cut-up” technique was in turn to exert a major impact on Burroughs. The October exhibition is sure to keep the Burroughs flame burning.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, ‘Snoflakes DNA (Clouds)’ 2008. C-Print mounted on Plexiglass. Featured in an exhibition devoted to the work and influence of William S. Burroughs at October Gallery from Dec. 4 to Feb. 7. Image courtesy the artist and October Gallery.William Burroughs had an influence on many artists, including the British artist Liliane Lijn, whose multimedia work titled ’Way Out Is Way In,’ 2009, is included in the October Gallery’s exhibition devoted to Burroughs. Image courtesy October Gallery and the artist.
Turning to more traditional matters, Yorkshire auctioneers Tennants’ sale on Dec. 6 of the surplus contents and reserve collection of their Virginia client contains some real treasures. In many ways it is the sort of coherent collection that was relatively common under English hammers in the 1970s and early 1980s, but is rarely encountered these days. There is English porcelain aplenty here, including a selection of lovely Worcester cachepots on stands by Flight & Barr and other makers. This English porcelain cachepot and stand, one of a number coming under the hammer at Tennants in Yorkshire on Dec. 6, comes from an American private collection. It is estimated at £700-£1,000 ($1,100-$1,560) There will no doubt also be huge interest in the sale from Chinese dealers and collectors keen to buy back examples of their own material culture, although my expert industry contacts tell me that Chinese export wares are yet to catch on among Asian buyers. It will therefore be interesting to see who competes for the monogram-decorated Chinese porcelain dinner service, circa 1790, that is forecast to realize between £2,000-£3,000 ($3,125-$4,700).
This Chinese porcelain dinner service, decorated with a monogram, is expected to make around £2,000-£3,000 ($3,125-$4,700) when Tennants disperses the estate of a Virginia private collection on Dec. 6. Image courtesy of Tennants.
One of the most interesting items in the sale is a very elegant and simple American Windsor ash and maple stick-back bench settee. A 19th-century maple and ash Windsor bench, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Rhode Island, possibly by Joseph Henzey or John B Ackley, to be offered by Tenants in Yorkshire on Dec. 6, with an estimate of £2,000-£3,000 ($3,125-$4,700). Image courtesy of Tennants. The auctioneers have been careful to hedge their bets somewhat in speculating on the origin of this, suggesting “Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Rhode Island,” possibly by Joseph Henzey or John B. Ackley. Once again, it will be interesting to see where this ends up, given the combination of its obvious historical interest and its clear interior decorator appeal. It has been estimated at £2,000-£3,000 ($3,125-$4,700) but one suspects its lovely Shaker-like shape and warm color could see it sail over that.
Finally, one of the most potentially expensive items in the sale is a George III silver épergne of pagoda form by Thomas Pitts, London, 1762. This hugely elaborate 18th-century London silver pagoda-shaped épergne is expected to make £50,000-£70,000 ($78,225-$109,500) when it is offered by Tennants in North Yorkshire on Dec. 6. Image courtesy of Tennants. The catalogers clearly had some fun doing justice to the extraordinarily ornate construction of this confection, with its swing handles, pierced baskets and dangling bells, all of which are expected to help steer it to a hammer price in the region of £50,000-£70,000 ($78,225-$109,500).
From small porcelain teacups and saucers to massive, scaled-up porcelain teacups and saucers of the kind that would bring a double-take were you to encounter one of them in a field somewhere in the English countryside. Unless, of course, that field was in a sculpture garden like Broomhill Art Hotel and Sculpture Garden in North Devon. Broomhill’s annual Sculpture Prize has become quite a coveted award for practicing artists making large exterior pieces. Launched, in 2009, the prize has an annual fund of £15,000 ($23,500) offered to new and emerging UK based sculptors. Each year, 10 short-listed artists selected by the judges receive £1,000 each to create a proposal, which is then exhibited at the Broomhill Sculpture Park in the annual summer Exhibition. The winner gets £3,500 ($5,475) and the work goes into Broomhill’s permanent collection. That may not seem like a lot of money, but the award also represents valuable recognition for artists seeking to assert themselves in today’s highly competitive contemporary art world.
The 2014 judges had the usual thorny, but clearly enjoyable, task of weighing up a range of highly imaginative, accomplished and occasionally wacky creations. Sculpture is fun. British sculptor Simon Hitchens (left) and fellow judges of the annual Broomhill National Sculpture Prize pause in their deliberations over the 2014 winner of the award. Image courtesy of Broomhill Sculpture Garden. Their winner this year was Tian Zhu’s Hiccup, an enormous teacup buried in the earth. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, the artist has said of her sculpture, “I would like my work to serve as a ‘hiccup’ – to interrupt and to disturb.” Tian Zhou’s ‘Hiccup,’ winner of this year’s annual Broomhill National Sculpture Prize. Image courtesy of Broomhill Sculpture Garden.
And so finally, to a piece of interesting London art market news. It is now common knowledge that the European sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the Ukraine conflict and the country’s alleged involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are hitting the country where it hurts most — its economy.
Those geopolitical developments may also be having an indirect impact on the art trade. MacDougall’s, the specialist London-based auctioneers of Russian art, held one of their regular sales of Russian material on Nov 26, selling over £7.7 million ($12 million) worth of art. However, despite some high prices, such as Nicholas Roerich’s And We Continue Fishing, from the “Sancta series,” which made £1,228,500 ($1.9 million) and Ivan Shishkin’s Pine Forest, which fetched £1,215,600 ($1.9 million), the general outlook was cautious.
Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), ‘And We Continue Fishing,’ from the ‘Sancta’ series, which sold for £1,228,500 ($1.9 million) at MacDougall’s auction Nov. 26. Image courtesy of MacDougall’s.Ivan Shishkin’s ‘Pine Forest (Sukhostoi)’, which fetched £1,215,600 ($1.9 million) at MacDougall’s sale of Russian art in London on Nov. 26. Image courtesy of McDougall’s.
MacDougalls’s founder director Catherine MacDougall said afterwards, “Clients have money but are not in a great mood to buy, given the political and economic situation. Nevertheless, the general trends continue — top lots sell, sometimes exceeding the reserves.”
If there is one thing the art market hates, it’s uncertainty.
Antique cigar store Indians continue to be popular. This 19th-century figure of an Indian maiden, 68 inches high, sold for $42,550 at Cottone Auctions in March 2014.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio – Is an old barber pole or carved cigar store Indian worth as much as an oil painting of the same age? Some collectors today think so. One bidder paid $42,550 for a well-documented Indian maiden cigar store figure at a 2014 antiques auction.
The hand-carved figure was pictured in the 1970s book Treasury of American Design, which discusses a 1935 WPA project. Jobs were scarce during the Depression and the project gave jobs to artists who created watercolors of important American folk art. These original pictures can be viewed at the National Gallery of Art. You can see them online at www.nga.gov (search for “Index of American Design”).
The wooden Indian was the accepted sign in front of a tobacco shop by the 1840s, but it was almost gone by 1900, replaced by flat signs with store names. The term “cigar store Indian” today includes all the wooden or metal figures used as store signs in the past. Most of them did represent American Indians and were dressed in traditional feathers and robes. Many held tobacco leaves.
The record price for a Santa Claus figure, set at Sotheby’s in January 2014, is $875,000. The Santa Claus figure was made in 1926 by Samuel A. Robb, who also carved American Indians.
Even if a figure is a clown, dandy, Turk, soldier, young girl, Chinese man, Scotsman, Santa Claus or anyone else, all are referred to as “cigar store Indians.”
Q: I was given a platter with a painted turkey in the center and a pink and green flower border. The platter is round, 2 inches high and 15 1/2 inches in diameter. It’s marked with a green backstamp that reads “The Cowell & Hubbard Co., Cleveland, O” inside a shield-shaped cartouche. Can you tell me more about my platter and what it’s worth?
A: Your turkey platter was sold by Cowell & Hubbard, but it wasn’t made by that company. The Cowell & Hubbard Co. was founded in Cleveland in 1861 and was once Cleveland’s oldest and most prestigious jewelry store. It sold a variety of luxury goods – jewelry, fine silver, china dishes, cut glass, clocks, lamps and engraved stationery. Cowell & Hubbard contracted with some of the best American and European ceramics manufacturers, such as Lenox in the United States; Haviland and Ahrenfeldt in Limoges, France; Cauldon, Minton, Wedgwood and Royal Worcester in England; and Rosenthal of Germany to buy dinnerware and decorative items that were sold exclusively by the store. Factories often printed the names or marks of retailers as part of a backstamp with and without the maker’s own mark. It’s not clear who made your platter, but it was probably made in the 1930s and is worth about $75 to $100, thanks to the turkey and every family’s need for a Thanksgiving platter.
Q: We have a copy of the Nov. 23, 1936, issue of Life magazine. That’s Vol. 1, No. 1. There is a picture of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana on the cover. It measures 8 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches and is in excellent condition. Is this a real original or a souvenir copy? It doesn’t say “copy” on it anywhere. What would it be worth to a collector?
A: You have a replica of the first issue of Life magazine. It’s an exact but smaller replica of the full-size issue. The Fort Peck Dam was built on the Missouri River as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal projects. The cover photo was taken by Margaret Bourke-White. Life was published weekly until 1972. It was revived as a weekly newspaper supplement from 2004 to 2007. Full-size first editions of Life can sell for over $100, but online sellers offer the smaller replica for $10 to $15.
Q: I own a pine double-bed headboard and double dresser with mirror. A label in a drawer says “Hand Burnished Pine by Shockey.” Could you give me a value?
A: Your two-piece bedroom set was made by Franklin Shockey Co. of Lexington, N.C. The furniture company opened in 1941 and appears to have operated into the early 1960s. Shockey made a line of mid-century modern pine furniture that collectors hunt for today. If your set is in the mid-century modern style and in good condition, you might get as much as $1,000.
Q: My husband and I knew the sculptor Edward Marshall Boehm and his wife when he was studying porcelain manufacturing in the 1950s. His earliest figurines were dogs and farm animals, made before he began creating the beautiful birds for which he became famous. I have a black and white Boehm cocker spaniel. What is it worth?
A: Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969) was a veterinarian’s assistant from 1945 until 1949. He made most of his dog figures between 1949 and the late 1950s. He opened a porcelain studio in his home in Trenton, N.J., in 1950 and began experimenting with different glazes. His wife, Helen, promoted the business and marketed the figurines. Boehm made cocker spaniels in several colors and in two sizes. An early version, with the dog’s head turned slightly to the right, was made between 1951 and 1957. Two hundred black and white cocker spaniels were made. Value of your figurine: $200 to $300.
Tip: Be careful when you’re eating at your Thanksgiving dining-room table. The hardest stains to remove from a tablecloth – or a blouse – are gravy and Merlot wine.
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.
Royal Bayreuth string-holder, rooster, wall mount, 6 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches, $90.
Silver calling-card case, repousse, engraved, Philadelphia scenes, Leonard & Wilson, 3 1/2 inches, $240.
Fire screen, Art Nouveau, copper, cast iron, hammered edge, embossed leaves, c. 1910, 32 inches, $245.
Charm, Model T, 10K yellow gold, 20th century, 1 1/4 inches, $270.
Hans Wegner chair, Wishbone, oak, continuous arm, wishbone splat, woven seat, 1949, 29 inches, set of 4, $740.
Sign, Dr. Pepper “Good for Life,” bottle image, tin lithograph, die-cut, 2-sided, 11 x 23 x 2 inches, $1,440.
Toy football player, running, holding ball, wearing helmet, celluloid, windup, marked Japan, c. 1935, 8 inches, $1,920.
Copeland plate, hunting scene, white border, painted, L. Edwards, retailed by Soane & Smith, c. 1930, 10 inches, 12 pieces, $4,065.
Uncle Remus mechanical bank, chicken coop, hen, policeman, painted, cast iron, c. 1895, 5 3/4 inches, $18,000.
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Antique cigar store Indians continue to be popular. This 19th-century figure of an Indian maiden, 68 inches high, sold for $42,550 at Cottone Auctions in March 2014.
Mr. Prvrt at Centre-Fuge Public Art Project, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick
NEW YORK – East First Street between First Avenue and Essex has been plagued by construction for most of 2014, which makes the Centre-Fuge Public Art Project even more of a welcome blast of color. The colorful MTA trailer gives artists much needed legal space and neighborhood residents a welcome blast of color to drown out the reality of plywood and orange cones.
It was Mr. Prvrt’s gray and black raccoon on the North Side of the trailer that hooked me. Putting aside the 14-year-old boy inside me that giggled at the idea of an artist named Mr. Prvrt painting a beaver, this creature was undeniably adorable, with its little paws clasped together and longing blue eyes. I wanted to give it a cookie.
The panel next door by Marthalicia Mattarita features the face of a baby with what is either purple octopus arms growing out of its head, or just a hat I need to buy immediately.
Speaking of hair related inspiration, there’s a piece by Australian artist Vexta, a woman standing against a gray background, whose hair, messy and brushed to the side, dissolves from the roots into a group of birds. It made me want to ask for her hairdresser’s number, because mine never does that when it’s messy.
Centre-Fuge will be on East First Street between First Avenue and Essex Street through 2015.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Mr. Prvrt at Centre-Fuge Public Art Project, New York. Photo by Ilana NovickVexta at Centre-Fuge Public Art Project, New York. Photo by Ilana NovickDasic Fernandez at Centre-Fuge Public Art Project, New York. Photo by Ilana NovickMarthalicia Mattarita at Centre-Fuge Public Art Project, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick
French dore gilt bronze mantel clock with ormolu, depicts lady feeding nest of birds in a pond to her left, solid bronze case with marble inserts and foliage, signed, est. $1,600-$2,400. Bruhns image
DENVER – Collectors and antique enthusiasts won’t want to miss the fantastic fine and decorative arts collection to be auctioned during Bruhns’ Special Antique Estates Auction on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The sale’s contents are described as “rivaling anything to be found in the finest Continental salerooms.” Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
Among the highlights are:
* More than 200 antique clocks including: Seth Thomas, Sonora, 12 hrandfather clocks, French figural dore bronze statue clocks, Vienna regulators, French Morbier, E.N. Welch Patti, a French figural lighting clock and many others
* 75 fine artworks, including original oils and watercolors by sought-after artists
* Antique furniture
* Ship’s chronometer
* Ansonia porcelain
* Art glass and rare reverse-painted, Gone with the Wind parlor lamp, Handel parlor lamp, early double wedding lamp, unusual pair of Bradley & Hubbard bracket lamps
* Fancy antique oak 10-piece dining room set
* Double curved glass oak china cabinet, stacking bookcases, unusual side cabinets, early style tilt-top Chippendale table, parlor sets
* Great pocket watch collection, including early fusee, hunting case and railroad pocket types
Established in 1974, Bruhns Auction Gallery has established a reputation as one of the Western states’ leading auction houses. The company specializes in rare antique and Victorian furniture, paintings, sterling silver, French, German and American clocks; chandeliers, Persian rugs, architectural items, antique guns and many other collected objects of superior quality.
Bruhns’ Saturday, Dec. 6 auction will begin at 11 a.m. local time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time / 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
For information on any item in the sale, call 303-744-6505 or email bruhnsauction@gmail.com. Visit Bruhns online at www.bruhnsauction.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
French dore gilt bronze mantel clock with ormolu, depicts lady feeding nest of birds in a pond to her left, solid bronze case with marble inserts and foliage, signed, est. $1,600-$2,400. Bruhns imageFrench Louis XV-style figural mantel clock with three massive Cupids in the clouds, 8in porcelain dial with open escapement, 30-day, L. Marti movement. Est. $6,500-$9,000. Bruhns imageFrench Louis XIV-style boulle mantel clock, bronze finial with cherub sitting on top, decorated porcelain dial with bronze overly, time and strike, signed, Japy Freres movement, est. $1,300-$1,800. Bruhns imageF. Grayson Sayre, ‘The Hand of Hearts Desert,’ oil on canvas, 30 x 24, circa 1920, artist-signed lower right, est. $3,600-$5,000. Bruhns imageA. Scotts, English country scene, oil on canvas, 36 x 23 framed, circa 1890, signed lower left, est. $650-$900. Bruhns imageAnsonia ‘La Orb’ porcelain mantel clock in hand-decorated Royal Bonn case, circa 1890, est. $400-$650. Bruhns imageAnsonia ‘La Fontaine’ porcelain mantel clock in Royal Bonn case, signed on back, time and strike, circa 1895, est. $300-$550. Bruhns imageRare scenic ‘Gone with the Wind’ reverse-painted parlor lamp, matching shade and base, circa 1800, 28in high, est. $850-$1,400. Bruhns image
Dadamaino da Team Colore nel 1975, Fotografia Gianfranco Corso , Courtesy Sotheby’s LONDRA – Nell’anno in cui ricorre il decimo anniversario dalla scomparsa di Dadamaino, Sotheby’s dedica all’artista italiana una mostra nella sua galleria S|2 di Londra dal 20 novembre 2014 al 16 gennaio 2015 che permette di ripercorrere la carriera di questa importante pioniera dell’arte al femminile e di acquistare opere fresche sul mercato. Delle opere in mostra, 19 provengono da collezioni private e sono in vendita, mentre altre cinque provengono dall’archivio Dadamaino di Milano e sono in prestito.
È un privilegio allestire una mostra dedicata ad una delle pioniere femminili dell’arte contemporanea” ha detto Fru Tholstrup, direttrice di S2 a Londra. “In un mondo dominato dagli uomini, Dadamaino ha rotto gli schemi e ora è giustamente riconosciuta tra gli artisti italiani più influenti della sua generazione”.
Dadamaino appartiene alla generazione di artisti italiani degli anni 60 che adesso sono particolarmente richiesti sul mercato dell’arte a livello internazionale. Se fino a qualche anno fa i collezionisti internazionali conoscevano solo i grandi protagonisti come Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni e Enrico Castellani, ora hanno scoperto anche i loro contemporanei come Paolo Scheggi, Agostino Bonalumi e appunto Dadamaino. Per rendersi conto della crescita del mercato di quest’ultima basti pensare che nel giro di un anno, dall’ottobre 2013 a oggi, il suo record è stato superato ben tre volte: da Sotheby’s a Londra il 17 ottobre 2013 una sua opera stimata €25.000-35.000 è stata venduta per €123.500; un mese dopo, il 27 novembre da Dorotheum a Vienna, una sua opera stimata €30.000-40.000 è stata venduta per €134.500; e infine l’ultimo da Sotheby’s a Londra lo scorso 17 ottobre con un’opera venduta per €154.500. Inoltre le sue opere sono entrate nelle collezioni di musei come la Tate di Londra e il Guggenheim di New York, dove è attualmente esposta all’interno dell’importante mostra “Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s”.
Nata a Milano nel 1930 come Eduarda Emilia Maino, Dadamaino inizia la sua attività artistica come autodidatta. Frequentando il famoso locale degli artisti Bar Giamaica incontra nel 1957 Piero Manzoni ed entra a far parte della scena dell’avanguardia artistica milanese dove è nota con il soprannome di Dada. Viene profondamente influenzata da Lucio Fontana: un aneddoto racconta il suo primo incontro accidentale con un suo Concetti Spaziale, visto in una vetrina di un negozio tra Via Broletto e Piazza Cordusio a Milano passando con il tram. Così come Fontana, anche Dadamaino nel 1959 arriva a superare la bidimensionalità della tela e apre il dipinto alle possibilità della terza dimensione. Realizza i “Volumi”: tele monocrome bianche o nere o lasciate al naturale dalle quali rimuove ampie parti di superficie creando forme ovoidali vuote. Sono proprio queste opere, che nei primi anni 60 vengono subito mostrate nella galleria Azimut di Milano di Manzoni e Castellani, le più richieste sul mercato. Al riguardo l’artista ha affermato: “Ho sempre aborrito la materia e ricercato l’immaterialità. Naturalmente Fontana ha avuto un ruolo determinante nella storia della mia pittura. (….) Se non fosse stato Fontana a perforare la tela, probabilmente non avrei osato farlo neppure io. Si asportava totalmente la materia, al punto da rendere visibili anche parti della tela, per eliminarne ogni elemento materiale, per privarla di ogni retorica e ritornare cosi alla tabula rasa, alla purezza”.
Dopo questo atto liberatoria Dadamaino cerca una via per proseguire e la trova ispirandosi al Futurismo e ai suoi insegnamenti. Guardando dietro i buchi dei suoi lavori vede il muro fatto di luci e ombre che vibrano e va alla ricerca del movimento: “L’arte era stata sinora statica, tranne per pochi pionieri, bisogna farla ridiventare dinamica e con mezzi conseguenti alle più recenti esperienze tecnico-scientifiche, stabilito che si può fare dell’arte con qualsiasi mezzo”.
All’inizio degli anni 60, quindi, Dadamaino si allontana dal bianco e nero dei suoi primi lavori e concepisce i “Volumi a Moduli Sfasati”: tele in cui sovrappone diversi strati di materiale semi-trasparente perforati. “Volevo creare fori che fossero disposti in modo prospettico e traducessero il volume su tre o quattro strati di materiale plastico” ha raccontato l’artista. “Trovai un materiale semitrasparente che si utilizza normalmente per le tende da doccia e che all’epoca si avvicinava di più all’idea di trasparenza. Con una fustella perforai a mano gli strati e li collocai sul telaio. Il calore della mia mano spostava i fori, e tale spostamento era il frutto del caso”. Un’opera di questo genere del 1960 si trova alla Tate di Londra.
Negli anni a seguire l’artista collabora con movimenti internazionali come il Gruppo Zero in Germania e Nul in Olanda e partecipa a mostre in musei e gallerie in Italia e in Europa. Proprio in occasione di una mostra nel 1961 i suoi dipinti sono erroneamente attribuiti al nome di Dadamaino che l’artista assume per il resto della sua carriera.
L’istinto radicale di Dadamaino la porta a creare nuovi gruppi di lavori e ad evolvere continuamente il suo stile. I suoi interessi si rivolgono sempre più all’arte cinetica e optical. All’inizio degli anni 70 sviluppa i “Cromorilievi”, strutture tridimensionali che trasformano i principi matematici in esperienza estetica, mentre a metà degli anni 70 introduce il segno grafico e realizza l’”Alfabeto della mente”, una serie di caratteri inventati che Dadamaino utilizza per scrivere una serie di “lettere” che consistono nella ripetizione di un singolo segno. Negli anni 80 i suoi lavori vengono esposti due volte alla Biennale di Venezia, la prima volta nel 1980 con la serie “I fatti della vita” e la seconda volta nel 1990 con la personale “Dimensione futuro. L’artista e lo spazio”. È scomparsa a Milano nel 2004.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Dadamaino da Team Colore nel 1975, Fotografia Gianfranco Corso , Courtesy Sotheby’sDadamaino, ‘Cromorilievo,’ 1975. Courtesy Sotheby’sDadamaino, ‘Oggetto Ottico Dinamico,’ 1961. Courtesy Sotheby’sDadamaino, ‘Volume,’ 1958. Courtesy Sotheby’s
LONDON – In the year that marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Dadamaino, Sotheby’s dedicates to the Italian artist a selling exhibition in its London gallery S|2 from Nov. 20 to Jan. 16. The exhibition allows art lovers to retrace the career of this important pioneer of female art and buy 19 fresh-to-the-market works of art. Five other works come from the Dadamaino Archive in Milan and are on loan.
“It is a privilege to stage a show dedicated to one of the female pioneers of contemporary art,” said Fru Tholstrup, director of S|2 London. “In a male dominated world, Dadamaino broke the mold, and is now rightly being recognized as one of the most influential Italian artists of her generation.”
Dadamaino belongs to the generation of Italian artists from the 1960s, who now are particularly in demand on the international art market. Until a few years ago, the international collectors knew only the big players such as Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani. Now they have also discovered their contemporaries such as Paolo Scheggi, Agostino Bonalumi and Dadamaino. To get an idea of the market’s growth of the latter, just think that within a year, from October 2013 to now, her record has been exceeded three times: At Sotheby’s in London on Oct. 17, 2013, a work with an estimate of €25,000-35,000 sold for €123,500; a month later, on Nov. 27 at the Dorotheum in Vienna, a work with an estimate of €30,000-40,000 sold for €134,500; and finally at Sotheby’s in London on Oct. 17 one of her works sold for €154,500. Furthermore, her works have entered the collections of museums such as the Tate in London and the Guggenheim in New York, where Dadamaino is currently on display in the important exhibition “Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s.”
Born in Milan in 1930 as Eduarda Emilia Maino, Dadamaino began her artistic career as an autodidact. At the end of the 1950s, she attended the famous local artists group Bar Jamaica, where she met Piero Manzoni. Dadamaino so became part of Milan’s avant-garde artistic scene, where he is known by the nickname of Dada. She was deeply influenced by Lucio Fontana. An anecdote recounts her first meeting with one of his “Concetti spaziali,” which Dadamaino saw from the tramway in a shop’s window at the corner between piazza Cordusio and via Broletto in Milan. Like Fontana, Dadamaino in 1959 arrived to overcome the two-dimensionality of the canvas and to open the possibilities of the painting to the third dimension, and realized her Volumes: monochrome canvases in black or white or natural color, from which she removed large parts of the surface, creating ovoid, empty forms. These works, which in the early 1960s were displayed in Manzoni’s and Castellani’s Azimut gallery in Milan, are now the most requested on the market. In regard to them the artist said: “I have always abhorred the matter and sought the immateriality. Naturally Fontana has had a decisive role in the history of my painting. (….) If it was not Fontana to pierce the canvas, probably I would not have dared to do it myself. We used to entirely remove the matter so that also parts of the canvas were visible in order to eliminate any material element and to deprive it of rhetoric and return to the tabula rasa, to purity.”
After this liberating act, Dadamaino sought a way to continue and found her inspiration in the teachings of Futurism. Looking beyond the holes of her works she saw the wall made of lights and shadows that vibrate and started looking for more movement: “The art was static so far, except for a few pioneers, it must again become dynamic using the means resulting from the most recent technical and scientific experiences, as we have determined that you can do art with any means.”
Thus in the early 1960s, Dadamaino moves away from the black and white of her early works and conceives the Out of Sync Modules Volumes – paintings in which she overlapped several layers of perforated semi-transparent material. “I wanted to create holes that were disposed in prospective and translated the volume in three or four layers of plastic,” the artist said. “I found a semi-transparent material that is normally used for shower curtains and that at time came closest to the idea of transparency. I perforated the sheets by hand and then placed them on the frame. The warmth of my hand moved the holes, and this shift was the result of chance.” A work of this kind from 1960 is at the Tate Gallery in London.
In the following years the artist collaborated with international movements like the Zero Group in Germany and Nul in the Netherlands and participated in exhibitions in museums and galleries in Italy and Europe. On the occasion of an exhibition in 1961, her paintings were erroneously attributed to Dadamaino, a name that the artist assumed for the rest of her career.
Dadamaino’s radical instinct brought her to create new groups of works and to continually evolve her style. Her interests increasingly turned to kinetic and optical art. In the early 1970s she developed the “Chromoreliefs,” three-dimensional structures that transform mathematical principles in aesthetic experience, while in the mid-1970s she introduced the graphic sign and realized the “Alphabet of the Mind,” a series of fictional characters that Dadamaino used to write a series of “letters” in which she repeated a single sign. In the 1980s her works were exhibited twice at the Venice Biennale, the first time in 1980 with the series The Facts of Life and the second time in 1990 with the solo show “Future Dimension. The Artist and The Space.” Dadamaino died in Milan in 2004.
This is the front cover art for the book ‘The Little Prince’ written by Antoine de Saint Exupéry and first published in 1943. The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher, Gallimard or the cover artist, Antoine de Saint Exupéry. Fair use of low-resolution image under terms of US Copyright law.
PARIS (AFP) –An original watercolor illustration from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s timeless classic The Little Prince, one of the world’s best-ever selling books, is to be auctioned in Paris next week.
The signed sketch, which appeared on page 17 of the original 1943 version of the novella, is expected to fetch between 400,000 and 500,000 euros ($500,000-600,000), according to auction house Artcurial.
The drawing depicts the Turkish astronomer, who discovered the Asteroid B612, the eponymous Little Prince’s planet, pointing at a blackboard of equations and mathematical diagrams.
By far Saint-Exupery’s most famous work, The Little Prince has been translated into more than 270 languages.
Artcurial said it is the most widely read book in the world after the Bible.
The book is a series of parables in which a boy prince recounts his adventures among the stars to a downed pilot on Earth and was published in English and French in New York in 1943.
Himself a pilot, Saint-Exupery died mysteriously during a 1944 reconnaissance mission aged 44 and so did not live to see the publication of his book in France in 1946, following the end of World War II.
The watercolor sketch, measuring 21.3 by 23.9 centimeters, is to go under the hammer on Dec. 9.
The Swiss museum lists Max Liebermann’s ‘Two Riders on the Beach’ included in the Gurlitt art hoard. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. GENEVA (AFP) – A Swiss museum has published the first list of the more than 1,500 artworks hoarded during the Nazi era, which it inherited from a German recluse.
The Museum of Fine Arts in Bern listed a total of about 1,600 works, divided into 41 categories, including valuable paintings and sketches by Picasso, Monet, Chagall and other masters discovered at two homes owned by Cornelius Gurlitt.
Gurlitt, who died in May at age 81, was the son of an art dealer tasked by Adolf Hitler with helping to plunder great works from museums and Jewish collectors, many of whom perished in the gas chambers.
He left his vast collection to the Swiss museum, which after six months of negotiations agreed this week to take the works.
Around 500 works of dubious provenance will remain in Germany so that a government-appointed task force can continue its research on identifying the heirs.
Among the works on the list published Thursday were Claude Monet’s Evening landscape, a fruit dish still life by Picasso, and Two women by Renoir.
“We have promised transparency and are now acting accordingly. We are therefore happy to be able to release, only three days after deciding to sign the agreement, the information we currently have at our disposal,” Matthias Frehner, head of the Bern museum, said in a statement.
He stressed that “the ongoing categorization has not been completed in full yet.”
The museum vowed to fill out the lists in the future, for instance by attributing more of the works to artists and improving the quality of the photos of the pictures.
1901 Coca-Cola paper poster, 31 x 26 inches, excellent condition, est. $10,000-$20,000. Morphy Auctions image
DENVER, Pa. – More than 800 lots of quality antique advertising will be auctioned at Morphy’s on Friday, December 5th, led by the only known example of an 1891 Coca-Cola calendar. LiveAuctioneers will provide the Internet live-bidding services for the sale.
Entered as Lot 481, the historically important Coke calendar was previously part of the Gordon P. Breslow collection. Years prior to Breslow’s acquisition of the near-mint rarity, it surfaced in Louisiana as part of a pre-1900 pharmaceutical collection.
“No earlier Coca-Cola calendar is known to exist, and significantly, it also promotes the Asa C. Candler & Co. on Peachtree Street in Atlanta,” said Dan Morphy, president of Morphy Auctions. “Asa Candler had a retail and wholesale drug business that served Coca-Cola at its soda fountain. Candler saw how popular the drink was and could foresee its potential on a much larger scale. In 1891, he paid $2,300 to become the sole owner of Coca-Cola, and a year later, he dissolved his pharmaceutical business and formed the Coca-Cola Bottling Company along with four other partners.” Iconic not only for its connection to one of the world’s most valuable brands, but also for its place in American history, the calendar is expected to make $100,000-$150,000 at auction.
Other enticing Coca-Cola antiques include Lot 482, a rare version of the company’s richly colorful 1908 calendar, estimate $20,000-$35,000; Lot 507, an extremely rare 1902 poster, $30,000-$45,000; and Lot 506, a scarce and beautiful calendar featuring the exquisitely dressed model Hilda Clark, $10,000-$20,000. There are many other desirable Coca-Cola lots in the sale, including additional early posters and calendars; serving trays, thermometers, door pushes, blotters, photos, clocks, coolers, store displays and signs.
Nineteenth and early 20th-century advertising was dominated by vices – especially smoking and drinking – as well as various outdoor pursuits, such as hunting and fishing. A fine array of antique advertising signs representing these “manly” categories and more will be offered on December 5.
Lot 261, a paper poster for Deep Spring Whiskey is dated 1911 and marked “American Litho Co.” The profusely illustrated Civil War image depicts the surrender of the Southern army at Appomattox, with General Robert E. Lee on horseback as the central figure, surrounded by troops carrying Confederate Flags and a woman dispensing a drink of whiskey to a wounded man. The poster measures 31 by 39 inches and is estimated at $7,500-$10,000.
Lot 79, an 1896 large-format (36½ by 23½-inch) calendar advertising Winchester Cartridges, has several images of hunters in snowy, wooded settings. In excellent condition, it carries a $4,000-$5,000 estimate.
A rare, 19-inch-tall papier-mache figure of the Philip Morris bellhop in full livery, atop three stairsteps, is emblazoned with the words “Yes Sir!” and “Call for Philip Morris.” A very nice example of a hard-to-find tobacciana piece, it is entered as Lot 693 with a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.
Lot 329 is a 31½ by 48-inch porcelain sign for Croce’s Beverages of Asbury Park, New Jersey. “Drink It – It Is Pure,” the sign assures. Dating to the 1930s, the sign is estimated at $1,000-$2,000.
The auction encompasses many other categories that are popular with today’s collectors, including antique straight razors, occupational shaving mugs, and other barber-shop accoutrements: bottles, canisters, jars, brushes and mirrors. Additionally, there are soda fountain syrup dispensers, early tobacco tins, Mr. Peanut collectibles, a collection of crate stencils, and much more.
The Friday, December 5, 2014 auction will begin at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. For additional information on any item in the sale or to reserve a phone line for live bidding on auction day, call 717-335-3435 or email info@morphyauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
1901 Coca-Cola paper poster, 31 x 26 inches, excellent condition, est. $10,000-$20,000. Morphy Auctions imagePorcelain sign advertising Croce’s Beverages of Asbury Park, N.J., 1930s, 31½ x 48 inches, est. $1,000-$2,000. Morphy Auctions image1896 Winchester Cartridges calendar, large format, 36½ x 23½ inches, est. $4,000-$5,000. Morphy Auctions imageDeep Spring Whiskey paper poster with Confederate Civil War theme of surrender at Appomattox, 31 x 30 inches, dated 1911, est. $7,500-$10,000. Morphy Auctions imageOnly known 1891 Coca-Cola calendar, ex Gordon P. Breslow collection, near mint, est. $100,000-$150,000. Morphy Auctions imagePhilip Morris papier-mache display figure, 19 inches tall, VG+ condition, est. $6,000-$8,000. Morphy Auctions image
A first edition of E.B. White’s ‘Stuart Little.’ Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com archive and PBA Galleries. BUDAPEST (AFP) – A long-lost avant-garde painting has returned home to Hungary after nine decades thanks to a sharp-eyed art historian who spotted it being used as a prop in the Hollywood film Stuart Little.
In 2009 Gergely Barki, a researcher at Hungary’s National Gallery, noticed Sleeping Lady with Black Vase by Robert Bereny (1888-1953) in the 1999 kids’ movie about a mouse as he watched TV with his daughter Lola.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Bereny’s long-lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie, I nearly dropped Lola from my lap,” Barki, 43, told AFP on Thursday.
“A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching Christmas movies at home,” he said.
The painting disappeared in the 1920s but Barki recognized it immediately even though he had only seen a faded black-and-white photo dating from a 1928 exhibition archived in the National Gallery.
Barki sent a flurry of emails to staff at the film’s makers Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures, receiving a reply from a former Sony employee, a set designer – two years later.
“She said the picture was hanging on her wall,” Barki told AFP.
“She had snapped it up for next-to-nothing in an antiques shop in Pasadena, Calif., thinking its avant-garde elegance was perfect for Stuart Little’s living room.”
After leaving Sony the set-designer sold the painting to a private collector who has now brought the picture to Budapest for auction.
Bereny, the leader of a pre-World War I avant-garde movement called the “Group of Eights,” fled to Berlin in 1920 after designing recruitment posters for Hungary’s short-lived communist revolution in 1919.
In the German capital, he had a romance with actress Marlene Dietrich, and, according to Barki, a rumored fling with Anastasia, the mysterious daughter of Russia’s last tsar Nicholas II.
Bereny’s painting goes under the hammer Dec. 13 with a starting price of around 110,000 euros ($137,350).
According to Barki, the buyer at the 1928 exhibition, possibly Jewish, probably left Hungary in the run-up to, or during, World War II.
“After the wars, revolutions, and tumult of the 20th century many Hungarian masterpieces are lost, scattered around the world,” he said.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
A first edition of E.B. White’s ‘Stuart Little.’ Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com archive and PBA Galleries.
