Lennon’s Sgt. Pepper Art, Pharrell Curates Musical Gala for Murakami, and More Fresh News

John Lennon’s original sketch previewing the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, to be auctioned May 20 in New York City. Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions

 

News and updates from around the arts and auction community:

  • John Lennon’s original sketch previewing the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band will headline Julien’s May 20 Music Icons 2017 auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York’s Times Square. The drawing was found in a sketchbook at Lennon’s former home in England, where he lived starting in 1964. [Read more from Rolling Stone]
  • Pharrell Williams will bring his very successful brand of happiness to Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art next month. The multi-Grammy-winning producer/performer will serve as musical curator for the gala June 6 opening of the Takashi Murakami exhibition. [Read more from the Chicago Tribune]
  • In the world of vintage Ford Mustangs, a standard 1965 coupe is not in the same price universe as a Shelby GT, but there is an exception. A ’65 coupe is expected to sell for $450K-$650K at an auction later this month because it was the first Mustang hardtop to receive a vehicle identification number, or VIN. [Read more from AutoWeek]
  • The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas has added another prize to its renowned holdings: the archives of screen and stage legend Peter O’Toole. The Ransom Center’s collection aready include the works of Stella Adler, Robert De Niro, George Bernard Shaw and scores of other luminaries. [Read more from the Austin Chronicle]

For more news and updates, follow LiveAuctioneers on Twitter and Facebook.

Gallery Report: April 2017

ATLANTA – At the start of each month, ACN columnist Ken Hall gathers top auction highlights from around the United States and beyond. Here’s what made headlines since last month’s report:

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Henry Moore bronze maquette tops Cottone Auctions at $195,500

Henry Moore’s bronze maquette of ‘Reclining Figure,’ circa 1935-1936, was the top lot of the sale at $195,500. Cottone Auctions image

 

GENESEO, N.Y. – A bronze maquette for the sculpture Draped Reclining Figure by Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986) sailed past its high estimate of $150,000 to finish at $195,500 in Cottone Auctions’ annual Fine Arts & Antiques Auction, held March 25. It was the top lot in a sale that grossed $2.1 million. Absentee and Internet Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.

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National Gallery of Art to host Vermeer exhibition later this year

Johannes Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668, oil on canvas, overall: 50 x 45 cm (19 11/16 x 17 11/16 in.). Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Peintures, Acquired by “dation” in 1982

 

WASHINGTON – More than 20 years after the legendary exhibition “Johannes Vermeer,” the National Gallery of Art, Washington, will present “Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry.” On view in the West Building from October 22, 2017, through January 21, 2018, the exhibition will examine the artistic exchanges among Dutch Golden Age painters from 1650 to 1675, when they reached the height of their technical ability and mastery at depicting domestic life.

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Auction of Soviet art 3 years ago triggers probe

Georgy Nissky (Russian 1903-1987), ‘The Railway’, 1935, watercolor on paper. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers archive

 

MOSCOW (AP) – The sale of nine Soviet-era masterpieces that fetched $3 million at a London auction in 2014 is causing uproar in Moscow’s art community, where it was largely perceived as a theft of the family jewels.

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