CHICAGO – Potter & Potter Auctions‘ Outsider, Folk, and Fine Art Sale, which took place on June 28, totaled nearly $271,000. The sale offered 570 category-spanning lots and was the debut auction for Aron Packer, the company’s new director and specialist of its Fine & Outsider Art division. Absentee and Internet live bidding was facilitated through LiveAuctioneers.
The top lot in the sale was Fabio Fabbi’s (Italian, 1861-1946) untitled painting depicting street dancers. Estimated at $1,000-$2,000, this Orientalist-themed canvas from the turn of the last century realized $13,750. Fabbi was popular for his exotic Neoclassical paintings, which often depicted Middle Eastern and North African street scenes featuring harem women, dancers and Muslim warriors.
Other auction highlights included a 1960s-era display posterboard of tattoo flash drawings that featured 15 original ink and watercolor sketches of tattoo designs in collage, with small price stickers for each. It measured 20 by 28in and originally came from a Lake Geneva, Wisc., tattoo shop. Estimated at $300-$500, it made $1,375.
Lot #263, an untitled Don Baum (American, 1922-2008) art house assembled from several pieces, was estimated at $500-$700 and closed at $2,400. The undated, signed dwelling measured 10 by 15 by 7½in and was made from found wood. It was painted pink, black and green and was decorated with a palm tree, cacti and a man in a sombrero. Baum was associated with the Chicago Imagists and curated their first shows at the Hyde Park Art Center.
A ceramic bird creamer by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) was estimated at $3,000-$5,000 and sold for $3,840. This mid-century example was #398 of 500 produced. It was white and painted in black and blue and retained its “Madoura Plein Feu” and “Edition Picasso” stamps, as well as the words “Edition Picasso 398/500” written in marker on its underside.
Howard Finster’s (American, 1916-2001) The Empty Cross Shows Me Some One Took My Place…. #2,809, earned $3,360 against an estimate of $2,000-$3,000. This signed, hand-built and -decorated work from 1983 measured 12-½ by 3-½ by 15in. It featured four plexiglass panels in a shadow box with a painted background. Finster was an artist and Baptist minister from Georgia who gained his reputation in the 1980s with his album cover designs for R.E.M. and the Talking Heads.
[av_button label=’Click to view the auction catalog complete with prices realized’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ link=’manually,https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/291284_outsider-folk-and-fine-art/?keyword=&page=1′ link_target=’_blank’ size=’small’ position=’center’ label_display=” title_attr=” size-text=” av-desktop-font-size-text=” av-medium-font-size-text=” av-small-font-size-text=” av-mini-font-size-text=” margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=” padding_sync=’true’ av-desktop-margin=” av-desktop-margin_sync=’true’ av-desktop-padding=” av-desktop-padding_sync=’true’ av-medium-margin=” av-medium-margin_sync=’true’ av-medium-padding=” av-medium-padding_sync=’true’ av-small-margin=” av-small-margin_sync=’true’ av-small-padding=” av-small-padding_sync=’true’ av-mini-margin=” av-mini-margin_sync=’true’ av-mini-padding=” av-mini-padding_sync=’true’ color_options=” color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ btn_color_bg=’theme-color’ btn_custom_grad_direction=’vertical’ btn_custom_grad_1=’#000000′ btn_custom_grad_2=’#ffffff’ btn_custom_grad_3=” btn_custom_grad_opacity=’0.7′ btn_custom_bg=’#444444′ btn_color_bg_hover=’theme-color-highlight’ btn_custom_bg_hover=’#444444′ btn_color_font=’theme-color’ btn_custom_font=’#ffffff’ btn_color_font_hover=’white’ btn_custom_font_hover=’#ffffff’ border=” border_width=” border_width_sync=’true’ border_color=” border_radius=” border_radius_sync=’true’ box_shadow=” box_shadow_style=’0px,0px,0px,0px’ box_shadow_color=” animation=” animation_duration=” animation_custom_bg_color=” animation_z_index_curtain=’100′ hover_opacity=” sonar_effect_effect=” sonar_effect_color=” sonar_effect_duration=’1′ sonar_effect_scale=” sonar_effect_opac=’0.5′ css_position=” css_position_location=’,,,’ css_position_z_index=” av-desktop-css_position=” av-desktop-css_position_location=’,,,’ av-desktop-css_position_z_index=” av-medium-css_position=” av-medium-css_position_location=’,,,’ av-medium-css_position_z_index=” av-small-css_position=” av-small-css_position_location=’,,,’ av-small-css_position_z_index=” av-mini-css_position=” av-mini-css_position_location=’,,,’ av-mini-css_position_z_index=” id=” custom_class=” template_class=” av_uid=’av-6mmrbcl’ sc_version=’1.0′ admin_preview_bg=”]
Click to view top auction results on LiveAuctioneers: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/