ATLANTA – An enchanting collection of artworks by the renowned Pakistani artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai (1897-1975), and three screenprints signed by the iconic American pop artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987), are expected headliners at a Signature Estates and Modern & Contemporary Collections Auction planned for Jan. 2 and 3 by Ahlers & Ogletree, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern time both days. A host of important local estates will be offered.
Abdur Rahman Chughtai is regarded as one of the most distinguished Pakistani artists of the 20th century. His work draws from a shared South Asian cultural heritage, and many of his paintings were large-format – exuberant, expansive works rendered in soft, meditative colors and bold, flowing lines. What distinguished Chughtai most were his exceptional skills as a draftsman.
Artworks by Chughtai will include a graphite pencil sketch on paper of a young woman, a watercolor and ink on paper of a woman with a parrot, a watercolor and ink on paper of two Mughal princesses, a watercolor on paper of a young woman with a flower, a watercolor on paper titled Procession, and a watercolor on paper of a woman with an oil lamp. All are signed.
The Warhol screenprints are all pencil-signed by the artist. Two are titled Ladies & Gentlemen (1975) and show a bust-length view of a cross-dresser (or transgender person), with dark black hair and pink lips. One is an artist’s proof, the other a publisher’s proof. A third piece, titled Marilyn (1967), shown below, is a stylized rendering of the late screen legend Marilyn Monroe. All are framed.
Works by noted French artists will also come up for bid. Included will be an oil on canvas by Edouard Cortes (1882-1969), titled Parisian Street Scene in Winter, signed lower left, showing a bustling Paris, with figures and the Arc de Triomphe; and a lithograph on laid paper by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), titled Rue Eugene-Dutuit a Rouen (1896), pencil inscribed and #4 of 15.
A lithograph in colors by France’s Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), titled Le Tocsin (La Depeche), is a figural print depicting a woman in a long bonnet and dress, walking her dog at night by moonlight. It is monogrammed and dated (1895). Also sold will be a 1976 oil on canvas seascape by Andre Hambourg (French, 1909-1999), titled Fetes des Marins, Honfleur, artist signed.
American artists will also have their day. Works will include an etching, aquatint and engraving on wove paper by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), titled Two Figures with Tepee (1980), from the artist’s “American Indian Theme” series, #12 of 32; an oil on mixed media collage on canvas marine rendering of two ships by Thomas H. Willis (Conn., 1850-1925), titled Great Admiral, Boston; and a mixed media collage in a gold-painted shadowbox by Amalia K. Amaki (Ga., b. 1949-), titled Overcome Evil with Good (1995), from the artist’s “Fan” series, signed and titled.
Two very different big cat sculptures will cross the auction block. One is Asian (likely Chinese), a GIA-certified amber specimen carved in two pieces as a striding panther atop a naturalistic rocky base, weighing 282.8 grams. The other is a pair of figural bronze sculptures by Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (Am., 1876-1973), titled Reaching Jaguar and Descending Jaguar. Both were done around 1906, stand 6 ½ inches tall and carry the marks of the Gorham Foundry.
An expected star lot of the period furniture category is an English late 18th-century burled walnut and walnut wood secretary, lined with tiger oak, having two hinged doors with shaped mirrored panels, 82 ½ inches tall.
Decorative accessories will feature a rare 17th-century-style German carved amber hourglass (or sandglass), with sand enough for each turn to last about 10 minutes.
A San Ildefonso, Pueblo Native American blackware pottery plate of circular form, by Maria Montoya Poveka Martinez (Am., 1887-1980), created circa 1923-1925 and depicting the Tewa deity Awanyu, will also be sold.
Two lots pertaining to Black Americana are expected to attract keen bidder interest. One is a color lithograph on wove pencil by the noted African-American artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988), titled The Lamp, pencil signed and numbered (23/100), shown below. The other is a portfolio of 11 original gelatin silver print photographs by P. H. Polk (Ala., 1898-1984), taken between 1932 and 1946 and featuring Polk’s colleagues at the Tuskegee Institute, African-American families, former slaves and other individuals.
Original works by Italian artists will include a monumental egg tempera on canvas modernist abstract depiction of the open ocean by Carlo Battaglia (1933-2005), titled d’Oltremare Quattro (1982); a resin and wood relief wall sculpture of wooden rectangular and triangular shapes by Arnaldo Pomodoro (b. 1926), titled Immagine dell’alba (1974); and an acrylic on inlaid paper by Ugo Nespolo (b. 1941), titled L’Opera, an abstract painted collage with many geometric forms.
Works by European-American artists will also be sold. These include an oil on illustration board, signed by Hungarian-American artist Vilmos Aba Novak (1894-1941), titled Figure on a Bridge (1930); an oil on canvas by German-American artist Hermann Fuechsel (1833-1915), titled Pastoral Landscape (1893); and an important woodcut on tan carbon-copy paper by German-American artist Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), titled in Harbor with Ships and Men on Wharf.
Other notable artworks will feature an 1854 oil on canvas landscape painting, showing Glenarm Castle in Northern Ireland by the British painter Edmund John Niemann (1813-1876), titled View of Glenarm Castle; and a watercolor-on-paper depiction of five men at the entrance to a rocky mine (or cave), by Canadian artist Frederick Arthur Verner, simply titled Mining (1889).
In all, more than 1,200 exceptional lots will come up for bid during the course of the two auction days, both live and online through LiveAuctioneers.com.
For additional information on any item in the auction, call 404-869-2478.
