Choice artworks abound at Benefit Shop auction April 18

A top offering among fine art is this antique Georgian Sir William Beechey oil on canvas portrait titled ‘The Lady in White.’ Benefit Shop Foundation image

MOUNT KISCO N.Y. – The Benefit Shop Foundation Inc. can always be counted on to have at least one striking piece of art in its monthly Red Carpet auctions. The foundation’s next auction on Wednesday, April 18, at 10 a.m. Eastern, boasts multiple oil paintings and artworks. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

 “We have art from A to Z in this auction,” said the owner and founder Pam Stone. “We have a lot of interesting artwork in this sale from L.A. to New York along with the collecting categories people know us for and expect to find here—antiques, furniture, jewelry and all the other usuals.”

Among the standout artworks is a Georgian-era oil on canvas portrait of a fashionable woman in white (above) by Sir William Beechey. Beechey was the official painter of portraits to the British royal family in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and best known for painting portraits of famous and fashionable people in England at that time.

“For the Benefit Shop to have something this interesting, to us it’s quite exciting,” Stone said. The portrait measures 38 by 32 inches and is in an ornately hand-carved floral filigree frame painted in gilt. It comes with papers tracing its provenance, which includes the Chrysler Corp. art collection.

The fine art offerings in this auction run the gamut from the staid and elegant Beechey portrait to an energetic contemporary painting by Joe Taylor recreating the album cover of Buckwheat Zydeco’s Hey Joe and measures about 6 by 6 feet.

This energetic contemporary painting by Joe Taylor recreates the album cover of Buckwheat Zydeco’s ‘Hey Joe’ and measures about 6 by 6 feet. Benefit Shop Foundation image

Taylor, a noted rock ’n’ roll album cover artist created this room-sized painting featuring dancers and cheerful colors for hanging at Tower Records’ Los Angeles store. Taylor painted billboards for rock and music legends in the 1970s-1980s. When the music store closed, it reportedly offered artworks to a select group, including the woman who owned this painting for many years, hanging it in her L.A. home before moving to a smaller home in New York City. Taylor has written a book, Art & Music, sharing the stories behind his billboard artwork.

Also leading the parade of notable artworks across the auction block is a rare and early folk art painting by Charles Fazzino (b. 1955), dated 1983. The artist is better known for his silkscreen serigraph 3D-style constructions that he turned to later. This 13-by-11-inch painting depicts people on a farm, a hot air balloon and a horse-drawn wagon filled with hay and riders. The consignor’s parents purchased the painting while Fazzino was living at home with his parents in New York.

This energetic contemporary painting by Joe Taylor recreates the album cover of Buckwheat Zydeco’s ‘Hey Joe’ and measures about 6 by 6 feet. Benefit Shop Foundation image

Another striking contemporary work is an oil painting in rich and thick colorful tones of a seated woman with blue skin and ruby-red hair by Norma Solomon, born in 1942 in New York City. The contemporary stylized artwork is in the style of Matisse and comes in a gilded and carved frame, measuring 37 by 24 inches.

This oil painting in rich thick colorful tones from 1942, in the style of Matisse, of a seated female, measures 37 x 24 in. framed. Benefit Shop Foundation image

Rounding out this monthly Red Carpet auction will be fresh-to-market vintage advertising posters.

For more information, contact the Benefit Shop Foundation Inc. at 914-864-0707.