Clarke Auction launches new gallery with Sept. 12-13 sale
School of Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, silkscreen and hand coloring on canvas, 1979 on verso, estimate $30,000-$50,000. Clarke Auctions image.
LARCHMONT, N.Y. – After 12 successful years at its former location, Clarke Auction has begun a new era at its just-opened gallery on Boston Post Road in Larchmont, Westchester County, New York. To celebrate the move, Clarke Auction will conduct its eighth Fine Art Catalogue auction on Sunday and Monday, Sept. 12 and 13, 2010. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide the Internet live bidding.
“We’ve just officially moved into the new building and have saved our best art and pieces for our grand opening auctions,” said Clarke Auctions’ founder and owner Ronan Clarke.
The opening session of the two-day auction event will feature exceptional, fresh-to-market 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculpture from artists such as Andy Warhol, Bob Thompson and African-American painter Romare Bearden. Orientalist works including an oil by Edwin Lord Weeks, oils by Anton Huang and other Balinese artists. Latin American art, Portuguese paintings and sculpture purchased directly from the artists will be offered, as well as a Greek collection WPA-era American paintings, and the occasional mystery, including a previously unidentified watercolor that Clarke’s experts have now confirmed to be a Raoul Dufy.
Other art highlights in the auction include a mixed media by the Italian Futurist Gino Severini, a large 17th-century Old Master oil on copper of the Slaughter of the Innocents, a circa-1900 California landscape with Spanish riders by William Barr, and a large Mark Francis oil. Francis is often associated with the “Young British Artists” or YBA circle, which also includes Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. He was featured in the Saatchi Gallery’s notorious “Sensation” exhibition in the late 1990s.
African-American art, a Clarke specialty, will feature iconic works such as Bob Thompson’s 1960 Come Into My Cave, and a circa-1964 photostatic collage by Romare Bearden, possibly exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery; as well as works from artists whose art Clarke is bringing to auction for the first time. Examples include a large construction by Arizona’s Francis Sprout and a 1968 oil by Al Bright. The Sprout was exhibited at New York’s Neuberger Museum of Art. Other African-American fine art to be auctioned on Sept. 12 includes watercolors by Nat Hayman and four pieces by Walter III Cade.
Clarke Auction is also featuring a collection of Portuguese art acquired directly from the artists, including a 1947 Julio Resende watercolor, a gouache and a large commissioned tapestry from Guilherme Camarinha, a large acrylic by Carlos Calvet, and a marble sculpture by Vasco Da Conceicao.
Latin American highlights are sculptures from Oscar Zamarippa and Jesus Tellosa, oils by Victor Rodriguez, Leonardo Nierman and Angel Botello; gouaches by Guillermo Robles, prints including examples by Orozco and Zuniga, and a 1947 mixed media piece by Alice Rahon. Of special interest is an oversize 1957 biographical and self-portrait print by the Puerto Rican Lorenzo Homar, considered by many to be Puerto Rico’s greatest graphic artist. Clarke believes that this historic work is the first by Homar to ever appear at auction.
Classic American art includes works by Allen Tucker, Carroll Cloar, Western works from Seymour Thomas, W.A. Carson, William Barr, Helena Dunlap, and Henry William Cannon; Benjamin Eggleston, Paul De Longpre, James Henry Beard, Harriet Bowdoin, rare oils by Carl Schmitt, multiple works by G. Glenn Newell and Gerrit Hondius; Ernest Fiene, Philip Evergood, Jacob Getlar Smith, Louis Ribak. Still others are in the process of being cataloges.
European art includes 19th-century works from Arnaldo Ferragutti, Sebastiano De Albertis, Eugene Verboechoven, Richard Wilson, John Syer Jr, Henrick Maes, Karl August Bielchowski, Ludwig Munthe, coaching oils from George Wright; works from Marcel Dyf, Rudof Negely, Celeste Polychroniadi, Leonard Creo, Michel Rodde, Nathalia Goncharova, Louis Valtot, and Joseph Floch.
A selection of Andy Warhol artworks includes a signed Geronimo color screenprint, napkins with signed Warhol drawings from a dinner with Halston and Victor Hugo, with accompanying Foundation documentation; and a large older painting of Marilyn Monroe in multiples, lightly inscribed and dated 1979 on verso, currently attributed to the “Circle of Warhol.”
Modern American art also features paintings and sculpture by Ellsworth Kelly, Margaret Israel, George Marinko, Jan Matulka, Ann McCoy, Mary Frank, Dmitri Hadzi, Max Weber, and Mel Fowler.
The Ann McCoy diptych titled The Vessel of Bobby Sands is a monumental bravura tribute to the iconic Irish hunger striker and was purchased from the Brooke Alexander Gallery. McCoy’s works are in multiple museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art.
Ronan Clarke noted, “We will sell three hundred lots Sunday afternoon, and our track record and this great catalog suggest that we will again quietly break world records.”
The Monday, Sept. 13 evening session, which commences at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, includes 400+ lots of 18th-century Italian and French pieces, Midcentury Modern design, silver, pianos, lighting and Asian bronzes.
Antique highlights are led by a 19th-century Chippendale-style chest on chest, a pair of magnificent two-door bookcases, probably of French origin; a 19th-century marquetry-inlaid chest with side pull-outs and a lift top, and a19th-century bonnet-top secretary with star inlay. Other key lots include a pair of Napoleon III gilt-decorated sidechairs, a 19th-century Regency mahogany side cabinet, and a paint-decorated Italian commode with serpentine front.
Midcentury Modern standouts are a Wormley teak cabinet with Natzler hardware, Dunbar Modernist line brass and tile tables, a set of two Dunbar -style cabinets, and a Dunbar Midcentury wall-mounted, multi-section cabinet. A Lurcat printed tapestry, a pair of pearlescent Midcentury Pace swivel chairs, a set of three Vladimir Kagan Lucite-framed, upholstered chairs, and a Franz & Sons sofa are among the top lots of this category, as are an older Noguchi black-painted, glass-top coffee table and a signed Peter Max lamp.
Estate sterling and silver includes a large Georg Jensen sterling tray, Jensen serving pieces, vintage Jensen Jewelry, Irish and English Georgian sterling salvers and teapot; Tiffany platters and serving pieces, Judaic silver, a circa-1860 Russian footed cup, a magnificent and a heavy Midcentury Modern French sterling flatware service for twelve.
A selection of gold and silver jewelry with stones includes vintage Georg Jensen, 14K gold rings with diamonds and other stones; and Navajo and Zuni silver with turquoise.
Handmade estate carpets such as a Persian figural example, a 19th-century Agra carpet, an oversized Kirman and several tribal carpets will be offered.
Lighting highlights are a 6ft. Duffner & Kimberly floor lamp and shade [from a Yonkers, N.Y., estate], two Steuben Aurene table lamps, a signed Auguste Moreau Art Nouveau bronze lamp and a signed Edgar Brandt lamp base.
For additional information on any item in the sale, call Clarke Auction at 914-833-8336 or e-mail ccauctiongallery@aol.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Anton Huang Balinese oil, estimate $8,000-$12,000. Clarke Auctions image.
Georg Jensen 24-inch sterling silver salver, estimate $6,000-$9,000. Clarke Auctions image.
Bob Thompson artwork, 1960, estimate $30,000-$40,000. Clarke Auctions image.
Mid-century Wormley-Natzler cabinet, $2,000-$3,000.
Carroll Cloar artwork, exhibited, estimate $10,000-$15,000. Clarke Auctions image.
Steinway mahogany baby grand piano, estimate $6,000-$9,000. Clarke Auctions image.
Helena Dunlap oil painting, estimate $1,000-$1,500. Clarke Auctions image.
Mark Francis (Ireland), estimate $10,000-$15,000. Clarke Auctions image.
