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Modern Postwar Art

Swann to hold inaugural sale of Modern & Postwar Art Dec. 3

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Modern Postwar Art
Esteban Vicente, (1903-2001, Spanish/American), ‘Primavera Series: Lerna,’ oil and paper collage on canvas, 1985. 52 x 45in. Estimate: $25,000-$35,000. Swann image

NEW YORK – On Thursday, Dec. 3, Swann Galleries will offer an inaugural sale of Modern & Postwar Art, headed by specialist Harold Porcher. The house will present works by Esteban Vicente, as well as Giorgio Cavallon, the sculptor David Hare, Irene Rice Pereira, Sargent Johnson and many more. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

Abstract Expressionism and Non-Objective Abstraction forms the core the offering. Esteban Vicente’s 1985 oil and paper collage on canvas, Primavera Series: Lerna (above), stands out among the Abstract Expressionist works ($25,000-$35,000), along with Norman Bluhm’s 1961 mixed-media work ($12,000-$18,000); and Giorgio Cavallon’s 1984 abstract oil on canvas ($10,000-$15,000).

Non-Objective Abstraction highlights include works by Rudolph Bauer and Rolph Scarlett, notably Bauer’s 1938 double-sided drawings on paper ($1,000-$1,500), and Scarlett’s gouache works Untitled (Biomorphic Abstraction) and Untitled (Banister), 1930 ($1,000-$1,500, each). Hard-edge painting is represented by John Stephan with Disc 5, In Memory of My Father, acrylic on canvas, 1973 ($6,000-$8,000).

Further abstraction of note includes a 1933 oil-and-mixed-media collage by Irene Rice Pereira (below; $10,000-$15,000); a 1955 oil-and-collage scene by Allan Kaprow ($10,000-$15,000); a 1948 oil painting by Carl Holty ($5,000-$7,000); and a 1950 oil-on-paper work by Gertrude Greene; in addition to works by Jimmy Ernst, Milton Resnick and John Little.

Modern Postwar Art
Irene Rice Pereira (1902-1971, American), Untitled, oil and mixed media collage on illustration board, 1938, 15 x 15in. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Swann image

The sale is led by Sargent Johnson’s The Knot and the Noose, a circa-1948 terra-cotta work evoking Egyptian imagery ($30,000-$40,000).

Modern Postwar Art
Sargent Johnson (1888-1967, American), ‘The Knot and the Noose,’ terra-cotta, mounted on a wooden base, circa 1948, 17 x 9 x 3in. Estimate: $30,000-$40,000. Swann image

Additional sculptural works of note include David Hare’s Figure in the Window, braised steel weldment, 1955 ($20,000-$30,000); Robert Therrien’s Blue Crib, encaustic on wood, 1980 ($20,000-$30,000); and Günther Uecker’s Traffic Paint, street marking paint on wood with a nail, 1966 ($3,000-$5,000).

In addition to the work by Sargent Johnson, notable African American art includes a run of mixed-paper collage works by Sam Middleton, with Composition, 1992 ($6,000-$9,000), and American Mist, 1970 ($3,000-$5,000), as well as a 1970 crayon and watercolor image ($2,000-$3,000). Hughie Lee-Smith is on offer with Pumping Station (below), oil on canvas, 1960, a scene of isolation and loneliness evoking the themes for which the artist is best known ($25,000-$35,000).

Modern Postwar Art
Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999, American), ‘Pumping Station,’ oil on canvas, circa 1960, 20 x 24in. Estimate: $25,000-$35,000. Swann image

The sale is rounded out by Mail Art works, with a 1977 ink-and-watercolor desert scene by Horace Clifford Westermann ($10,000-$15,000), and The Rose, a 1964 tempera-and-ink image by Joe Brainard ($3,000-$5,000). Op Art is present with a run of three acrylic-on-paper designs by Francis Celentano ($2,000-$3,000, each).

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