Warhol works lead Freeman’s modern art auction May 14

PHILADELPHIA – On Thursday, May 14, Freeman’s will hold its online auction of Modern & Contemporary Art. The 58-lot sale spans myriad artistic periods and features fresh-to-market works by important international artists such as Sam Gilliam, Wolf Kahn, Harry Bertoia, Henri Matisse, and Lynn Chadwick. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

Dunham Townend, Freeman’s head of sale says the auction will appeal to a broad cross-section of collectors.  “With pieces by early Modern masters, postwar luminaries, and dynamic blue-chip artists still working today, this sale offers something for the new as well as the established collector.”

Leading the auction is Chanel  (est. $120,000-$180,000) by American Pop Art icon Andy Warhol. Chanel is one of 10 prints from Andy Warhol’s Ads series, each of which features images that were appropriated from ubiquitous ads or logos of the 1950s-1980s.  Like his famous depictions of celebrities, Warhol’s Ads both reveal and revel in our devotion to the iconography of fame and luxury. Chanel (above) is an excellent example of the themes and techniques that Warhol explored throughout his long and celebrated career.

Other notable international top lots in the sale include: Äpfel  (Lot 4; $60,000-$100,000) by German Expressionist Max Pechstein and Cavaliers sur la Neige (Lot 32, $60,000-$100,000) by French artist André Brasilier. Äpfel depicts a still life of apples in a compressed and flattened space that seem to fall forward toward the viewer. Painted in 1928, this work reveals the influences of Matisse and Cézanne in Pechstein’s early work.

Brasilier’s Cavaliers sur la Neige is an excellent example of the artist’s lyrical and elegant depictions of horses in the landscape. Both paintings are fresh to the market, having been held in private collections for decades.

Notable contemporary works in the auction include Yellow Road  (Lot 30, $25,000-$40,000) and Forsythia (Lot 31, $20,000-$30,000) by Alex Katz; Behind Sam’s (Putney, Vt.) (Lot 29, $10,000-$15,000) by Wolf Kahn; and Run (Lot 50, $15,000-$20,000) by Sam Gilliam. Executed in 2011, Run is an exciting recent example by Gilliam, whose market has seen robust growth in recent years.

The sale also includes a grouping of ceramics by Pablo Picasso (Lots 8-11).  Leading them is Face with Black Nose  (Lot 11, $25,000-$40,000), an excellent example of the artist’s exploration of portraiture in his ceramic forms.  Additionally, there is a collection of sculptures by Kiki Smith, Lynda Benglis, David Salle and Richard Tuttle from the noted innovative Art Foundry Editions, Santa Fe, New Mexico (Lots 51-54).

A considerable number of works in the sale are by artists hailing from or working in Central and South America. This sizable representation of Latin American artists contributes to a sale that features blue-chip artists from around the world.

Highlights of this section include The Merchant (Lot 20, $25,000-$40,000) and Seated Woman (Lot 21, $25,000-$40,000)—two paintings by Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera.  Both works have descended in the family of the woman to whom the artist dedicated the works and come to the market for the first time in decades.

An untitled, mixed media textile (Lot 17, $25,000-$40,000) by Brazilian artist Roberto Burle-Marx is included in the sale, as well as four paintings (Lots 13-16) by Venezuelan painter and muralist Oswaldo Vigas, and two works by Mexican artist Francisco Zúñiga (1912-1998), including Madre e Hija Sentadas (Lot 19, $25,000-$40,000), a figural onyx sculpture depicting a mother and daughter working in Zuniga’s trademark voluminous style.

For details contact Dunham Townend, head of Freeman’s of the Modern & Contemporary Art Department: dtownend@freemansauction.com or 267-414-1221.