Edward S. Curtis Archives - Auction Central News

Circa-1930 poster for a French drink that didn’t exist headlines Jan. 2 sale in New York

Circa-1930 vintage French poster for Fap’Anis, a liqueur that was initially fictional, estimated at $3,500-$4,000 at Jasper52.

NEW YORK – On Tuesday, January 2, starting at 6 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will hold a sale titled The Artful Palette: Prints, Fine Art & More!, a 92-lot auction featuring just that – prints, fine art, and more. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Leading the highlights is a circa-1930 French advertising poster that is as colorful and as alluring as it was the day it was printed. It touts Fap’Anis, a liqueur with a hint of anise that probably didn’t exist when the poster was plastered across the cityscape of Paris. The name of the artist is given as Delval, which turned out to be a collective of creatives who found it amusing to generate ads that gave them a means to mock the social classes and their foibles. But, according to the accepted backstory (which may or may not be true), Team Delval ultimately went looking for a distiller to make the drink a reality after the public failed to get the joke and persisted in asking where they could buy the bewitching beverage. The poster, which is a vintage original, carries an estimate of $3,500-$4,000.

Also featured is a circa-1920 Edward S. Curtis blue-toned gelatin silver print titled Aphrodite, or Floating Aphrodite. Better known for his epic work The North American Indian, which attempted to document the vanishing tribal communities of North America, Curtis (1868-1952) might have hit upon the idea for the Aphrodite image from his work with cyanotypes. The fast-developing medium was the Polaroid of its day, which Curtis used while out in the field to test the composition of a photograph before recording it on a more expensive form of film. The print has an estimate of $4,500-$5,500.

The final highlight is an oil on canvas by the American artist Ellen B. Farr (1840-1907). It shows the San Gabriel Mission in Pasadena, California, and dates to circa 1890, the year in which the widowed artist first traveled to the Golden State. The painting is estimated at $6,000-$7,000.

Circa-1930 vintage French poster for Fap’Anis, a liqueur that was initially fictional, estimated at $3,500-$4,000 at Jasper52.

Edward S. Curtis, ‘Aphrodite,’ estimated at $4,500-$5,500 at Jasper52.

Ellen B. Farr, ‘Pasadena San Gabriel Mission,’ estimated at $6,000-$7,000 at Jasper52.

ACN Staff

Content bearing the byline of ACN staff has been researched and written by multiple members of the Auction Central News team.

Edward S. Curtis Ellen B. Farr Ellen Farr jasper52 vintage advertising poster vintage poster

Complete copy of ‘The North American Indian’ by Edward S. Curtis comes to Hindman Nov. 9

CHICAGO – Hindman will offer a complete copy of Edward S. Curtis’ seminal The North American Indian as part of an auction of Fine Books from the Dorros Family Collection on Thursday, November 9. The catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.

Curtis’ The North American Indian was one of the most ambitious and expensive publication projects of its kind, taking more than two decades to complete. By 1907, when he embarked on the work, the great tribes that once spread across the North American continent had dwindled to small enclaves after centuries of colonization and westward expansion.

Funded in part by J.P. Morgan, Curtis set out to document as much of Native American culture and history as he could. Writing in the introduction, he explained that “the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost.”

All told, The North American Indian is comprised of 40 volumes: 20 text volumes featuring 1,511 illustrations, 1,505 photogravures, four maps and two diagrams, along with 20 supplemental folio volumes featuring some 723 full sheet photogravures in sepia. Many have become familiar images.

Morgan originally commissioned 500 copies of the set, although little more than half were ever completed.

The set offered in Hindman’s November auction is No. 88 and was originally sold to the Free Public Library of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It is estimated at $700,000-$1 million.

Other highlights from the Dorros library include a very fine copy of the deluxe issue of George Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio, featuring hand-colored plates and a second double elephant folio edition, the so-called “Bien edition,” of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. The firm’s mixed-vendor sale of Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, including Americana, follows on Friday, November 10.

Christie’s sold the ornithological library assembled by cardiologist Gerald Dorris in 2017.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Edward S. Curtis Hindman The North American Indian

Impressive range of Native American art offered at John Moran, Oct. 4

Hopi pottery canteen attributed to Nampeyo, estimated at $4,000-$6,000

LOS ANGELES — John Moran Auctioneers will hold its American Indian Art + Objects auction on Tuesday, October 4, starting at noon Pacific time. With close to 300 lots, this sale will feature a wide variety of art and objects made by indigenous North Americans, including both historic and contemporary pottery, jewelry, baskets, bronzes and fine art. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

contemporary Navajo baskets Edward S. Curtis Edward S. Curtis photographs Hopi pottery canteen John Moran John Moran Auctioneers John Moran Auctioneers Inc. Mary Holiday Black Native American art Oyster Catcher rattle polychrome wood rattle Preston Singletary serigraph The North American Indian Volume 18 Tony Da Tony Da Fetish Bear

Magic of the American West lauded at PBA Galleries, June 30

Edward S. Curtis, ‘Geronimo – Apache,’ est. $20,000-$30,000

BERKELEY, Calif. – PBA Galleries will conduct a Platinum Auction of Elite Americana & Rare Maps on Thursday, June 30. The sale comprises a selection of 96 valuable examples of historical Americana, including much on Mexico, from printed books and manuscripts to cartography and striking pictorial views, with ephemeral material, broadsides, archives and photographs. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

A.E. Mathews California Governor Jose Figueroa Edward S. Curtis Geronimo Jose Figueroa manuscript letter Montana PBA Galleries Ross Deegan

Swann to offer 1907 Edward S. Curtis portfolio at April 14 sale

Edward S. Curtis, Portfolio I, from The North American Indian, est. $60,000-$90,000

NEW YORK — Swann Auction Galleries’ sale of Fine Photographs, scheduled for Thursday, April 14, will feature a selection of classical 20th-century prints alongside contemporary works. Headlining the sale is Edward S. Curtis’s seminal Portfolio I from 1907 — the first portfolio in Curtis’s monumental project, The North American Indian. It carries an estimate of $60,000-$90,000. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Edward S. Curtis Photographs Swann Swann Auction Galleries Swann Galleries The North American Indian

Clars present fine jewelry on Feb. 17, fine art on Feb. 20

Ceylon sapphire, diamond and 18K white gold ring, est. $4,000-$6,000

OAKLAND, Calif. – Clars Auction Gallery is readying two February sales to take place three days apart. A Ceylon sapphire ring leads its Important Fine Jewelry auction, scheduled for Thursday, February 17, and a Herbert James Draper seascape headlines its Furniture, Fine Art and Asian Art sale, set for Sunday, February 20. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Art Deco diamond ring Buddha Buddha sculpture Burmese ruby Burmese ruby ring Ceylon sapphire Ceylon sapphire ring Clars Clars Auction Gallery Colombian emerald Edward S. Curtis Edward Sheriff Curtis Herbert James Draper jewelry Joseph Henry Sharp Martin Johnson Heade Medicine Buddha orotone

Civil War photos, artifacts triumph in two Hindman auctions

Pair of Union Army slouch hats identified to Captain Charles E. Nash, 19th Maine Infantry, $87,500

CINCINNATI – A renowned Civil War collection, singular historical memorabilia, photographs and manuscripts drove strong prices across two days of American historical ephemera and photography sales at Hindman Auctions. The November 12 Civil War Collection of James C. Frasca auction achieved more than $834,000. A 98 percent sell-through rate demonstrated bidders’ intense interest in this one-of-a-kind collection. Hats, drums, regulation bugles, swords, photographs and documents signed by America’s Founding Fathers were among standout lots in the auction. The November 15 American Historical Ephemera & Photography auction totaled more than $823,000 with a 91 percent sell-through rate. Early photography and manuscript archives were among auction highlights. In particular, Civil War photography was highly sought after.

Carleton Watkins Civil War drum Civil War drums Civil War Union photography Civil War Union plates Edward Curtis Edward S. Curtis Hindman painted Civil War drum sixth plate tintype Union Army slouch hat Union Army slouch hats Yosemite photography

ACN Staff

Roland Arkell

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