George Rodrigue originals top their estimates at Neal Auction Company

George Rodrigue, 'Big Stop Sign,' sold for $70,000 ($89,600 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

NEW ORLEANS — A pair of George Rodrigue originals sold above their estimates at Neal Auction Company’s Premier Collections event held September 7 and 8. The sales were available online via LiveAuctioneers (Day 1, Day 2).

As anticipated, Rodrigue’s Big Stop Sign from 2002 featuring his familiar blue dog sold above its estimate of $40,000-$60,000, but instead of spirited bidding, the artwork sold with a single bid of $70,000 ($89,600 with buyer’s premium).

One of Rodrigue’s early works, Doc Moses, Cajun Traiteur from 1974, captures traditional Cajun medicine in a swampy setting. Estimated at $30,000-$50,000, it sold to the floor after rising steadily to $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer’s premium).

Louisianan Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer began her career as a figurative painter but shifted to Abstract Expressionism after taking a workshop with famed Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffman in 1956. Ships at Sea, painted in that year, is an oil on canvas that captures this transition in the moment. Estimated at $7,000-$10,000, the artwork sold for $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer’s premium) after extensive floor bidding.

The naive art of Henri Hecht Maik continues to do well in the contemporary market. This example, Dans les Nuages from 1974, carries the original label of Wally Findlay Gallery of Beverly Hills, his early American champion and seller of many of Maik’s works. It sold for $22,000 ($28,160 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $6,000-$8,000.

George Rodrigue, 'Big Stop Sign,' sold for $70,000 ($89,600 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

George Rodrigue, 'Big Stop Sign,' sold for $70,000 ($89,600 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

George Rodrigue, 'Doc Moses, Cajun Traiteur,' sold for $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

George Rodrigue, 'Doc Moses, Cajun Traiteur,' sold for $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, 'Ships at Sea,' sold for $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, 'Ships at Sea,' sold for $35,000 ($44,800 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

Henri Hecht Maik, 'Dans les Nuages,' sold for $22,000 ($28,160 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

Henri Hecht Maik, 'Dans les Nuages,' sold for $22,000 ($28,160 with buyer's premium) at Neal Auction Company.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Louis Comfort Tiffany art, Chinese rarities and Maïk originals triumphed at Ahlers and Ogletree

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 'Carrying the Boat at Sea Bright, N.J.,' which sold for $90,000 ($108,900 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

ATLANTA — Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is best known for his work as a glassmaker and jeweler catering to the Gilded Age elite. However, he was also a formally trained artist of some merit. His oils and watercolors are of particular interest for their choice of subject matter. In addition to typical Hudson River School-style landscapes of upstate New York, Tiffany applied the lessons of French realism to paint scenes of industry along the Hudson River and the slums of New York City. His apparently tranquil scenes of Seabright, New Jersey also depict its mixed-race fishing community and the economic strife faced by African Americans who moved north after the Civil War.

It was one of these Seabright scenes that topped Ahlers & Ogletree’s two-day Fine Estates & Collections auction held at the auction house’s new gallery location on Atlanta’s Upper West Side August 25-26 (Day 1, Day 2).

Carrying the Boat at Sea Bright, N.J depicts four men (probably African Americans) carrying a boat on the sand with buildings in the background. Measuring 3ft by 2ft, it is signed and dated 1888 and has labels on the verso for the Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition of that year and the Ohio Society of New York. It had much in common with the better-known painting Pushing Off the Boat at Sea Bright, which he painted while staying in New Jersey in 1887.

The painting beat its estimate of $50,000-$75,000 to bring $90,000 ($108,900 with buyer’s premium).

The surprise performers among the 484 lots were Chinese works of art. These included an imperial-style sword or jian with finely tooled pierced gilt bronze mounts decorated with writhing dragons and tendrils and a coral bead to the pommel.

It had some condition issues — it was missing the shagreen hilt, and the scabbard with chilong mount had a split and some losses — but this is a well-known model used by the elite of the Qing court during the reign of the Qianlong emperor (1736-1796). Cataloged as 19th century, but possibly earlier, it was estimated at $400-$900 but changed hands for $55,000 ($66,550 with buyer’s premium).

Sold at $42,500 ($51,425 with buyer’s premium), this time against an estimate of only $1,000-$2,000, was a 16in bronze and parcel gilt wine vessel cast as a mythical bird on spoked wheels supporting a gu-form vase on its back. The so-called “phoenix bearing zun” is a form that dates back to the Han period, although this was probably from the late Qing period, when many honorific copies were made.

Five paintings by the French naïve artist Henri Hecht Maïk (1922-1993) were offered. All came with labels from the Wally Findlay Galleries, which hosted the first US exhibition of Maïk’s paintings in New York in 1964 and continued to hold many successful shows in New York, Chicago, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, and Paris. A large format oil on canvas measuring 4ft 3in by 3ft 2in led the offering at $17,000 ($20,570 with buyer’s premium). A Yellow Lion, depicting a lion and a cub in a technicolor jungle landscape, was boldly signed and dated [19]72 and titled in French on the verso.

The smaller 9 by 13in oil on a similar theme, Tiger in the Grass, dating to 1980, brought $8,000 ($10,000 with buyer’s premium).

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 'Carrying the Boat at Sea Bright, N.J.,' which sold for $90,000 ($108,900 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 'Carrying the Boat at Sea Bright, N.J.,' which sold for $90,000 ($108,900 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

19th-century Chinese double-edged sword, which sold for $55,000 ($66,550 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

19th-century Chinese double-edged sword, which sold for $55,000 ($66,550 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Chinese 18th-century-style bronze and parcel gilt ceremonial Phoenix Bearing Zun wine vessel on wheels, which sold for $42,500 ($51,425 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Chinese 18th-century-style bronze and parcel gilt ceremonial Phoenix Bearing Zun wine vessel on wheels, which sold for $42,500 ($51,425 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Henri Hecht Maik, 'A Yellow Lion,' which sold for $17,000 ($20,570 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Henri Hecht Maik, 'A Yellow Lion,' which sold for $17,000 ($20,570 with buyer's premium) at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.

Roland Arkell

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.

Five Henri Hecht Maïk paintings star at Ahlers & Ogletree August 25, 2023

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ATLANTA – Just shy of 60 years since Henri Hecht Maïk (1922-1993) held his first exhibition in the US, five paintings by the French naïve artist will be auctioned on Friday, August 25 at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery. Paris-born Maïk referred to himself as a primitive painter of dream-like jungle scenes. The dealership Wally Findlay Galleries hosted the first US exhibition of Maïk’s paintings in New York in 1964 and continued to hold many successful shows in New York, Chicago, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Paris.

The five whimsical pictures were all bought at Wally Findlay Galleries and most carry labels on the reverse.

A large-format oil on canvas measuring 4ft 3in by 3ft 2in carries an estimate of $8,000-$16,000. The Yellow Lion depicting a lion and a cub in a technicolor jungle landscape is boldly signed and dated [19]72 and titled in French on the verso.

Smaller 9 by 13in oils on a similar theme range from $2,000-$4,000 (for Tiger in the Grass, 1980) to $5,000-$7,000 each for Lion and Un Roy.

A watercolor and gouache on paper titled Poussin and dated 1975, depicting a lion, giraffe, zebra and other birds looking down on a chick, is expected to sell at $2,000-$4,000.

The second day of the sale includes French art from the previous century – a portrait of Hortense Eugenie Cecile Bonaparte by Jean Louis Victor Viger Du Vigneau (1819-97). This half-length portrait of the queen consort of Holland wearing a pearl diadem and a gold-trimmed white silk gown is one of several by the artist who made his name painting the elegant men and women of the Second Empire. It is consigned from the estate of the Atlanta lawyer Martin David Merritt (1933-2022) and has an estimate of $25,000-$35,000.
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The Yellow Lion by Henri Hecht Maik dated 1972. Estimate $8,000-12,000 at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.
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Tiger in the Grass, a 1980, oil on canvas by Henri Hecht Maik. Estimate $2,000-4,000 at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.
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Tiger in the Grass, a 1980, oil on canvas by Henri Hecht Maik. Estimate $2,000-4,000 at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.
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Hortense Eugenie Cecile Bonaparte, Reine de Hollande by Jean Louis Victor Viger Du Vigneau. Estimate $25,000-35,000 at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery.
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John Moran’s $1M Modern and Contemporary art sale set several records

Detail of Josh (SHAG) Agle’s ‘L.A. Modern (Day),’ $20,000. Image courtesy of John Moran Auctioneers
Josh (SHAG) Agle, ‘L.A. Modern (Day),’ $20,000. Image courtesy of John Moran Auctioneers
Josh (SHAG) Agle, ‘L.A. Modern (Day),’ $20,000. Image courtesy of John Moran Auctioneers

LOS ANGELES — On June 13, John Moran Auctioneers presented its bi-annual Modern & Contemporary Fine Art auction to a strong reception that propelled it to a total in excess of $1 million. It was filled with phenomenal works by many important arts of the 20th and 21st centuries and included paintings, prints and multiples, photography and sculpture. Outstanding results were achieved by Alice Baber and Panayiotis “Takis” Vassilakis as well as multiple new world auction records, the highest earned by Ivan Picelj. This sale also featured a capsule collection of works from the estate of the esteemed New York gallerist Howard Wise. Absentee and Internet live bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.

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Syd Solomon abstract among winners at Ahlers & Ogletree sale

Syd Solomon, ‘Untitled Abstract,’ $20,000
Syd Solomon, ‘Untitled Abstract,’ $20,000
Syd Solomon, ‘Untitled Abstract,’ $20,000

ATLANTA – Vivid and colorful oil on canvas paintings by Syd Solomon (American, 1917-2004) and Henri Hecht Maik (French, 1922-1993) each brought $20,000, while a classical early 20th-century Continental School marble sculpture of a woman finished at $21,250 in Ahlers & Ogletree’s two-day, two-session Spring Estates & Collections auction, held April 9 and 10.

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