Myers Fine Art to celebrate 35th anniversary with curated and highly refined April 30 auction of works obtained primarily from artists’ estates
Featured: Harry Bertoia kinetic sculpture, 19 Leon Polk Smith artworks, 1963 Roy Lichtenstein lithograph, works by Fernandez Arman, McClelland Barclay, Judith Schaechter, Stanislav Kolibal
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – After a hiatus of more than three years, Myers Fine Art will return to the auction spotlight on April 30 with a 459-lot gallery auction that bears all the hallmarks of their signature style. Bidders can look forward to seeing a high-quality, estate-fresh selection of scrupulously researched artworks with impeccable provenance. Each and every item has been personally curated by Myers’ owners Mike Myers and Mary Dowd, whose combined decades of experience in the fine art sector serve as the basis for auction catalogs whose scholarly descriptions are both lauded and trusted throughout the art world.
After their last sale in 2019, Myers and Dowd set out on their traditional postsale sabbatical to the Northeast, in particular to the east end of Long Island. “Unfortunately, the pandemic followed,” Dowd said. “We felt the only responsible thing to do was to hold off on any further gallery sales until we could be sure it was safe to resume our operation.”
However, Mike and Mary did not rest on their laurels in the interim. They continued to network with their longtime industry contacts to prepare an exceptional auction lineup of fresh-to-market artworks by established artists as well as those for whom a market has not yet been fully cultivated. The very best of their recent discoveries – including many works obtained directly from artists’ estates – will be sold at their April 30 auction, which celebrates Myers’ 35th year at the same location in St Petersburg’s renowned arts district.
In response to the growing interest in kinetic sculptures by Harry Bertoia (Italian/American, 1915-1978), Myers will offer Sonambient Sounding Sculpture, a 22-inch-tall piece consisting of six rows of 120 (total) beryllium copper rods silvered to a brass base. Dating to circa 1977, it is accompanied by a COA from the Harry Bertoia Foundation, signed by the artist’s daughter, Celia Bertoia. It also conveys with a copy of an archival file from Patricia Moore Gallery in Aspen, Colo., which sold the sculpture in 1978. Within the papers is an illustrated page with the artist’s detailed specifications for the sculpture. Estimate: $15,000-$25,000
Myers and Dowd were among the few art-industry professionals who, well over a decade ago, recognized the powerful talent of Leon Polk Smith (Cherokee/American, 1906-1996). Smith, who was influenced by Piet Mondrian, is now regarded as having been a pioneer of Hard-Edge Painting. The April 30 auction features 19 Smith artworks in various media, each coming from the estate of Smith’s life partner and assistant, Bob Jamieson (1926-2020). Smith’s signed oil-on-Masonite work titled Black Red & Blue Painting is accompanied by a letter of provenance signed by Jamieson, as well as a Leon Polk Smith catalog and photo of Smith in his New York City studio. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000
Thirty-five artworks have been consigned by Dr Charles Stern, a retired radiologist from Tampa, Florida. “Dr Stern’s interest in art deepened as he traveled around Europe and later became aware of the work of master printmakers who flocked to Southwest Florida some 50 years ago. He is an extremely knowledgeable and sophisticated art buyer,” Dowd explained. Three of Dr Stern’s consignments are three-dimensional creations by Fernandez Arman (French, 1938-2005), including Entre Bronze 1993 – Open Hearts Violins, a bronze and wood sculpture identified on verso as being number 4 from an edition of 8.4/8 inscribed on verso. It is accompanied by a copy of the original 1995 invoice and other materials from New York’s Marisa del Re Gallery. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000
An original 1963 offset lithograph of Roy Lichtenstein’s (American, 1923-1997) vibrant Crying Girl is pencil-signed on the wove paper “R Lichtenstein.” The 19- by 25-inch lithographic depiction of a true pop-art classic comes to auction from the Sag Harbor, New York, estate of American novelist and screenwriter Terry Southern (Dr Strangelove, Easy Rider). The auction estimate for this lot is $4,000-$6,000.
Judith Schaechter (American, 1961-), an artist and art professor who blends Gothic tradition with the symbolism of classical stained-glass-window imagery, has exhibited her provocative work at leading galleries worldwide, including the Smithsonian, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. Myers Fine Art is pleased to offer Schaechter’s My Valentine, a masterful stained-glass window mounted to a stencil-paint-decorated wooden box frame with original interior lighting. It is artist-signed, titled and inscribed on the glass, and carries a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-$15,000.
The unmistakable style of the accomplished American illustrator McClelland Barclay (1891-1943) translates to oil on canvas in two auction lots (#22 and #23). Frolicking in the Waves, which depicts an attractive suntanned couple enjoying a dip in the ocean, is artist-signed and will make its auction debut with a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.
An artwork with a cool Hollywood connection is Lisa Lawley’s 1999 acrylic-on-canvas copy of a Jackson Pollock painting titled Male and Female, which was used as a prop in the much-heralded 2000 American independent film Pollock. Fans may recall that Ed Harris received an Academy Award® nomination for his role as Pollock, while Marcia Gay Harden won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for her portrayal of Pollock’s wife, artist Lee Krasner. The original painting Male and Female resides in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Lawley’s 72½-inch by 47¾-inch copy is offered with a 2020 letter from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation giving Myers permission to sell the painting. Estimate: $3,000-$5,000
Other noteworthy auction entries include Sister Mary Corita Kent’s (American, 1918-1986) 1967 screenprint-on-paper titled Life is a Complicated Business, $4,000-$6,000; Nancy Whorf’s (American, 1930-2019) oil-on-Masonite street scene of Provincetown, Massachusetts, titled Winding Path, $4,000-$6,000; and Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen’s (American, 1850-1921) nautical oil painting Steamship Bunker Hill, which was formerly in the collection of Rudy and Judith Giuliani, $6,000-$8,000.
Myers Fine Art’s Sunday, April 30, 2023 Fine Art Auction will commence at 12 noon ET. Preview 10-6 on Saturday, April 29, and 10-12 noon on auction day. All forms of remote bidding will be available, including absentee, phone (please reserve ahead of time, as phone lines will be limited), and live online through LiveAuctioneers, Bidsquare, Invaluable or HiBid.
Complimentary snacks, Danish pastries, freshly brewed coffee and other beverages will be served on auction day. Mike Myers and Mary Dowd invite the arts community to join them at the Saturday preview for a 2PM cake-cutting ceremony to celebrate Myers Fine Art’s 35th year at the same location in St. Pete’s arts district. Address: 1600 4th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33704. For additional information on any artwork in the sale, please call +1 727-823-3249 or email [email protected]. Myers’ staff would greatly appreciate if such enquiries could be made no later than three days before the sale. Online: www.myersfineart.com.
