Explaining the concept behind her famous Clown series, photographer Cindy Sherman said, “When I started doing this series I started thinking of clowns as a whole race of people, but people just like anyone else. I thought I should do a housewife clown, a clown at the gym… I was trying to think of everyday shots of clowns just going about life.” The upcoming Sotheby’s auction presents Untitled #425, a mural-sized chromogenic print from Cindy Sherman’s Clown series. The available multi-layered image is an example of Sherman’s photographic experiments using new technologies.
Another highlight is a photograph titled Icestorm by Wolfgang Tillmans. The featured landscape photo depicts an electric yellow background and red blasts. It blends abstraction and realism, as well as Tillmans’ experimental light play. The process involves subjecting the negative to light, enhancing it with filters, and layering it with colors and calligraphic elements. The auction also celebrates women photographers in the world of media. Showcased are photographs by Uta Barth, famous for her optical illusion and perception-filled works. The available laminated chromogenic print from Barth, titled Field #9, uses a blur effect to create an illusion of time and space. The auction also presents works by Matthew Barney, Thomas Struth, Catherine Opie, Christopher Williams, Gregory Crewdson, and Shirin Neshat. Interested collectors can explore the entire catalog and register to bid online on Sotheby’s.
The upcoming TCM Presents… It’s a Knockout auction, offered by Bonhams, centers around items from the Rodney Hilton Brown Collection of Muhammad Ali art. Though Ali was surrounded by art his entire life (his father was a muralist), Brown was instrumental in encouraging Ali to create his own art as an adult and sell it in Brown’s gallery. One of the featured lots from the collection was created during the filming of Freedom Road in Natchez, Mississippi in 1978. The painting depicts Ali standing over a defeated opponent in a boxing ring. The opponent says, “Ref, he did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!” The fleeing referee calls back in response, “Yes, if you were smart, you run like me.”
Beyond Muhammad Ali art, there are items from the Jim and Theresa Earle Collection of Boxing and Sports Memorabilia. Notable lots include fight-worn boxing gloves, as well as photographs of famous boxers such as Robert Fitzimmons, Kid McCoy, and Jack Dempsey. There are also items from this collection unrelated to boxing, such as a cashed checks by Ty Cobb and Vince Lombardi, a photograph signed by Jesse Owens, and a baseball cleat worn by Babe Ruth. View any of these lots and register to bid on Bonhams.
Bonhams will offer photographs by famed photographers Brian Duffy, Roy Schatt, Ansel Adams, and others in an upcoming auction. Brian Duffy became a highly respected and well-known photographer in the UK during the 1960s. He was best known for documenting the high-fashion and celebrity chic culture of London’s “Swinging 60s” scene. Duffy’s fame further rose in the 1970s when he produced three album covers for David Bowie, including the cover for Aladdin Sane. Headlining the Bonhams auction is a Brian Duffy photograph of David Bowie taken during the sitting that produced the quintessential Aladdin Sane album cover. The available photograph depicts a shirtless Bowie with the iconic lightning bolt stretching from his forehead to his jaw and with his eyes open. In contrast, the 1973 album cover shows Bowie in the same manner but with closed eyes.
Also presented by Bonhams is a black and white photograph taken by Roy Schatt. The photo, taken around 1954, shows James Dean leisurely walking through Times Square. Schatt captures the famous actor as he smokes a cigarette. Dean appears to be mid-step with both hands in his pants pockets. The photographer’s penciled signature can be found in the margin while the copyright credit reproduction limitation stamp is located on the photo’s back side. View the entire collection of photographs and register to bid by visiting Bonhams.
In the 1970s, when there was an explosion of photographic stills in mainstream media, Cindy Sherman presented women as complex lead characters. She often referenced Hollywood movies and actresses in her work. Sherman photographed herself playing various roles that enfranchise women. In Untitled #116, Sherman stares blankly into space, leaving the audience ambivalent. It is a signed still framed in 1982 and was previously in the collection of Jay I. Kislak. This Cindy Sherman still will be on sale in the upcoming Contemporary Photographs auction, presented by Sotheby’s this autumn.
Available from acclaimed German photographer pair Bernd and Hilla Becher is Water Towers, a sequence of 15 gelatin silver prints framed together and taken between 1963 and 1980. Each still is signed and numbered sequentially. The couple received the Erasmus Prize and Hasselblad Award in the 2000s. Industrial imagery frequently appeared in their work.
A group of 13 photographs, together titled Women’s Mobile Museum Portfolio, is notable as well. The collection includes work by Zanele Muholi, Lindeka Qampi, Shasta Bady, and other photographers. Sotheby’s fifth annual Contemporary Photographs auction will highlight work by Wolfgang Tillmans, Matthew Brandt, and Robert Polidori, as well as photographs by trailblazers like Carrie Mae Weems and Sophie Calle. View the full catalog and register to bid by visiting Sotheby’s.
George Paulding Farnham was an American sculptor, metallurgist, and jewelry designer who collaborated with Tiffany & Co. from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. His designs, such as the Adams vase (1893) and the Admiral Dewey sword (1898), gathered significant acclaim. One of Paulding Farnham’s works is available in The Fall Collection auction, hosted by Akiba Antiques. Produced around 1905, the offered sterling silver centerpiece features a Renaissance Revival pattern. Winged putti figures decorate its handles.
The upcoming live sale features a range of decorative porcelain vases, sculptures, and urns. Among them is an antique silver repoussé samovar. Repoussé is a metalworking technique. This method involves hammering the reverse surface of a metal piece to create a low-relief design. Beyond decorative art, the auction presents fine art from René Portocarrero and Karel van Mander III. View more lots and register to bid online on LiveAuctioneers.
Bonhams’ forthcoming Audrain Concours Auction brings a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost “London-Edinburgh” Tourer. Charles Rolls partnered with Henry Royce and established Rolls-Royce in 1904. The brand is particularly known for its luxury motor cars. In 1906, Rolls-Royce debuted the Silver Ghost, a large touring automobile named by Claude Johnson, the managing director of the company. It has silver-plated fitments and a unique gray color scheme. Following its success, all Rolls-Royce vehicles with 40/50 horsepower six-cylinder engines became known as Silver Ghosts.
Interested bidders can find a range of cars in the sale, including the Lamborghini Diablo SE30 from 1994. According to the lot essay, “After 17 years in production, the legendary Countach was replaced by the Diablo, which on its arrival was the fastest, most advanced and most expensive Lamborghini ever built.” First exhibited publicly in Monaco in 1990, Diablo became widely known for its design. Find the full range of available vehicles and register to bid on Bonhams.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in 1958. They started working together with a shared philosophy of creating art that brings an immediate aesthetic impact to the viewer. They were famous for their large-scale, visually captivating, and ephemeral artworks, mostly involving landmarks or iconic monuments wrapped in fabric. After Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s deaths, their team continued to complete their in-progress projects. In its upcoming Wrap It Up auction, Bonhams will offer artworks by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
The Floating Piers (Wrapped Book) by the artist duo is available for sale. Published by Taschen, the tarpaulin and twine-wrapped book is the 20th of a set of 20. A 1991 collotype and color silkscreen of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Roman Sculptures, Project for Die Glyptothek, München is on offer as well. Bidders can also consider a printed edition of Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida from 1993. To view the full catalog or to place a bid, visit Bonhams. This event runs alongside the opening of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped project. Find continued coverage on Auction Daily.
John Doulton established English ceramics and home accessories maker Royal Doulton in the Lambeth area of London in 1815. His son engaged gifted artists to design elegant figurines and vases. Today, the manufacturer is best known for its stoneware tankards, storage jars, and bathroom ceramics. Several rare Royal Doulton figurines will feature in the upcoming Lion and Unicorn auction. A figurine depicting a Roman goddess of abundance is especially notable. She stands with fruit in her hands. Artist John Broad’s initials can be found on the base, along with the Royal Doulton Lambeth backstamp. Also from John Broad is a semi-nude figurine of a woman.
A large character jug, titled The Witch, by Royal Doulton also leads the listings. The handle of the prototype resembles a broom with a black cat. White flowers and a frog rest on the side of the witch’s hat. Additionally, the sale offers a glazed stoneware piece designed in the form of a seated faun playing a pan flute. The blue, green, and brown figurine has a Doulton Lambeth impressed backstamp. To view the complete catalog and register to bid online, visit Lion and Unicorn.
Leading the second session of Pook & Pook, Inc.’s upcoming Americana & International auction is Crest of the Wave. It is a bronze sculpture by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, a leading sculptor of early 20th-century America. She is known for her energetic pieces that capture athletic nudes in motion, like Joy of the Waters. It shows Slovenian model Desha Delteil jerking her foot away from a cold wave. After a patron saw Joy of the Waters in a neighbor’s garden, he wanted a version for himself. So Frishmuth created the modified Crest of the Wave piece in 1926 to prevent any feelings of competition between her neighboring patrons. The available bronze is one of 22 casts produced by the Gorham Foundry.
The upcoming sale will also present a bronze sculpture of a man’s head from one of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s contemporaries, Elie Nadelman. The subject wears a rounded hat tipped jauntily to one side. His features are sharp and defined with a particularly pointed chin. Born in Poland, Nadelman amassed a significant collection of folk art while sculpting almost exclusively in an early Greek style. The auction catalog includes bronze pieces from other key artists of the 20th century, including Malvina Hoffman, William Zorach, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Dame Elisabeth Frink.
Several notable pieces of fine art are on offer as well. Among them is a Mickey Mouse color screenprint from Andy Warhol’s Myths series. Launched in 1981, this series immortalized American pop culture icons and covered them in diamond dust. The available print is numbered 147 of 200. Collectors will also find a drawing from Damien Hirst that depicts a skull, butterfly, and shark, as well as a landscape painting by Eric Sloane. Antique furniture items will also be up for bid, including a Queen Anne walnut high chest, an American Federal three-part secretary desk, and a Chippendale marble and cherrywood side table. Find the complete listings and register to bid on Bidsquare.
During the Tang dynasty, merchants imported goods from Iran to the capital of Chang’an. These Iranian gold and silver goods bore influences of ancient Roman art. Many silverware workshops during the Tang period manufactured silver vessels inspired by these imported goods. The elegant features and intricate adornments on these vessels reflect Tang grandeur and craftsmanship. The upcoming Christie’s auction presents a Tang dynasty parcel-gilt silver dish. The central medallion on the dish features a repoussé decorated rhinoceros figure. Also featured from the Tang dynasty is a silver bowl with fine animal details. It is similar to the Hejiacun bowls made in the Xinghua Square workshops.
Another highlight is a pair of Dali marble-inset huanghuali continuous horseshoe-back armchairs. Huanghuali chairs are distinct for their red and yellow finish and sweet rosewood aroma. The available chairs are striking for their seamless arms and back splats with Dali marble panels. The panels each portray mountain and sea landscapes. An imperial cloisonné enamel Zun-form vase is also notable. The trumpet neck vase has a bronze body and colorful floral motifs with gilt panels. The auction will present a carved Hongmu luohan bed, a Kang table, Longquan celadon tripod censer, jade articles, and silk paintings as well. Interested collectors can explore the entire listings and register to bid online on Christie’s.
