A noted American fashion and jewelry designer on QVC, Nolan Bertrandoff Miller was best known for his costume designs for the 1980s television series The Colbys and the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. He also designed garments for many leading Hollywood actors. The upcoming Property From the Estate of Nolan Miller auction, presented by Julien’s Auctions, features over 300 lots from Miller’s life and times. One of the key highlights is a patinated bronze sculpture from Erté, accompanied by a photograph of Miller with the artist. Another lot of interest is a 1924 watercolor and gouache piece titled Le Congo: Rideau de Plumes. It depicts a curtain design for Le Ballet Africain.
The auction will showcase a copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, illustrated by Karl Lagerfeld. It also includes approximately 100 costume sketches for Dame Joan Collins, Diahann Carroll, and Linda Evans, among others. A selection of letters written from celebrities to Miller, celebrity-worn furs and jewelry, and decorative arts will be available as well. To view the complete catalog and register to bid online, visit Julien’s Auctions.
Maitreya is a bodhisattva who, according to Buddhist beliefs, will return to Earth from the heavens when the Buddhist teachings are neglected. The promise of Maitreya’s return and his ability to restore order inspired many to join religious movements dedicated to the bodhisattva in China around the Tang period. A marble torso depicting Maitreya will be available in the upcoming Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art sale, presented by Bonhams. A robe envelopes Maitreya and partially covers his muscular torso.
Bidders interested in works produced during the Tang Dynasty can also consider a chestnut-glazed horse featured in this event. Associated at that time with power, a sculpture of a horse would have indicated the owner’s high stature in the community. Those collecting more modern pieces will find a painted scroll by Qi Baishi. Qi’s work combined xieyi, or freestyle techniques, with the more precise and detail-oriented gongbi style. Those interested in this or any other piece can register to bid on the auction house’s website.
A table with a porcelain panel painted by Shi Lu will be available in Oakridge Auction Gallery’s upcoming sale. Born in Feng Yaheng, China, Shi got his start creating paintings in the traditional Chinese style. After joining the Communist party in 1946, he began executing works that embraced elements of Social Realism. Over the next decade, Shi began depicting members of the working class as well as sheep and goats in the mountains.
The first session of the Fall Fine Asian Art and Antiques auction will also offer an Imperial Chinese porcelain jardiniere. These decorative flower boxes have been popular since the beginning of the 17th century. The offered piece from the Kangxi period has steeply rounded sides rising to an everted rim. The top is painted with a band of flowers, clouds, fruits, and branches, while the body shows pine trees and bamboo shoots. Another lot of interest is a Chinese vase by Modern artist He Xuren, noted for his snowy landscape paintings and miniature calligraphy. The available vase shows a mountainous view with a fisherman on a boat. A poem about a lone fisherman is painted on the back. View each of these lots and register to bid on Bidsquare.
Kehinde Wiley’s painting is one of the highlighted lots in the upcoming September sale, presented by Leonard Auction. Titled Psyche Abandoned, the piece shows a Black woman’s portrait against a heavily-ornamented pattern of flowers. Wiley is recognized for his highly patterned portrait paintings of Black Americans. The poses, objects, and backgrounds used in his portraits take inspiration from French Rococo, the modern urban landscape, and everything in between. Wiley says his figurative paintings “quote historical sources and position young black men within that field of power.”
Another featured work in this event is from Kara Walker. An American artist, Walker is known for creating black-and-white silhouette works that explore the history of American racial discrimination. Titled I’ll Be a Monkey’s Uncle, the available piece depicts the figure of a girl and a monkey in black silhouette against a white background. Also offered is a cylindrical, abstract vase from Clyde Burt. Explore the full catalog for this auction and register to bid on Bidsquare.
Native Americans have been known for their expressive works of art for hundreds of years. This art often showcases social customs as well as political and military systems. Cowan’s Auctions is showcasing works from a variety of Native American tribes in the upcoming sale, including Sioux, Southern Cheyenne, Navajo, Apache, and others.
Featured in the American Indian Art auction is a Sioux Elk Dreamer Society beaded hide tobacco bag. The Elk Dreamer Society was a spiritual group within the Sioux culture, along with Bear, Wolf, and Buffalo variations. This particular tobacco bag is sinew-sewn and includes a variety of blue, green, pink, red, black, and white beads. The late 19th-century bag depicts a warrior dressed in a bonnet as well as a horse, rider, and two pipes. The opposite side of the bag contains images of a brightly colored elk and the Elk Dancer with hoop and staff.
Also found in the sale is a Navajo Yei rug. These weavings represent traditional dancers as they perform the ceremony of the Yei – the spirit deity of the Navajo Nation. These ceremonies intended to either attract or exorcise spirits as directed by the shaman. Visit Bidsquare to view the entire art collection and register to place a bid.
In the 1880s, John Haberle took a humorous approach to his trompe l’oeil paintings (French for “fool the eye”). The upcoming Spanierman auction, presented by Rago, will feature one such whimsical painting by Haberle. Featured is a self-portrait titled That’s Me, painted in shades of chestnut, beige, and brown. Explaining the artistry in his works, the National Gallery of Art writes, “He was also an artist of great aesthetic sensibility and inventive power.” Rather than basing his paintings on reality, Haberle intended to convey irony and entertainment through his work.
Charles Courtney Curran’s oil painting is another highlight of the auction. Best known for his sweeping landscapes featuring young women and children, Curran often used the Impressionist style in his artworks. The red-haired nude woman in the offered painting wears a wreath and is surrounded by leaves. Also included is a portrait by Russian-American painter Ivan Olinsky and a landscape titled Frosty Morning by John Francis Murphy. Explore the full listings and register to bid online by visiting Bidsquare.
Pablo Picasso was a prominent 20th-century artist known for his Cubist paintings. Picasso was a co-founder of the Cubist movement and a multi-faceted artist with mastery in painting, sculpture, and printmaking. From the age of seven, the Spanish painter was drawn toward art and received early training from his father. Picasso’s work is often classified into different periods and has elaborate themes that run through his oeuvre. The upcoming Christie’s event presents a selection of Picasso’s prints from 1904 to 1937. The highlight is Le Repas Frugal, an etching from La suite des Saltimbanques by Picasso. Created during the Blue Period, the piece has monochromatic tones and explores the theme of malnutrition.
Also featured is a 1934 work titled Minotaure aveugle guidé par une fillette dans la nuit, showing a mythological creature with the body of a man and the heard of a bull. While explaining complex human nature through the image of the minotaur, Picasso said, “If all the ways I have been along were marked in a map and joined up with a line, it might represent a minotaur.” The available print by Picasso employed his burnished aquatint technique, offering a dreamy effect. Proceeds from this sale will assist food banks and hunger-relief organizations, including Second Harvest Food Bank Orange County, CA and Feeding America. Interested collectors can explore the full listings and register to bid online on Christie’s.
Featured in the upcoming Charms of Art auction, presented by Finarte, are works from Giovanni “Gio” Ponti. An architect, industrial designer, artist, teacher, writer, and publisher, Ponti was an advocate of Italian-style art and living. He contributed to the rise of Italian design after World War II. One available example of his work is a set of 14 Murano glasses. Also up for bid is a plate from the workshop of Ludovico and Angelo Picchi. The plate depicts a scene or story of two figures playing musical instruments in an idyllic setting. This Renaissance piece was likely created between 1550 and 1560.
One of the more whimsical lots in the sale is a finely dressed monkey playing a guitar. The ancient automaton looks up as he strums, as if serenading a lover. Other lots in the sale include paintings of religious scenes, pieces of furniture, a pair of vintage game sets, tableware and cutlery, landscapes, portraits, busts, and more. View any of these items and register to bid on Bidsquare.
Artist Henri Fantin-Latour was known for his realistic still life paintings. Though he spent time with the Impressionist painters, Fantin-Latour shunned the significant artistic movements of his generation. Fantin-Latour initially sought academic fame through portraiture, but his still lifes were what made him truly famous. In his book entitled Atelier de Fantin-Latour, Jacques-Émile Blanche said: “Fantin studied each flower, each petal, its grain, its tissue as if it were a human face.” A still life painting from Fantin-Latour will be highlighted in the upcoming Important Paintings sale, offered by Doyle. Titled Six Roses Jaunes dans un Vase en Verre, the work shows white roses in a glass vase against a brown background.
This Doyle event presents 50 pieces of contemporary and post-war paintings and sculptures. An untitled painting by Alexander Calder is one of the featured lots. Best known for his three-dimensional wire sculptures creating “drawings in space,” Calder often painted to examine ideas of color, space, and composition. The available piece features several motifs colored with a bright palette. Sunkoo Yuh’s stoneware sculpture titled Fertility Bird will also be available. To view the complete catalog and register to bid online, visit Doyle.
Every month, Heritage Auctions features a collection of Prints & Multiples of well-known and highly collectible artists. In this month’s sale are several pieces by Victor Vasarely, including the colorful and illusory Three Spheres. Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist who was widely considered a leader of the Op Art movement, examples of which are on display in this auction. Also up for bid is a sculpture piece titled Earth Mother by Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí. The altered-reality bronze is numbered 89/100 and is incised with Dalí’s signature, numbering, and foundry mark on the sculpture’s left hip.
Of the political works up for bid are two prints by Wang Guangyi, designed in a propagandist style and depicting resistance to oppression. There is also a tinted photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Birmingham jail by Russell Young. Other works by well-known artists include Butterfly Rainbow and Butterfly Heart by Damien Hirst, as well as lithographs by Willem de Kooning, Karel Appel, and Alexander Calder. View any of these lots and register to bid on the Heritage Auctions website.
