Amoako Boafo’s Cobinnah with Yellow Nails is one of the highlighted lots in the upcoming Connect/Reflect/Collect auction, presented by Phillips. In the portrait, Cobinnah smiles and looks away from the viewer. By guarding their face, Cobinnah reveals to the viewer their yellow nail polish. Throughout his career, Boafo has used portraiture for, in his own words, “representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach blackness.”
The upcoming Phillips event offers 40+ contemporary fine art pieces. This includes Italian artist Sandro Chia’s Vision, Elision, Derision, a graphite and pastel on paper piece. Chia was among the leaders of Transavanguardia, an Italian figurative painting movement. Bidders can also consider Andy Warhol’s paper collage of entrepreneur and television producer Ted Turner. The collage is dated 1986, one year before Warhol’s death. As Warhol was exploring his fascination with the notion of celebrity, Turner was shaping modern media, including starting the world’s first 24-hour news channel, CNN. “Barring satellite problems, we won’t be signing off until the world ends,” said Turner of his new venture. Register to bid for these lots on the Phillips website.
Donald Baechler’s prominence in the Neo-Expressionist art movement was a result of his unusual aesthetic sense. The American artist is best known for portraying objects such as telephones, ice cream, and flowers in outwardly simple imagery that conveys a meaningful story. An ink on paper print by Baechler, titled Flower, will be available in the upcoming New York City Estate Auction, presented by Showplace Antiques & Design Center. It shows the silhouette of flowers in a wide vase, created using thick black lines against a contrasting background.
Several pieces of decorative art will be available as well, including an Italian majolica polychrome vessel shaped like the head of a monkey. This piece shows the animal with its eyes wide open and ears pulled back. A collection of precious stones, jewelry, and haute couture will also be featured in the event. Explore the entire catalog and register to bid online on Bidsquare.
Claudius Ptolemy was a mathematician, geographer, and astronomer who lived in the city of Alexandria. He is best known for creating a world map in his book Geography, written around 150 CE. One of the notable qualities of Ptolemy’s map was the use of longitudinal and latitudinal lines. A Renaissance map based on Ptolemy’s original is one of the key lots of the upcoming Fine Art & Antiques auction, presented by Simpson Galleries. The map is a hand-colored woodblock print on paper by Johannes Schnitzer of Armsheim. Another highlight is The Artist Studying by Candlelight, an oil painting attributed to Trophime Bigot. A French artist, Bigot was often called the “Candlelight Master.”
This sale also features an E. Howard & Co. astronomical walnut clock from the 1870s. It was designed with a Renaissance revival winged crest over three bosses and lozenges. The clock’s 14-inch reverse-painted glass dial has Arabic numeral minutes and Roman hour and second subdials. To view the complete catalog and register to bid online, visit Bidsquare.
William F. Draper was a portrait painter and former combat artist who painted many leading political and cultural figures of the 20th century. He is best known for his portrait of John F. Kennedy that was completed a year before his assassination. Draper was the only artist for whom President Kennedy posed during his lifetime. A key lot in the upcoming Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic sale, presented by Artemis Gallery, is a portrait of Kennedy by Draper. This piece shows the President sitting in a rocking chair, dressed in a charcoal grey suit, white dress shirt, and striped tie. He gazes at the viewer with a slight smile.
This auction will offer 180 lots of fine art, ancient jewelry, fossils, and more. An Egyptian coffin lid is particularly highlighted. The Late Dynastic Period coffin lid is carved from hardwood and depicts a serene countenance atop an elaborately decorated body. Examples of these coffins first appeared during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, between 2050 and 1710 BCE. They are carved with the outline of the mummy’s body and decorated to resemble the deceased. Such coffins not only served to keep the mummy within but also acted as a substitute for the body in case it was lost or destroyed.
A Native American tipi liner will be offered as well. The tipi is made of five large stitched buffalo hide panels with geometric motifs. A tipi liner is hung on the tipi’s lower walls to protect from drafts and rainwater, also creating another layer of privacy. Visit Bidsquare for more information and to register to bid.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany Studios, started his career as a trained painter. However, he would be best known for his contributions to glasswork and the Art Nouveau movement. After he traveled through Europe and Morocco, Tiffany began to explore the medium of glasswork and lamps. An example of Tiffany’s abstract designs will be presented on the second day of the upcoming Millea Bros. Select auction, offered by Millea Bros. Ltd. Decorated with an apple blossom design, the shade on this lamp is colored in green, yellow, and pastel pink. It is signed at the base.
An oil painting from Konstantin Andreyevich Somov is also featured in the sale. The son of a leading art historian, Somov became interested in 18th-century art and music at an early age. The Russian painter drew inspiration from the Old Masters in the Hermitage and the works of contemporary English and German artists. The available piece is the earliest example of a recurring subject in Somov’s later career: a humorous take on traditional ballet. Other lots of interest include a Lavar Kerman carpet and a pair of Louis XVI giltwood chairs. Visit Bidsquare to browse the full catalog and register to bid.
Featured in Skinner’s upcoming Fine Paintings & Sculpture auction is a ski scene from Alfons Walde. The available painting shows intense alpine sunlight glaring on a group of skiers. Walde was trained as an architect but aspired to be an artist, a profession he eventually pursued. He designed a logo and the first tram for Kitzbühel, a famous ski village in Austria and his hometown. However, his paintings of skiing are considered his greatest contribution to the sport and his birthplace.
An equally snowy landscape, painted by George Henry Durrie, is featured in this auction. The painting, titled Sleighs Arriving at the Inn, includes minute details in the background such as a woman holding a baby on a horse-driven carriage, the bark of a tree, and several street dogs. Durrie was a 19th-century Connecticut artist who focused his landscapes on his local area. They often served as backgrounds in his portraits as well. Many of Durrie’s “snow picture” ads were published in the local newspapers, and his Sleighing Party piece was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1845.
This auction features 217 lots of fine art and sculpture. A professionally restored landscape painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey is among the featured lots. Cropsey, like Walde, was trained as an architect, which strongly influenced the style of his paintings. Cropsey died in anonymity, but many of his works were later rediscovered by galleries and collectors. They can be found in the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Princeton University Art Museum. To view the entire catalog for this auction and register to bid, visit Bidsquare.
Hieronymus Francken I came from an eminent family of Flemish artists. Francken’s earlier works show the influence of his travel to Italy during the 1560s. During the reign of King Henri III, paintings showing scenes from the Valois court became briefly popular. Francken followed the trend by depicting elegant people feasting and dancing in his works. One such painting capturing an allegorical story will be featured in the upcoming Old Master & 19th-Century Paintings, Drawings, & Sculpture auction, presented by Doyle. Titled A Banquet Scene: An Allegory on Love and Lust, the piece shows the folly and destructive dissipation of carnality.
Émile Friant’s oil painting is also highlighted in this sale. A naturalist painter, Émile Friant was committed to depicting the everyday life of the rural working class. The available work is a portrait of Charles Frederick Worth, executed in 1893. Also offered is a marble statue by John Gibson depicting a female bust. The British Neoclassical sculptor is credited with reviving the ancient Greek practice of tinting marble. View these items and register to bid online on Doyle.
Sam Gilliam, an African American artist, introduced draped, painted canvas hangings that lacked stretcher bars in the 1960s. The stained fabric pieces are regarded as a major step in the development of American art. Known as a Lyrical Abstractionist, the artist frequently experiments on draped canvas, adding a sculptural element to his art. An example of Gilliam’s mixed media wall hangings is available in the upcoming June Collectibles and Fine Art Auction. The oil on wood and metal piece is executed in vibrant rainbow colors, measuring 63 inches high and 42 inches wide.
Elite Auctioneers, LLC will also offer several sculptures of Eastern origin in this sale, including a Garuda Buddhist deity in gilt bronze. In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, Garuda is a bird-like being that combines eagle and human features. A yin and yang flower mark can be found on the bottom of the sculpture. A Tibetan oil on canvas piece is also highlighted, showing several ancient Tibetan deities. For more information, visit Bidsquare.
When Michael Beaudry started his jewelry, timepieces, and décor brand, he intended to focus his attention on the natural beauty of the stones. Today, Beaudry’s jewels have been worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Barbara Streisand, Katherine Heigl, and Michelle Trachtenberg. Featured in the upcoming Estate Jewelry, Fine Art and Collectibles auction, offered by Kodner Galleries, is a yellow diamond ring by Michael Beaudry. The platinum ring has a central oval-cut diamond accented with smaller gems in shades of pink, yellow, and white.
Beyond the jewelry items, this auction also includes over 100 lots of fine and decorative art. Leading these is a screenprint by American artist Alex Katz. Known for his brightly colored figurative and landscape paintings, Katz finds inspiration in advertising, cinema, and other areas of everyday culture. The offered work from 1979 depicts a woman in a hat. The lot also includes a hardcover book containing 220 illustrations and text by Irving Sandler. Explore the full catalog for this auction and register to bid on Bidsquare.
Five Andy Warhol prints will be presented in the upcoming Modern & Contemporary Prints & Multiples Auction. A leading figure in the Pop Art movement, Warhol was also recognized as a film director and producer. One of the highlighted Warhol lots is a screenprint in colors on Lenox museum board. The piece shows an advertisement for Mobilgas from 1985. Also available is an offset color lithograph on wove paper, signed and dated 1965. It captures Elizabeth Taylor, one of Warhol’s most-recognized subjects. Bonhams also showcases the work of Richard Diebenkorn, Christopher Wool, and KAWS in this sale.
Particularly featured is a framed painting from Diebenkorn, who was a leading artist among the Bay Area Figurative painters. While Diebenkorn’s works were highly gestural and abstract, his art often captured the beachfront community outside his studio window. A composition from his Ocean Park series will be available in this sale. To view more of these lots and register to bid, visit Bonhams.
