Swann Galleries opened the year with an auction dedicated to The Artists of the WPA for the fifth year in a row. “The department and the material itself have come into their own,” noted Nicholas D. Lowry, Swann President. “During the sale, bidding was as frenetic and exciting as we have experienced in recent years, with active bidding in the room.” The sale brought $530,288, edging out its pre-sale estimate of $520,300 and selling 87% of the lots. “It would be easy to say that we have been doing our job well and are reaping the benefits of all the attention we have been paying to this underserved section of the art marketplace, however it is also very possible to imagine that the heart and soul of the WPA movement and specifically the Federal Art Project (where the government put artists to work to help fight the Depression), is being appreciated again, by those in a new era. It certainly feels like the efforts of the New Deal are being enjoyed by a modern audience for the same reason this art was so compelling when it was created—but now with a much more nostalgic twist,” Lowry concluded.
FSA Photography
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, silver print, 1936, printed 1970s. Sold for $13,970.
The auction was led by Dorothea Lange’s iconic Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, silver print, 1936, printed 1970s, at $13,970. Additional FSA photography included Margaret Bourke-White’s The American Way of Life (At the Time of the Louisville Flood, Kentucky), silver print, 1937, printed 1980s ($5,842), Arthur Rothstein’s Girl at Gee’s Bend, Alabama, silver print, 1937, printed circa 1980 ($4,826), and Marion Post Wolcott’s Spending cotton picking money on Saturday nite, gambling near Clarksdale, Mississippi, selenium-toned silver print, 1939, printed 1977 ($3,960), as well as works by Berenice Abbott, Jack Delano, Walker Evans, and Ben Shahn.
Related Reading:
Dorothea Lange & Photography as a Tool for Social Change
Beyond Migrant Mother: Five FSA Photographers to Know
Portraiture & Fine Art
David Wu Ject-Key, Woman in Pink Blouse, oil on canvas. Sold for $11,220.
Portraiture was a strong stand out among the fine art selection, with David Wu Ject-Key’s Woman in Pink Blouse, oil on canvas ($11,220), Gertrude Abrams Shilbey’s Untitled (Portrait of an African American Woman), oil on canvas, circa early 1940s ($7,620), Raphael Soyer’s Portrait of Moses Soyer, oil on canvas ($7,920), and Moses Soyer’s Woman in a White Blouse, oil on canvas ($6,096). Further original works include Hendrik Glintenkamp’s Untitled (Fauvist Landscape), oil on canvas, 1919 ($8,255), Jack Tworkov’s Still Life, oil on canvas ($5,588), and Leon Bibel’s Net Menders, oil on canvas, 1938 ($5,080).
Related Reading:
Artists of the WPA & the Dawn of a New American Identity
The Artists of the WPA: The Promise of a New Deal
Fine Art Prints
Leon Bibel, Descending, color screenprint, 1938. Sold for $10,160.
Fine art prints included color screenprints by Leon Bibel: Descending, 1938 ($10,160 against a $2,000 to $4,000 estimate); Upper Harlem River, 1939 ($7,112); and Archway, 1939 ($2,540). Harry Sternberg, Charles Turzak, Blanche Grambs and Will Barnet also performed strongly.
Related Reading:
Etched in History: Printmakers of the Federal Art Project
Harold Porcher, specialist for the sale and director of Modern & Post-War art at Swann, concluded of the auction, “In times of uncertainty, identifying future auction trends is challenging. It seems buyers are looking to artists for hope. Often, we know the answers to uncertain times in our heart, and the photographers, painters, printers, and illustrators of the New Deal era convey feelings of hardship and hope like few others”