This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2022 Auctions in Review

Fall 2021 – Winter/Spring 2022:
Swann Galleries’ Top Grossing Season in 80-Year History

The winter-spring auction season at Swann is a masterclass in marathon training, and the 2022 iteration proved no different with 20 auctions held between late January and the middle of August. In February we celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the first auction dedicated to photographs, not only at Swann, but in the United States; the season saw the success of the second iterations of The Artists of the WPA and Focus on Women; private collections featured throughout the first half of the year including offerings from the collection of civil rights attorney Jack Greenberg in Printed & Manuscript African Americana in March, part one of rare books from bibliophile Kenneth Rappoport in our Early Printed Books auction in May, art from the collection of the late Francis v. O’Connor featured in our May sale of Contemporary Art, and a special sale dedicated to Edward Hopper and his contemporaries closed out June. Below we share highlights from this past season.

Artists of the WPA

Daniel Celentano, Pelham Bay, oil on canvas, circa 1935. Sold January 2022 for $55,000.

Related Reading: The Artists of the WPA

Fine Photographs: Celebrating 70 Years of Photographs at Swann

^{Lisette Model, three photographs from the portfolio Twelve Photographs, silver prints, 1937-46, printed 1977. Sold February 2022 for $32,500.}

^{Lisette Model, three photographs from the portfolio Twelve Photographs, silver prints, 1937-46, printed 1977. Sold February 2022 for $32,500.}

Related Reading: Celebrating 70 Years of Photographs at Swann

Fine Books & Autographs

^{Robert Indiana, The Book of Love: A Portfolio of 12 Original Poems & 12 Original Prints, artist’s proof set, 1997. Sold February 2022 for $100,000.}

^{Robert Indiana, The Book of Love: A Portfolio of 12 Original Poems & 12 Original Prints, artist’s proof set, 1997. Sold February 2022 for $100,000.}

^{Sold June 2022. From left to right: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, first edition, three volumes, London, 1847. Sold for $23,750; Martin Luther King Jr., typed letter signed writing about how the N-word is ‘rooted in racist caste ordering, 1966. Sold for $15,000.}

^{Sold June 2022. From left to right: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, first edition, three volumes, London, 1847. Sold for $23,750; Martin Luther King Jr., typed letter signed writing about how the N-word is ‘rooted in racist caste ordering, 1966. Sold for $15,000.}

19th & 20th Century Art

Giacomo Balla, Il Disperato; Autoritratto, oil on canvas, 1898-1900. Sold March 2022 for $221,000.

Printed & Manuscript African Americana

^{Sold March 2022. From left to right: Benjamin Banneker’s Almanack and Ephemeris, the first almanac by Banneker, Baltimore, 1792. Sold for $75,000; Carte-de-visite of Charles Remond Douglass in uniform, the youngest son of Frederick Douglass, 1864. Sold for $47,500; Actress Juanita Moore’s copy of the script for A Raisin in the Sun, signed with manuscript notes throughout, 1959. Sold for $30,000.}

^{Sold March 2022. From left to right: Benjamin Banneker’s Almanack and Ephemeris, the first almanac by Banneker, Baltimore, 1792. Sold for $75,000; Carte-de-visite of Charles Remond Douglass in uniform, the youngest son of Frederick Douglass, 1864. Sold for $47,500; Actress Juanita Moore’s copy of the script for A Raisin in the Sun, signed with manuscript notes throughout, 1959. Sold for $30,000.}

Related Reading: Selections from the Collection of Jack Greenberg

African American Art

Alma Thomas, Untitled (Atmospheric Effects Series), acrylic on paper, 1971. Sold March 2022 for $209,000.

Early Printed Books

^{From the Ken Rapoport Collection. Sold May 2022. From left to right: William Shakespeare, Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, second impression, London, 1632. Sold for $161,000; Miguel de Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, third authorized edition, first Valencia edition, 1605. Sold for $52,500.}

^{From the Ken Rapoport Collection. Sold May 2022. From left to right: William Shakespeare, Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, second impression, London, 1632. Sold for $161,000; Miguel de Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, third authorized edition, first Valencia edition, 1605. Sold for $52,500.}

Contemporary Art

Willem de Kooning, Quatre Lithographies, portfolio with four color lithographs, 1986. Sold May 2022 for $209,000

Graphic Design

William Addison Dwiggins, The Architext & The Industrial Arts / 11th Exhibition of Contemporary American Design, 1928. Sold May 2022 for $62,500.

Modern & Post-War Art

Tilsa Tsuchiya, Untitled, oil on canvas, 1973. Sold May 2022 for $161,000.

Focus on Women

Louisa May Alcott, autograph letter signed in response to a fan letter praising Little Women, post-1868. Sold June 2022 for $23,750.

Illustration Art

Al Hirschfeld, Sweeny Todd, illustration for the 1979 original Broadway production, published in The New York Times, pen and ink, 1979. Sold June 2022 for $40,000.

Related Reading: Al Hirschfeld Caricatures & Theater Portraits

Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books

Currier & Ives, The City of New York, large chromolithograph, 1876. Sold June 2022 for $15,000.

Edward Hopper & His Contemporaries: Making A Modern American Art

Sold June 2022. Clockwise: Charles Demuth, Tulips, watercolor and pencil, 1924. Sold for $137,000; Charles Demuth, Daylilies, watercolor and pencil, 1918. Sold for $68,750; Edward Hopper, Night Shadows, etching, 1921. Sold for $47,500.

Sold June 2022. Clockwise: Charles Demuth, Tulips, watercolor and pencil, 1924. Sold for $137,000; Charles Demuth, Daylilies, watercolor and pencil, 1918. Sold for $68,750; Edward Hopper, Night Shadows, etching, 1921. Sold for $47,500.

Related Reading: Making A Modern American Art Series

LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History

Hugh Steers, Edge of the Tub, oil on paper, 1994. Sold August 2022 for $44,200.

Related Reading: Artist Profile: Hugh Steers

Do you have an item that we should take a look at for our upcoming season?

Consign with Swann.

August 22, 2022
Author: Kelsie Jankowski
Category: 19th & 20th Century Literature

Tags:

Making A Modern American Art: 1920 – 1930

American Art: September 22, 2022 Auction Highlights