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February 18, 2021Swann CommunicationsPhotographs & Photobooks

Fine Photographs: March 2021 Auction Highlights

Fine photographs by Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Robert Frank, Adam Fuss, Dorothea Lange, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Irving Penn, portfolios by Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Eugène Atget, Paul Strand, and more.

February 10, 2021 Prints & Drawings

19th & 20th Century Art: March 2021 Auction Highlights

Featuring prints, drawings, paintings, sculptures by Mary Cassatt, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Wifredo Lam, Fernand Léger, Martin Lewis, Henri Matisse, Diego Rivera, Egon Schiele, Paul Signac, James A.M. Whistler, and Francisco Zúñiga.

February 3, 2021 Autographs

Fine Books & Autographs: February 2021 Auction Highlights

Featuring fine autographs by Frederick Douglass, Albert Einstein, James Dean, John F. Kennedy, Lord Byron, Richard Wagner, alongside literature and art books by Joseph Albers, Leonetto Cappiello, Ian Fleming, Ernest Hemingway, Ralph Ellison, and more.

January 25, 2021 Vintage Posters

Vintage Posters: Auction Highlights February 2021

At Auction February 18, 2021 Literary Posters Art Nouveau Bicycles, Automobiles & Aviation Food and Drink Skiing & Winter Sports Travel Fashion & Products Theater, Entertainment & Film Russian, War…

January 11, 2021 Swann

The Artists of the WPA: Auction Highlights February 2021

We’re pleased to present this curated auction of WPA-era artwork, photographs, and related material. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and its related agencies represented an unprecedented investment in art and artists, setting the scene for the twentieth century’s art movements, and establishing the careers of diverse creatives, including women, Black artists, photographers, and muralists.

January 4, 2021 Illustration Art

Illustration Art: Winter 2021 Highlights

This sale brightens up January with a collection of golf illustrations formed by the avid collector and esteemed author on the subject, Dick McDonough. Many of the famous illustrators represented here were fans of the sport, including James Montgomery Flagg, Arthur B. Frost, Lealand Gustavson, John Held, Jr., and Arthur Sarnoff.

November 30, 2020 African American Art

Happening December 7: Artist Talk with Bisa Butler

Join us for a lively conversation between Swann Director of African American Art, Nigel Freeman, and the artist Bisa Butler, whose recent exhibitions and exceptional body of work make her one of the most exciting young artists to gain prominence in the last few years.

November 24, 2020 Maps & Atlases

Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: December 2020 Highlights

At Auction December 17, 2020 Previewing by Appointment Only Through Wednesday, December 16 Maps Atlases & Books with Maps Color Plate Books & Illustrations Prints, Drawings & Ephemera What You…

November 9, 2020 Modern & Post-War Art

Modern & Post-War Art: December 2020 Highlights

At Auction December 3, 2020 This auction features high-quality examples by sought-after artists Sargent Johnson, Hughie Lee-Smith, Sam Middleton, John Little, Allan Kaprow, and Adolph Gottlieb. Works by Esteban Vicente,…

November 5, 2020 African American Art

African American Art: December 2020 Highlights

At Auction December 10, 2020 Previewing by Appointment Only Through Wednesday, December 9 This sale will include significant works by innovative artists, including a fine example of Gamin, an iconic…

October 29, 2020 Contemporary Art

Contemporary Art: November 2020 Highlights

Featuring works by Louise Nevelson from the collection of Albert Argentieri, a friend of the artist, as well as works from the collection of Stephen Poleskie, founder of Chiron Press, New York. Other artists featured include Dorothea Rockburne, Alex Katz and Roy Lichtenstein.

October 26, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Fine Books & Manuscripts: November 2020 Highlights

Featuring Major Works by Jane Austen & Charles Dickens, Autographs & Manuscript Items from John Hancock, Igor Stravinsky & more

October 19, 2020 Old Master Through Modern Prints

Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 2020 Highlights

At Auction November 12, 2020 The fall fine prints sale will include masters of printmaking from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. Highlights include woodcuts, etchings and engravings by Albrecht…

October 7, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Early Printed Books: Fall 2020 Auction Highlights

Early Printed Books, at auction October 27, 2020, featuring sought-after early imprints, incunabula, North American early exploration texts, medical books and more.

September 24, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Happening October 5: Reading and Q&A With ‘Dark Archives’ Author Megan Rosenbloom

Join Us October 5, 2020 at 7PM ET for a fascinating, terrifying look at the rarest books―bound in human skin―and the stories of their creation.

September 23, 2020 Swann

Fall 2020 Edition of “The Trumpet”

Against all apparent odds, the last six turbulent months have shown promising developments within the auction world. Sales are robust and interest is brisk Swann President & Principal Auctioneer Nicholas…

September 17, 2020 Old Master Through Modern Prints

Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 2020 Highlights

September 9, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks

Fall 2020 Preview: Fine Photographs

Highlights for both the new collector and the seasoned auction aficionado include photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Alma Lavenson and Dorothea Lange.

September 8, 2020 Vintage Posters

Fall 2020 Preview: Rare & Important Travel Posters

In an era in which armchair traveling has become the new normal, it has never been more engaging to stay at home and travel the world virtually through the glorious designs of historical travel posters.

September 4, 2020 Swann

Looking Ahead to Fall 2020

Since the middle of March it has been hard to look ahead. Outside of the universal mantra of “I can’t wait for everything to return to normal,” far too little thought has been given to what’s next. Now, at the summer’s end, it’s time to take a deep breath, and with guarded optimism dare to look ahead at what lies in store for us this fall. Or whatever season it is.

September 2, 2020 Modern & Post-War Art

Modern & Post-War Art: Consign Now for December 2020

We’re pleased to be growing our offerings this category, with Harold Porcher leading our new sales of Modern & Post-War Art. Building on our strong history of handling material by diverse modern and post-war artists, now is the time to consign to our debut sale. Consign today for our inaugural December 2020 auction.

August 25, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Printed & Manuscript Americana: At Auction September 24, 2020

Covering a period of about five centuries and two continents, our auctions of Printed & Manuscript Americana are exceptionally varied in content and subjects covered, from colonialism and the Westward expansion of the United States, to Presidential material and first-hand accounts by ordinary persons of important historical moments.

August 17, 2020 American Art

American Art: At Auction September 17, 2020

This annual American Art auction includes paintings by American artists Grandma Moses, Childe Hassam, Charles Burchfield, and more.

August 4, 2020 Vintage Posters

Vintage Posters: At Auction August 27, 2020

During a summer of containment and people staying close to their personal bubbles, this auction’s assortment of beach and summer resort posters (see below) seems especially poignant, as for many…

July 22, 2020 Pride

Upcoming Highlights: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History

Our second annual auction dedicated to the art, material culture, and history of the LGBTQ+ community features items by and from major figures and trailblazers; Richmond Barthé, JEB, Paul Cadmus, Antonio Lopez, Harvey Milk, Freddie Styles, Toyen, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, David Wojnarowicz and more.

July 9, 2020 Books & Manuscripts

Fine Books & Manuscripts: Auction Highlights for July 30, 2020

Find here a plethora of autographs, fine art books, modern first editions, incunabula, manuscripts and more, at auction July 30, 2020.

July 6, 2020 Illustration Art

Pen, Pencil & a Bottle of Ink: Al Hirschfeld Seen Through Six Drawings

Swann Director of Illustration Art, Christine von der Linn, joined special guest David Leopold, author of the best-selling The Hirschfeld Century and the Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation,…

June 26, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks

A Toast to Daile Kaplan, Swann’s Doyenne Emerita

At the end of this month Daile will be stepping away from her role as Vice President and head of Swann’s Photographs & Photobooks Department.

June 23, 2020 Illustration Art

Illustration Art: Upcoming Highlights At Auction July 16, 2020

This wide-ranging sale is led by an iconic work by N.C. Wyeth, and followed by illustrations by Hilary Knight, Leslie Ragan, Howard Pyle, Edward Gorey, Erté, and others.

June 11, 2020 Maps & Atlases

Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: At Auction July 9, 2020

An exquisite selection of antiquarian maps and atlases, globes, color plate books, works by John James Audubon, Currier & Ives, and more.

June 2, 2020 Contemporary Art

Contemporary Art: At Auction June 25, 2020

This Contemporary Art auction on June 25, 2020 includes works for sale by Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, and Edward Ruscha.

May 25, 2020 Vintage Posters

Graphic Design: Featuring Modernist Posters from the Vienna Secession to 1990s Political Images

This year’s Graphic Design auction presents exciting posters and materials ranging from the Vienna Secession to political posters of the 1990s. At the heart of the auction are posters from two exceptional private estates: stunning European Avant-garde design from the estate of Alexander Kaplen, and unparalleled Art Deco works from the estate of Jeffrey Aminoff and Kathleen Faccini, a collection that was assembled in the 1980s and 90s.

May 15, 2020 Pride

LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History

At Auction August 13, 2020 A Portion of Proceeds to Benefit NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project 19th & 20th Century Trailblazers Our second annual auction dedicated to the art, material…

April 29, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks

Fine Photographs: Highlights by Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe & Michael Halsband

At Auction June 11, 2020 Masterworks of 20th-Century Photography Michael Halsband’s iconic 1985 silver print, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, presents the two painters in boxing attire. Robert Mapplethorpe’s oversize…

April 23, 2020 Prints & Drawings

Old Master Through Modern Prints

With the largest selection of old master prints to be found at auction stateside, this sale offers an array of fine works, notably special section dedicated to fine old master prints and drawings from the Collection of Matthew Rutenberg. Nineteenth-century works include Mary Cassatt and James Whistler, and Modernists are represented by Erich Heckel, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Jacques Villon.

April 16, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana

Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020

Among the highlights will be an 1836 autograph book with inscriptions by noted early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams. The large section on slavery and abolition will include several runaway broadsides and a miniature printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (the only one produced in pamphlet form) intended for soldiers to distribute among the freedmen in the south. Military papers include material written by African-American soldiers, including a Civil War letter and a Spanish-American War diary.

April 14, 2020 Old Master Through Modern Prints

Meisterstiche: Albrecht Dürer’s Master Engravings

Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia I, St. Jerome in His Study and Knight, Death and the Devil, all from 1513-14 and related in size, style and technical complexity, have been considered his master engravings (or Meisterstiche) since their…

March 22, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks

Fine Photographs: Highlights by Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe & Michael Halsband

March 13, 2020 Swann

Actions We’re Taking Regarding COVID-19

Check this page for the most current updates. What to Know on Auction Day Last Update: August 21, 2020 These auctions will be held live and conducted remotely by Swann…

March 6, 2020 African American Art

African-American Fine Art: June 2020 Highlights

At Auction June 4, 2020* *This auction has been rescheduled from its original date, and will now be held on Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 1:00 PM ET, previewing online…

March 5, 2020 Modern & Post-War Art

Announcing the Modern & Post-War Art Department At Swann

Now Accepting Consignments of Modern & Post-War Art Join us in welcoming Harold Porcher as our Director of Modern & Post-War Art. Building on our growing portfolio of fine art…

February 21, 2020 Illustration Art

The Rise of Illustration Art in the Public Eye

Swann Galleries’ Illustration Art Director Christine von der Linn weighs in on the burgeoning category: Illustration art has the ability to reach people in a way that many genres do…

February 12, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana

Printed & Manuscript Americana: Winter-Spring 2020 Highlights

This sale covers American history from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, with a diploma from the Princeton Class of 1783, whose commencement was attended by Washington and the Continental Congress; a variant printing of the Bay Psalm Book; a first edition of the earliest firsthand account of the Lewis and Clark expedition; and an unusual volume of original outsider and occult art from 1904.

January 30, 2020 Pride