January 3, 2023Kelsie Jankowski19th & 20th Century Literature 2022: Year in Review Read more about 2022: Year in Review 2022 was a historic year for Swann in more ways than one. The house celebrated its 80th year of auctions, bringing with it the 70th anniversary of the first photography…
Read more about This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2022 Auctions in Review August 22, 2022 19th & 20th Century Literature This Season’s Successes: Winter-Spring 2022 Auctions in Review 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.
Read more about Beefcake Photography August 16, 2022 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Beefcake Photography Beefcake imagery was appropriated by the gay community for its own benefits to become a visual testimony of same-sex desire during the pre-Stonewall era.
Read more about JEB & Shelby Sharie Cohen on Photographing the Lesbian Community August 12, 2022 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History JEB & Shelby Sharie Cohen on Photographing the Lesbian Community the market established with the LGBTQ+ sales. Both photographers speak here in their own words, discussing their approach as well as the transformations they have witnessed as artists.
Read more about Artist Profile: Hugh Steers August 8, 2022 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Artist Profile: Hugh Steers “I think I’m in the tradition of a certain kind of American artist (…) Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline—they all had this austere beauty to them. They found beauty…
Read more about LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History: August 18, 2022 Auction Highlights June 23, 2022 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History: August 18, 2022 Auction Highlights This August, Swann is proud to host its fourth annual, LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History sale. The success of our first three auctions stands as part of the art…
Read more about Collecting the Stage: Stephen Sondheim June 7, 2022 Illustration Art Collecting the Stage: Stephen Sondheim In our 80 years as a company, Swann has always been an auction house dedicated to niche markets with specialists who are experts in their respective fields, but often our…
Read more about 2021: Year in Review December 22, 2021 Swann 2021: Year in Review As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
Read more about LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Auction Bests Itself for the Third Year in a Row August 23, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Auction Bests Itself for the Third Year in a Row Auction Brings $1.3M and Records Abound New Record for Tom of Finland, Shattering Top Price Set by Swann Last Year “Swann’s third annual auction of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture &…
Read more about Artist Profile: Tom of Finland August 13, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Artist Profile: Tom of Finland Tom of Finland, perhaps the most iconic creator of erotic gay art, understood his role as a liberator. His images of men unleashing their deepest fantasies have provided an outlet for…
Read more about Webinar August 16: A Conversation with the Memphis Brooks Museum August 10, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Webinar August 16: A Conversation with the Memphis Brooks Museum Monday, August 16 at 6PM ET Swann President Nicholas D. Lowry will be in conversation with Memphis Brooks Museum curator Dr. Rosamund Garrett and photographer Mark Seliger. They will discuss…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History—At Auction August 19, 2021 July 21, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Upcoming Highlights: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History—At Auction August 19, 2021 This year Swann Galleries holds a third annual auction dedicated to the art, material culture, and history of the LGBTQ+ community, bringing to market both familiar artists as well as…
Read more about LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History—At Auction August 19, 2021 May 1, 2021 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History—At Auction August 19, 2021 This year Swann Galleries holds a third annual auction dedicated to the art, material culture, and history of the LGBTQ+ community, bringing to market both familiar artists as well as…
Read more about Play Ball!: The Unlikely Tradition of Baseball Ephemera at Swann April 1, 2021 Swann Play Ball!: The Unlikely Tradition of Baseball Ephemera at Swann With the arrival of baseball’s Opening Day, spring is truly here. Swann does not handle baseball memorabilia in the traditional sense, leaving the encapsulated gem-mint rookie cards and game-worn jerseys to…
Read more about 2020: Year in Review December 23, 2020 Swann 2020: Year in Review In a year that was unlike any in our lifetimes, Swann’s specialists and staff proved to be as resilient and innovative as ever, bringing forward new and safe ways to…
Read more about August 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Sale Brings $1M August 23, 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History August 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Sale Brings $1M Swann Sets New Auction Record for Tom of Finland The second iteration of Swann Galleries’ LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History sale on Thursday, August 13, 2020, was a resounding…
Read more about Artist Profile: Antonio Lopez August 12, 2020 Illustration Art Artist Profile: Antonio Lopez Antonio Lopez, the bold and blazingly talented fashion illustrator, designer, and stylist of the 1960s-80s was a true iconoclast. He broke racial and sexual barriers decades before it was considered…
Read more about David Wojnarowicz: A Heightened State of Activism August 7, 2020 Contemporary Art David Wojnarowicz: A Heightened State of Activism David Wojnarowicz was a multifaceted artist known for works that put the AIDS epidemic at the forefront of New York contemporary art, such as his iconic images from the documentary…
Read more about Artists Reclaiming the Queer Black Male Form August 7, 2020 African American Art Artists Reclaiming the Queer Black Male Form Richmond Barthé, Beauford Delaney, Kehinde Wiley, Freddie Styles, and Glenn Ligon produced artworks that are in sole ownership of the manifestation of their physical entities. They chose these modes of representation that best suit them, without the gaze of the heteropatriarchy and white cis-gendered gay men.
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History July 22, 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History 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.
Read more about LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History May 15, 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History 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…
Read more about Forthcoming in August 2020: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History January 30, 2020 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Forthcoming in August 2020: LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day, 1971. Upcoming at auction. Remembering & Creating History Swann Galleries’ inaugural Pride Sale in June 2019 was met with a full house and eager international…
Read more about Telling Queer Stories: The Challenges of Unearthing a History July 17, 2019 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Telling Queer Stories: The Challenges of Unearthing a History What are the inherent challenges in telling a history that is still being unearthed, and what can media and material objects add to that story? Against the backdrop of the…
Read more about Records & Results: The Pride Sale June 27, 2019 Swann Records & Results: The Pride Sale Historic Pride Sale at Swann Brings Market Premiers and Auction Records The Pride Sale on Thursday, June 20 offered a curated selection of LGBTQ+ art, photography, literature, autographs…
Read more about Notes from the Catalogue: Hank O’Neal & Allen Ginsberg June 17, 2019 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Notes from the Catalogue: Hank O’Neal & Allen Ginsberg The Gay Day Archive Today, at least a million spectators line the Pride parade route along Fifth Avenue each year. But in its earliest days, the celebration was a much smaller event…
Read more about Notes from the Catalogue: Candy Darling June 12, 2019 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Notes from the Catalogue: Candy Darling “Every woman who wants to be beautiful should be beautiful” Among the many items up for auction in our June 20 Pride Sale, is an archive of personal effects of Candy Darling an enduring trans icon, American actress…
Read more about The First Auction of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History at Swann May 29, 2019 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History The First Auction of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History at Swann The Pride Sale An Exploration & Celebration of the Art, Influence & History of the LGBTQ+ Community We invited Eric Marcus, the founder and host of the Making Gay History…
Read more about The Pride Sale May 3, 2019 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History The Pride Sale An Exploration & Celebration of the Art, Influence & History of the LGBTQ+ Community Our first Pride Sale, being held in the same month as WorldPride and the 50th anniversary…