Big Apple, Bigger Results: Record Prices for Iconic New York Art

“Swann’s New York auction has established itself as a favorite in the Big Apple. The auction was as bustling and exciting as the city itself, with objects from all our different specialties on offer—prints, photos, maps, posters, books, paintings, and illustrations. As is fitting for the city that never sleeps, bids came pouring in right up through the beginning of the auction and even after it had started. A number of lots elicited fierce competition as city pride manifested itself in who would spend more to acquire historical, artistic, and decorative gems of the city.

Big city results included Saul Steinberg’s signed and numbered New Yorker cover illustration, which shattered previous records. So did Adolph Treidler’s masterful Wonder City of the World poster, securing a record price not only for the poster but for the artist’s work overall. Garry Winogrand’s photograph Woman with Ice Cream Cone set a record for the image, as did the fantastic, fairy-tale-like image of the Woolworth Building poking through the clouds, taken in 1927 by Fairchild Aerial Surveys.

We are all looking forward to the same auction next year, which will be upon us in a New York Minute.” — Nicholas D. Lowry

Martin Lewis & Fine Art Works of New York

Martin Lewis, Shadow Dance, drypoint, 1930. Sold for $43,180.

Martin Lewis led the auction with a selection of New York prints. Of note were Shadow Dance, 1930, and Relics (Speakeasy Corner), 1928, both of which sold for $43,180 each; as well as Rainy Day, Queens, 1931, at $19,050, and Subway Steps, 1930, at $17,780. Louis Lozowick’s 1939 lithograph, 57th Street, was also on display, representing the fine art prints at $5,334.

Joseph Delany, Central Park, oil on board, 1953. Sold for $5,334.

Further fine art works included Max Weber’s Brooklyn Bridge, gouache on wove paper, 1911, at $5,588; Joseph Delaney’s Central Park, oil on board, 1953, at $5,334; and Frederick Brosen’s 75th St. & Broadway and Sixth Ave at 22nd St., watercolors, 2004, sold together for $5,080.

Berenice Abbott & Photographs of New York

Edward Steichen, The Flatiron – Evening, from Camera Work XIV, 1904, printed 1906. Sold for $10,160.

Fine photographs were sought after by collectors, with works by Berenice Abbott, Gerry Winogrand, and Edward Steichen earning spots in the top ten lots sold. Berenice Abbott’s rare oversized silver-print New York at Night, 1932, printed later, brought $30,480; Garry Winogrand’s Woman with Ice Cream Cone, NYC  from the Women are Beautiful series, silver print, 1968, printed 1981, earned $13,970, and Central Park Zoo, New York City, silver print, printed before 1984, $6,858; and Edward Steichen’s The Flatiron – Evening, from Cameron Work XIV, 1904, printed 1906, saw $10,160. Also of note was Woolworth Building in the clouds, New York City, 1927, a warm-toned silver print from the Fairchild Aerial Surveys, which brought $8,255.

Read:
New York Through Photographs

Watch:
A Look at the NYC Skyline Through Photographs

Vintage Posters of New York

Saul Steinberg, The New Yorker, signed and numbered, 1976. Sold for $9,525.

Vintage posters advertising travel to New York City included Adolph Treidler’s New York Central Lines / The Wonder City of the World, 1927, at $22,860, and David Klein’s New York / Fly TWA, 1956, at $12,700. Unique posters included a signed and numbered poster of Saul Steinberg’s iconic The New Yorker cover, at $9,525, and Massimo Vignelli’s 1974 subway map of New York City, at $2,794.

Read: Leslie Ragan Calendars for the New York Central Railway: A Unique Pictorial Record

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