News

Printed & Manuscript Americana

First Known Reference to Baseball at Yale

James Beebee Brinsmade Jr.’s diary offers intimate details of what life was like on Yale University’s ca…

African American Art

David Hammons Garners International Recognition for African-American Art

Contemporary African-American artist David Hammons is known for his body prints and assemblages of found objects, su…

Photographs & Photobooks

Daile Kaplan on Ansel Adams & the Value of a Photograph

With the unfolding story surrounding a box of photographic negatives discovered in California, which were originally…

Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York

Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York is an important collection of some of the finest an…

African American Art

Bob Thompson and the 1960s New York Art Scene

Bob Thompson stood apart from most of his contemporaries in the early 1960s. On one hand, he was the epitome of a Ne…

Gordon Matta-Clark: Walls Paper, Deconstructed

Gordon Matta-Clark, whose work is featured in the Photographic Literature portion of Thursday’s sale, brought …

Imogen Cunningham’s Magnolia Blossom

Imogen Cunningham’s life-long love for flora, combined with her keen understanding of line, textural contrast …

Photographs & Photobooks

Alexey Brodovitch: Ballet

Both sections of the May 20, 2010 Photographic Literature and Important Photographs auction at Swann feature highlig…

Early Printed Books

The Inventory of the late Lawrence Feinberg

Deborah Chaleff and Jacqueline Feinberg introduce the Early Printed Books & Manuscripts from the Inventory of th…

The Otto Penzler Collection of British Espionage and Thriller Fiction

Any collector knows that the reasons behind a particular collection are often just as fascinating as the collection …

Photographs & Photobooks

Bill Clinton’s American Dream

President Bill Clinton discusses his idea of the American Dream in the introduction to our catalogue for The Stephen…

African American Art

Hammons, or World’s Most Expensive Fly Swatter?

Among the top lots in the February 23, 2010 auction of African-American Fine Art was a unique Fly Swatter created in…

James Amos Porter Archive Comes to Auction

Among the highlights of our 15th annual auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana is an incredible archi…

African American Art

Malvin Gray Johnson Painting in Swann African-American Fine Art Auction February 2010

Swann Galleries’ auction of African-American Fine Art on February 23, 2010, will offer approximately 160 lots from m…

Photographs & Photobooks

The Photobook and Conceptual Art

Sol LeWitt, Autobiography, illustrated with more than 1,000 reproductions of LeWitt’s sequential photographs o…

Photographs & Photobooks

Ansel Adams’s ‘Moonrise’ at Auction December 2009

Ansel Adams’s position in the pantheon of master photographers is assured by his magisterial studies of the American…

Photographs & Photobooks

Lewis W. Hine, America’s First Photojournalist

Among the highlights in our October 22, 2009 Photographs & Photographic Literature auction is a stunning array o…

African American Art

Alma Thomas Paintings Hang in White House

A painting by Alma Thomas will be hung in the White House during the Obama administration!   Sky Light, 1973 (left),…

Autographs

A Brilliant Lot: Letter Signed by Thomas Edison

Swann Galleries will be offering illuminating material related to scientists and inventors in its auction of Autogra…

Photographs & Photobooks

William Henry Fox Talbot: Father of Modern Photography

Swann’s October 22 Photographs auction offers several salted paper prints by William Henry Fox Talbot, which date fr…

Photographs & Photobooks

Diane Arbus and the American Art Scene

Among the highlights in our October 22 auction of Photographs & Photographic Literature are portraits by Diane A…

African American Art

Spotlight on John Biggers’s ‘Shotguns’

The image that graces the cover of the auction catalogue for Swann Galleries’ sale of African-American Fine Art on T…

African American Art

Richard L. Brown Painting to be Offered in October 2009

Our October 8, 2009 auction of African-American Fine Art featured the Richard L. Brown painting Mt. Monadnock, 1911,…

African American Art

Cornelius Marion Battey Photographic Portraits Discovered

Our October 8, 2009 African-American Fine Art auction marks the first time that early photographer Cornelius Marion …

Collection of Rare and Important Bibles to be Offered at Swann in 2009

Two of Swann Galleries’ autumn 2009 auctions feature desirable Bibles from the collection of Mel and Julie Meadows—i…

Howard Hughes Material to be Offered in September 17, 2009 Sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana

Swann will kick off our fall season with an auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana September 17, 2009 which …

Swann

Swann President Nicholas D. Lowry on the Recession

Nicholas D. Lowry, Swann President and Current President of the International Auctioneers consortium, recently share…

African American Art

Elizabeth Catlett Speaks at MoMA

Conversations: Among Friends – May 19, 2009 On May 19, 2009, 94-year-old Elizabeth Catlett and David C. Driske…