Penn and Beller

Irving Penn is associated with fine photographs of fashionable women. An innovative artist and master technician, Penn recognized that editorial photography was but one form of representation and moved effortlessly between the worlds of commerce and art. His photographs were collected and exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in 1943, the same year he started working at Vogue magazine. Penn’s sophisticated aesthetic sensibility and apparent affinity with individuals from all walks of life resulted in a distinct body of both fine art portraits and nude studies. Swann is pleased to offer three examples of his nudes in our December 9th Important Photographs & Photobooks auction.


In his series Dancer, a result of his collaboration with choreographer, dancer and model Alexandra Beller, Penn demonstrates the dynamic relationship between photographer and subject. Beller recounted of the shoot:


"Having never modeled nude before, the first session was an anxious and uncomfortable event. Penn's gaze made this both more and less relaxing. His respect, his integrity, his incredible calm were, of course, sources of relief to me. His intensity of focus, however, was like an X-ray, so any comfort gained by my superficial body evaporated quickly in the soul-searching depth of his eyes. His eyes were like no other that I have seen; keen does not begin to cover it. More...

Feminism, Surrealism and the Theater in a Photograph

The majority of photographer Claude Cahun’s imagery is associated with the feminist Surrealist movement. Her artwork focuses on issues related to gender and identity, with a particular emphasis on sexual ambivalence. Cahun also had a career as an actress, that—although brief—serves as a natural fit with her photography. Her interest in gender and theater is fully evidenced in a photograph included in the December 9th Important Photographs & Photobooks auction.  


Many of Cahun's self-portraits possess elements of the theater, as she masquerades in front of the camera, luring the viewer into a world of fantasy. She is the epitome of the “principal character,” projecting herself in front of the curtain, while blurring the line between a photographic portrait and a theater still. The year of this image, 1929, she was also active in Le Plateau, an experimental theater troupe. Utilizing her skills at character metamorphosis, she played "Elle" in Barbe-Bleue [Bluebeard], "Satan" in Le Mystère d'Adam and “Monsieur de la première table" in Banlieue.
Claude Cahun, Self-portrait with Roger Roussot in "Barbe-Bleue," silver print, 1929. Estimate: $14,000 to $18,000.

Yesterday's Top Lots: American Art / Contemporary Art

The top lot in yesterday's American Art / Contemporary Art sale was a sketchbook containing 52 drawings by Joan Mitchell. It  sold for $144,000. The sketchbook contained 27 pencil drawings, 10 done in ballpoint pen and ink, 9 color crayon, 3 black crayon, 2 pencil and black crayon, and a ballpoint pen and pencil drawing. It was inscribed and dedicated, on the occasion of Mitchell's 29th birthday, on the front free flyleaf, by fellow artists Miriam Schapiro, Mike Goldberg and Paul Brach.
Joan Mitchell, Sketchbook, collection of 52 drawings, circa 1954-55. Sold for $144,000.

Rick Stattler at the John Russell Bartlett Society

This Saturday, Rick Stattler, Swann's Printed & Manuscript Americana specialist, will speak at the John Russell Bartlett Society in Providence, Rhode Island. He will discuss his role at Swann—one of the country's oldest rare book auction houses—and will offer informal appraisals to Society members. Rick, who previously worked at the Rhode Island Historical Center and attended Brown University, is a familiar face to members of the society, which honors one of the rare-book world's legendary figures. 

Today's Top Lots: Travel Posters

Montague Birrel Black, White Star Line / "Olympic" and "Titanic," circa 1910. Sold for $36,000. R: Andrew Power (Sybil Andrews), Wimbledon, 1933. Sold for $24,000.
Today's Rare & Important Travel Posters auction saw a crowded auction floor, with healthy bidding in person and on the phone. The day's top lot was Montague Birrel Black's famous White Star Line / Olympic and Titanic, circa 1910, which brought $36,000, tying the record price set last year. The second highest selling lot was from the large selection of posters for the London Underground. Sybil Andrews's Wimbledon, 1933, designed under the pseudonym, Andrew Power, sold for $24,000, setting a record price for the poster. 

Lloyd Goodrich and Reginald Marsh

Reginald Marsh, In the Surf, Coney Island, brush and gray and black ink, 1946. Estimate: $30,000 to $50,000.

This Thursday's American Art sale includes several items from the collection of Lloyd Goodrich, one of the most distinguished American art historians of the 20th century and Director of the Whitney Museum of Art from 1958 to 1968. Having grown up in Nutley, NJ, Goodrich was both neighbors and family friends with Reginald Marsh and his family. Marsh initially supported Goodrich, granting him a loan in 1929 to help him research his first monograph concerning the American painter, Thomas Eakins.  


As a research curator at the nascent Museum of Modern Art in the 1930s and '40s, Goodrich published several more works, including one on Winslow Homer. In 1947, Goodrich was named associate curator at the Whitney Museum of Art, and in 1948, he became the museum's associate director. In this position, he organized important exhibitions of American artists, including Edward Hopper, Arshile Gorky and John Sloan. As director, he moved the museum from a private to a public institution and oversaw the completion of the Marcel Breuer-designed museum building on Madison Avenue.

Reginald Marsh, Manhattan Skyline with Brooklyn Bridge, watercolor and pencil, 1929. Estimate: $12,000 to $18,000.

In addition to several works by Marsh, works from Goodrich's collection in the sale include those by Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Guy Pene du Bois, Marsden Hartley, Avinash Chandra and Red Grooms. 

Travel in Style

Airline Shoulder Bags, group of 10 bags, circa 1970s. Estimate: $300 to $400.

There was a time when traveling was a luxurious affair, not one reminiscent of cattle herding with a full body search thrown in on the side. Whether you're traveling to Paris, Hong Kong or home for Thanksgiving, you can invoke the glamorous age of air travel with these vintage airline shoulder bags. The group of 10 bags is included in the November 15th Rare & Important Travel Posters auction. These were gifted to first-class passengers and travel agents by airlines including TWA, Lufthansa, Pan Am, Varig and KLM. 

Yesterday's Top Lots: Early Printed Books

Yesterday, Catholic liturgy and Hebrew bibles comprised the top lots in the Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Occult Books auction. The day's top lot was an illuminated manuscript in Latin and French, the Parisian Book of Hours, late 15th century, with late 16th century additions. It brought $52,800. A set of the second Estienne Hebrew Bible, Torah Nevi'im Ketuvim, the first in small format, 1544-46, which has always been regarded as one of the most impressive examples of Hebrew printing of the French Renaissance, brought $13,200.

Nicholas Lowry and the James Beard Foundation

Nicholas Lowry will be the guest auctioneer at the James Beard Foundation's Annual Gala Dinner and Auction tomorrow evening. He will be dressed by Façonnable, one of the sponsors of the event. Renowned chefs Alain Ducasse, François Payard, Guy Savoy, Joël Robuchon and Jean-Georges Vongerichten will prepare a multi-course French feast, followed by both a live and silent auction.

Americana Items Go Public

Pair of manuscript journals by William C. Haynes, captain of the whaling bark Iris, July 1844 to May 1848. Sold for $20,400.

After a public auction, much of the material sold ends up in private collections, out of view for years or decades. A few of the lots purchased in the September 30th Printed & Manuscript Americana auction, however, are being made public. The East Hampton Library purchased two items from the auction—the first, according to the East Hampton Patch, "is a letter East Hampton's Samuel Mulford penned in 1717, and the other is a whaling logbook from the Iris, which was kept by its Capt Wiliam Haynes of Bridgehampton in 1844."


Additionally, a 1686 Martha's Vineyard deed, for a meadow in modern-day Oak Bluffs, is described in The Martha's Vineyard Times. The article mentions the purchaser—a dealer—buying on behalf of a private client. To whom the land was granted was equally as important as the land itself, as Rick Stattler, Americana specialist at Swann, describes the union of Joseph Daggett and Alice Sessetom as "the only recognized marriage between settlers and Wampanoags on Martha's Vineyard in the colonial period." 

Today's Top Lots: Autographs

The top lots in today's Autographs auction were spread amongst historical figures, including presidents, writers and musicians. The day's top lot, which brought $28,800, was a letter signed by John Adams to Governor William Plumer of New Hampshire on April 11, 1815. In the letter, Adams wonders what lies ahead for his son, John Quincy Adams, who later became the sixth president of the United States. A manuscript with the complete four verses of the final version of America the Beautiful, composed by Katharine Lee Bates in 1920, brought $11,400.  
John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Governor of NH William Plumer, April 11, 1815. Sold for $28,800. 

Zachary Taylor's Letters

Five lots in tomorrow's Autographs sale contain letters related to our 12th president, the military leader and Whig, Zachary Taylor. They were written during the period between his victory at the Battle of Buena Vista and his election to the presidency in 1848. The letters contain intimate and detailed discussions that show his apparent ambivalence about pursuing the presidency, as well as his feelings that President Polk's administration had conspired to deprive him of glory. The letters were collected by Amasa Walker, political economist and Representative from Massachusetts, whose descendants have made the letters available now for the first time. 


They date from 1846, March 1847, January 1848, May 1848, and August 1848. The last, the closest to election day, shows an uncertainty towards his political ambitions, "...As to my being a candidate for the presidency I must again repeat I never had any aspirations for that high office..." 
Zachary Taylor, Autograph Letter Signed, "Z. Taylor," Baton Rouge, 10 August 1848. Estimate: $7,000 to $10,000.

150 Years Since Lincoln's Presidential Election

Abraham Lincoln, Check Accomplished and  Signed, "A. Lincoln," Springfield, 21 M[arc]h 1859. Estimate: $6,000 to $9,000.

Today's election marks 150 years since Abraham Lincoln was elected president, an event that occurred on November 6, 1860. Thursday's Autographs auction features several lots related to the Great Emancipator. These include a check for $28.48 to Sheriff J[oseph] B. Perkins in 1859 and a party-printed document signed, appointing Benjamin Franklin Rexford as Commissioner of the United States on January 22, 1862. Additionally, the sale's cover lot, two inscriptions signed by Thomas Edison, declares that Lincoln was Edison's favorite American hero: "Abraham Lincoln / The clearest cut American / yet born." 

Mickey Mouse and the London Underground

What can you access via the London Underground? Disney's famous mouse serves as your guide in this unusual cross-promotion for the Underground and Walt Disney. The character of Mickey Mouse was created in 1928—just six years prior to this poster, which is a highlight of Swann's Rare & Important Travel Posters auction. The poster is one of more than 40 British images in the November 15 sale. 
London at its Brightest, 1934. Estimate: $3,000 to $4,000.