Vaslav Nijinsky, the legendary Russian ballet dancer and choreographer, met Amedeo Modigliani around 1910. Nijinsky had come to Paris from Russia in 1909 as part of a troupe organized by the innovative and celebrated ballet producer, Sergei Diaghilev, to perform a series of ballets and stage plays. The group, which also included prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, later became known as the now-famous Ballets Russes.
This Study of Nijinsky, a highlight of the March 3rd 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings auction, has been confirmed by Lynn Garafola, Professor of Dance at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. The pencil drawing has been exhibited several times: in 1959 at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum; the Museé de Luxembourg, Paris, 2002-2003; and the Jewish Museum, New York, in 2004, to name just a few.
Amedeo Modigliani, Study of Nijinsky, pencil drawing, circa 1910. Estimate: $40,000 to $60,000.
Yesterday's African-American Fine Art sale attracted active bidding, with the earliest works by Robert Scott Duncanson and Charles Ethan Porter, mid-century master works and a section devoted to Romare Bearden's centennial year all setting top prices. The day's top lot was Elizabeth Catlett's Untitled (Standing African-American Woman), a cast bronze sculpture from 1967 that sold for $108,000. This is the highest prize ever for an Elizabeth Catlett bronze sculpture.
Beauford Delaney's Le Balayeur, oil on canvas, 1968, and Romare Bearden's Tidings, a collage of various papers and mixed media, circa 1973, each brought $96,000.
Yesterday's Vintage Posters auction saw great interest in niche collecting areas, including skiing, circus, Judaica, and travel posters. The day's top lot was Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha's La Dames aux Camelias, 1896, which sold for $19,200. The top ski poster was the rare Ski in Aspen Colorado, by Herbert Bayer, 1946, which brought a record $16,800.
After a group of Chicago artists, including Barbara Jones-Hogu, Carolyn Mims Lawrence and Wadsworth Jarrell, worked together on a mural called The Wall of Respect, they set out to establish a representational style accessible to a wide urban audience. The Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists (COBRA) was born, and soon became the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). Between 1968 and 1973, the group organized exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and published large, colorful prints with important social messages.
Last night, TV Land paid tribute to the art and artists of AfriCOBRA with an original special, AfriCOBRA: Art For The People. Narrated by Phylicia Rashad, the documentary, which can be viewed in its entirety on their website, offers an engaging and animated history of the AfriCOBRA group, contemporary interviews with some of the artists and a survey of their artwork.
Last February, Swann introduced you to the beginning stages of this project here.
Left: Steve McCurry, Afghan Girl, cibachrome print, 1985. Sold on December 8, 2009 for $7,200. Right: William Eggleston, Untitled (Dinner), chromogenic print, circa 1983-86. Sold on May 14, 2009 for $6,720.
The lush, saturated color photographs that inspired amateur photographers and Paul Simon alike will no longer be made. On December 30, 2010 the last roll of Kodachrome film ever to be developed was processed at Dwayne's Photo in Kansas. The final days of the storied color film were chronicled by the New York Times in this article.
Art & Antiques also covered the end of Kodachrome, suggesting "now perhaps the art world can recognize its unique worth as a medium." During its 75 years, millions of Kodachrome photographs were shot and developed, but the developing process was cumbersome—and often toxic. Additionally, there was an enduring attitude, succinctly stated by photographer Walker Evans, that "color photography is vulgar," which relegated most of the images shot with Kodachrome to family albums.
But, as Daile Kaplan, Swann's Photography specialist, noted in the Art & Antiques article, the Kodachrome slides may become collectibles in and of themselves. "The idea of selling slides has never been popular in the marketplace... But as Kodachromes become older and have the patina of history on them, they will probably be collected."
Ocean liner enthusiasts grabbed up original items from the famed Normandie, and ships from the White Star, Cunard and other lines in yesterday's Ocean Liner and Transportation Memorabilia auction. The day's top lot was A. M. Cassandre's iconic poster of the Normandie, circa 1938, which brought $16,800. This version is the only known variant without an overprint for a special event or advertising "service regulier."
Crystal glassware, tea cups, milk pitchers and other serviceware used aboard ships were in high demand. In addition, a group of 75 souvenir spoons, jelly spreaders and tea strainers, principally commemorating Cunard liners, with a few White Star as well, brought $6,960.
Swann's preview will be the first time Elizabeth Catlett's 1967 sculpture, Untitled (Standing African-American Woman), will be on public exhibition in the United States. The nearly four-foot high sculpture, which had been in a private collection in Cuernavaca, Mexico for more than 40 years, is one of Catlett's largest bronze works that was not a public commission. It displays a wonderful balance between modern and classical figuration, and is the cover lot in Swann's February 17th African-American Fine Art auction.
Catlett is known for her expressive sculptures of African-American and Mexican women—Homage to My Young Black Sisters, an iconic symbol of the Civil Rights movement, set a record price for the artist on October 8, 2009, when it sold at Swann for $288,000. A new show at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Stargazers: Elizabeth Catlett in Conversation with 21 Contemporary Artists, brings the 95-year-old pioneering African-American artist's groundbreaking work —which she still creates today—into context with many of today's artists.
Works by other artists in the show that share the same affinity for exploring issues of race, gender and politics as Catlett include Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems and Kalup Linzy. Xaviera Simmons, another artist with work in the exhibition, will be selecting the music that plays during the museum's open house on Sunday, February 6th.
Elizabeth Catlett, Untitled (Standing African-American Woman), cast bronze, with a dark brown patina, 1967. Estimate: $120,000 to $180,000.
