On Thursday, April 28, Swann Galleries will hold an auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints.
The auction provides a vast selection of works by old masters and more. Headlining the sale is
Albrecht Dürer’s 1514 engraving St. Jerome in his Study. Rife with visual metaphors and religious imagery, this print is estimated at $120,000 to $180,000. St. Jerome in his Study is considered one of three meisterstiche (master engravings) by the artist;
another of the meisterstiche, the 1513 engraving The Knight, Death and the Devil, also included in the sale, is estimated at $80,000 to $120,000.
Additional old master highlights include several works by Rembrandt van Rijn,
like landscape with Three Gabled Cottages beside a Road, a 1650 etching and drypoint ($50,000 to $80,000);
and Cottages Beside a Canal: A View of Diemen, etching, circa 1645 ($40,000 to $60,000).
The sale also features several of Rembrandt’s self portraits, including Self Portrait Open Mouthed, as if Shouting: Bust, a 1630 etching ($30,000 to $50,000).
Italian printmaker Giovanni B. Piranesi’s The Round Tower, etching, engraving and burnishing, circa 1749, is also being offered ($30,000 to $50,000).
Among the modern highlights is Der Tod im Krankenzimmer, an 1896 lithograph by Norwegian painter and printmaker Edvard Munch, based on his painting of the same name. One of the artist’s iconic images concerning death, suffering and grief, the lithograph is estimate at $70,000 to $100,000.
Also included are multiple works by Marc Chagall, like
Vava au Turban Rouge, a 1963 color monotype ($50,000 to $80,000); and Violiniste, one of only four hand-colored épreuves de passé in the second state, 1930 ($40,000 to $60,000).
Pablo Picasso’s Grand Air, a 1936 etching, will also be on offer ($30,000 to $50,000).
Highlights by American printmakers include Thomas Hart Benton’s Going West, a 1934 lithograph featuring a train powering through the prairie. The artist was particularly fond of locomotives, noting, “My first pictures were of railroad trains…To go down to the depot and see them come in, belching black smoke, with their big headlights shining and their bells ringing and their pistons clanking, gave me a feeling of stupendous drama.” Going West is estimated at $40,000 to $60,000.
Lithuanian-born American artist Ben Shahn’s Seward Park, a 1936 color lithograph, is also included ($30,000 to $50,000),
as is Martin Lewis’s 1931 drypoint Rainy Day, Queens ($20,000 to $30,000).
The auction will be held Thursday, April 28, beginning at 10:30 with A Collector’s Vision. The auction preview will be open to the public Saturday, April 23 from noon to 5 p.m.; and Monday, April 25 through Wednesday, April 27 from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m.
An illustrated auction catalogue is available for $40 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
