Displaying items by tag: personal collection

Rare furniture, paintings and exotica from the collection of leading American arts and crafts figure Lockwood de Forest II will be auctioned by Bonhams in Sydney this month, having been consigned from the designer’s grandson who lives in Australia.

The renowned New York designer, painter and interior decorator was a prominent member of the 19th-century Aesthetic Movement and famously worked alongside Louis C. Tiffany, creator of the iconic Tiffany stained-glass lamp, in the 1880s.

The Williams College Museum of Art has received a donation of 68 works of contemporary art from the collection of computer programmer and philanthropist Peter Norton.

WCMA is one recipient in a series of gifts to university and college art museums throughout the country. The art, from Norton’s personal collection, is intended to support the integration of the visual arts in higher education, to connect diverse audiences with contemporary art, and to foster creative museum practice.

The gift to WCMA is part of Norton’s second such philanthropic project, following one in 2000 in which he gave more than 1,000 pieces to 32 institutions.

It’s a small work of art — precisely the size of an old Savarin coffee can jammed with artist’s paintbrushes — but in the history of postwar art and in the career of Jasper Johns, one of the most important artists of the last half century, it looms large.

Created in 1960, “Painted Bronze” has been a fixture for more than three decades at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it has been on long-term loan from Mr. Johns’s personal collection. But now it will migrate north to a permanent home at the Museum of Modern Art, which will receive the sculpture as a promised gift from the collectors Henry R. Kravis and his wife, Marie-Josée Kravis, the Museum of Modern Art’s president, who recently bought it.

Gary Nader has always felt Miami’s art and culture network was missing something: a museum dedicated to showcasing Latin American media. So he decided to create his own.

Nader, a local art collector with a gallery in Wynwood, revealed plans this week to build a Latin American Art Museum at a still-to-be-determined location in downtown Miami. The museum, he said, will feature about 600 paintings, drawings and sculptures from his personal collection. “The influence of Latin America in the U.S. is extremely prominent,” he said. “We want to tell the story."

Christie’s has announced that it will offer eleven works from Cy Twombly’s personal collection during its upcoming sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York. The works, which are being offered by the Cy Twombly Foundation,  were all created between 1961 and 1967 by artists represented by the legendary Leo Castelli Gallery -- Twombly’s dealer for over four decades. The collection is expected to fetch around $15 million.

Twombly, who is best known for his calligraphic, graffiti-like paintings, collected works by his friends and contemporaries, including Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Bruce Nauman, and Claes Oldenburg.

Sotheby’s American Art auction, which took place today, May 22, 2013 in New York, garnered upward of $28 million, surpassing the sale’s high estimate of $24.4 million. Out of the 62 lots offered, 83.9% sold and 93.8% sold by value. This was the third consecutive American art sale at Sotheby’s to exceed its high estimate.

The auction’s top lot was the highly anticipated John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) painting Marionettes (1907), which achieved $5.2 million (estimate: $5 million-$7 million). Best known for his portraits of members of high society, Marionettes is a departure from Sargent’s usual subjects. The painting depicts men from Philadelphia’s large Italian American community performing Sicilian puppet theater at the turn of the 20^th century. When Sargent created the work, he was well established and considered to be the preeminent portrait painter of his time. The painting was part of Sargent’s personal collection for over 20 years and was passed down through the artist’s family to the owner who offered the work at Sotheby’s.

Proving the enduring strength of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) in the American art market, six paintings by the artist sold together for $6.5 million, garnering double their overall high estimate of $3 million. Another work by Rockwell, He’s Going to Be Taller than Dad, was the object of seven bidders desire. The domestic scene of a young boy and his dog sold for $2.6 million, far exceeding its high estimate of $700,000.

At the sale, auction records were set for the modern painter Milton Avery (1885-1965), California landscape painter William Keith (1838-1911), and portraitist Irving Ramsey Wiles (1861-1948).

American art sales continue tomorrow, May 23, 2013 at Christie’s in New York.

On May 22, 2013, Sotheby’s New York will offer a rare John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) painting as part of its annual spring auction of American Art. Marionettes (1903), which is expected to sell for between $5 million and $7 million, was part of Sargent’s personal collection for over 20 years and was passed down through the artist’s family to the present owner.

Best known for his portraits of members of high society, Marionettes is a departure from Sargent’s usual subjects. The painting depicts men from Philadelphia’s large Italian American community performing Sicilian puppet theater at the turn of the 20^th century. When Sargent created the work, he was well established and considered to be the preeminent portrait painter of his time.

Eventually, Sargent grew tired of painting portraits and started traveling to seek out new inspirations. Sargent painted a number of marionette works during a four-month stint in Philadelphia. In 1909, Sargent ceased painting portraits of the elite altogether and decided to paint only what he wanted to.

Only six works by Sargent have ever appeared at auction and carried an estimate in excess of $5 million. Group with Parasols, which sold at Sotheby’s in 2004 for $23.5 million, set the record for the artist at auction.

Marionettes will go on view at Sotheby’s on May 18, 2013.