Fresh-to-market prints, painting and photos open for bidding

BOSTON, MA -- On September 11th, Skinner, Inc. will host two outstanding auctions of American & European Works of Art, beginning at 12PM with a superb range of Fine Prints & Photographs, and followed by an excellent selection of Fine Paintings & Sculpture at 4 PM. An accompanying online-only auction of Fine Art, covering sculpture, prints, paintings, and photographs, is going on now through Sept. 15.

All items can be viewed in person at Skinner’s Boston Gallery on Wednesday, September 9th from

12 PM to 5 PM, Thursday, September 10th from 12 PM to 8 PM and Friday, September 11 from 9 AM to 10 PM.

“If fresh, fresh, fresh is the art market’s equivalent of location, location, location, then this auction looks strong. We’re featuring a robust assortment of American works, with numerous items that have been off the market for multiple generations. They are sure to excite buyers,” said Robin Starr, Director of American & European Works of Art at Skinner.

Within the fine art offerings is the new to the market, "Vessels in Rough Seas off the Dutch Coast," attributed to Simon Jacobsz de Vlieger and dating to 1628 ($70,000 to $90,000), has descended through at least three generations of the current owner’s Belgian/American family.

Two paintings by a father and his son--Daniel Ridgway Knight’s "Young Girl Holding a Puppy" ($50,000-$70,000) and Louis Aston Knight’s "Old Bridge at Quimperle" ($12,000-$18,000) reflect the father’s Barbizon style, its influence on his son, and the son’s ultimate shift in style through his use of an Impressionist brush stroke. The former work has been in private hands, and the latter is from a corporate collection.

"Bathers on a Rocky Shore", from 1916-19 ($50,000-$70,000) is one of two Maurice Prendergast watercolors featured in the auction. The second lot is a double-sided work, St. Malo (recto) and "Girls at a Sailboat Pond" (verso) ($25,000-35,000). Both remained in the artist’s family until coming into the current owner/collector’s hands. Prendergast is noted for his use of vibrant color and animated forms to create his enticing views of leisure activities amidst beach and park settings.

Two exceptional ink and watercolor works on paper by Lyonel Feininger, including "Ausfahrende Barke" ($15,000-$20,000), come from a private trust. Both are characteristic of the German/American artist’s fusion of expressionist and modernist aesthetics. Also on offer is a whimsical ink drawing titled "Ben Hur" by Alexander Calder ($10,000-$15,000).

Among the contemporary works on the block is an untitled abstraction by the Lebanese artist Saliba Douaihy ($40,000-$60,000). The painting has been in private hands for several decades and was given to the current owner by his father, who grew up in the same village as the artist. Robert Motherwell’s "Night Music Opus #24, 1989" ($40,000-$60,000), a work of acrylic and pasted papers on canvas mounted on board, has also descended from parent to child, though in this case from a mother to her daughter.

Fine prints by modern and contemporary masters, including Alex Katz, Rockwell Kent, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Ben Nicholson, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol, are featured highlights of this sale. Andy Warhol’s colorful "African Elephant" ($30,000 to $50,000) is from a 1983 commission to create a portfolio of ten prints of endangered species to raise environmental consciousness. This screenprint, published in an edition of 150 plus proofs comes from the collection of Citizens Bank, based in Providence, Rhode Island. "Crying Girl" by Roy Lichtenstein ($15,000-$20,000) is a classic Pop art icon that exemplifies the artist’s embrace of techniques—like Ben-Day dots—utilized by the illustration and printing industries.

Uncommon offerings include several wool tapestries: Victor Vasarely’s Zebra ($7,000-$9,000) and two after Pablo Picasso, including Femme Assise ($6,000-$8,000).

Buyers will also discover works by important printmakers including Frank Weston Benson, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Jean Dubuffet, Édouard Manet, and Zao Wou-Ki. A standout offering is a signed print of "Evening Wind," Edward Hopper’s 1921 etching, Evening Wind, is a slightly mysterious image of a naked woman crawling into bed just as the wind blows the curtain into the room ($15,000-$20,000).

Featured in this sale is a fine selection of photographs by important 20th century masters, including Berenice Abbott, Ruth Bernhard, Harry Callahan, František Drtikol, William Garnett, Josef Koudelka, and Minor White, among others.

Outstanding lots include a vintage pigment print of a nude by the Czech photographer František Drtikol dating from c. 1930 ($12,000-$18,000). Drtikol experimented with dramatic lighting techniques informed by silent films and Art Deco-inspired settings to create his signature style. Also on the block is a signed and inscribed blue-toned carbon print of The Terra Nova Icebound from Robert Scott’s 1910-11 expedition to the South Pole by Herbert George Ponting, which demonstrates the extremes of the harsh environment encountered by the team ($2,000-$4,000).

Rounding out the selection are an estate print of Francesca Woodman’s House #3, Providence, a self-portrait taken while she was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design in the mid-1970s ($4,000-$6,000) and a signed print of Joseph Koudelka’s Portugal from his Exiles series ($5,000-$7,000). Among the contemporary offerings are a view of Hong Kong soccer fields by Japanese photographer Naoki Honjo ($1,000-$1,500) and David Hilliard’s 2007 triptych Jack.ie Immersed ($2,000-$3,000).

For more information visit www.skinnerinc.com or call 508-970-3240