New York Prints, Drawings & Paintings 1900-2000 - Swann 16/09/10

Martin Lewis - Quarter of Nine Saturday's Children, 1929, etching.
Est. USD$ 12,000-$18,000

Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York 1900-2000 at Swann Auction Galleries in New York on 16th September.

From the website: 'The top lot is Edward Hopper’s Night Shadows, etching, 1921 (estimate: US$30,000-50,000), an important print depicting the same location near the Hudson River as his 1913 painting, New York Corner, in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Etchings from the turn of the century, like Childe Hassam’s Fifth Avenue, Noon, 1916 (US$10,000-$15,000), and Washington’s Birthday, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, 1916 (US$8,000-$12,000), showcase American Impressionism and a divergence from the European tradition. John Sloan’s etchings, Sculpture in Washington Square, 1925 (US$2,500-$3,500), Fourteenth Street, The Wigwam, 1928 (US$2,500-$3,500), which illustrates the last physical address of Tammany Hall, and George Bellows’s lithograph, Solitude, 1917 (US$1,500-$2,500), exemplify the Ash Can School, where the gritty realism of Manhattan took center stage.

A run of works by Martin Lewis portrays Manhattan as both dark and elegant. His rare drypoints include Corner Shadows, 1930 (US$7,000-$10,000), Little Penthouse, 1931 (US$15,000-$20,000), Chance Meeting, 1940-41 (US$10,000-$15,000), Stoops in Snow, 1930 (US$20,000-$30,000), Shadow Dance, 1930 (US$20,000-$30,000), Spring Night, Greenwich Village, 1930 (US$15,000-$20,000), and Winter on White Street, 1934 (US$18,000-$22,000).

Lithographs by Raphael Soyer and Louis Lozowick represent the men and architecture of Depression-era Manhattan. Lozowick’s Mural Study: Lower Manhattan, 1936 (US$7,000-$10,000), and Mural Study: Triborough Bridge, 1936 (US$4,000-$6,000), relate to the artist’s commission from the Treasury Relief Art Project for two large oil paintings to adorn the walls of the Midtown Manhattan Post office at 33rd Street and 8th Avenue—they are still there. Soyer’s rare lithographs of people in the Lower East Side, The Mission, 1933 (US$12,000-$18,000), and Bowery Nocturne, 1933 (US$10,000-$15,000), each have hand colouring in watercolour.

A watercolour by George Grosz, Brownstone Houses, New York, circa 1937 (US$8,000-$12,000), stems from the time he emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1937. Additional watercolours include Reginald Marsh’s Tugboats Near the Brooklyn Bridge, 1938 (US$12,000-$18,000), and James Heseldin’s Fulton Street and Brooklyn Bridge, circa 1925 (US$1,000-$1,500).

Rounding out the sale are a selection of choice paintings, including Arthur Ernest Becher’s Drydock, New York, oil on canvas, 1912 (US$2,500-$3,500), Lydia Cooley’s oil on board Ringling Brothers, circa 1935 (US$1,500-$2,500), Don Freeman’s Meat Market, oil on wood panel, circa 1935 (US$1,200-$1,800), and Harry Gottlieb’s Winter Park Scene, New York, oil on canvas, circa 1930s (US$2,000-$3,000).'

I like cityscapes and I recommend having a look at the online catalogue.

St Paul's Cathedral art exhibition 21/9-15/10

Carl Laubin - View over One New Change

Images of St Paul’s in the 21^st Century will be held from 21^st September to 15^th October 2010 in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. In the first exhibition of its kind at St Paul’s, 64 artists have produced original works especially for the exhibition to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of the completion of Wren's great enterprise.

There will be a broad and eclectic range of interpretations of St Paul’s place in the life and rapidly changing topography of London. All of the pictures will be for sale, with the project’s entire charitable proceeds going to the St Paul's Cathedral Foundation, which supports the maintenance and mission of St Paul’s.

The Patron of the exhibition is the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, Dean of St Paul’s. The hardback book produced on the occasion of the exhibition will include contributions by Lord Foster, Sir Roy Strong, Professor David Watkin and Rowan Moore.

The full list of participating artists: Matthew Alexander, Naomi Alexander, Michael Aubrey, Alessia Avellino, Jeremy Barlow, Varsha Bhatia, Paul Birkbeck, Pablo Bronstein, Peter Brown, Hugh Buchanan, Paul Butler, Reg Carremans, Ricardo Cinalli, Gabriëlla Cleuren, Jane Corsellis, Bruce Denny, Maeve Dewar, John Doyle, Anthony Eyton, Annie Farrer, Charlotte Halliday, Joe Hargan, Simon Harling, James Hart Dyke, Ursula Haug, Clive Head, Patrick Hughes, Peter Kelly, David Awot Kibrom Kebede, John King, Natasha Kissell, Carl Laubin, Kate Lockhart, David Mach, Luke Martineau, Stan McMurtry, June Mendoza, Sally Moore, Anthony Morris, Jonathan Myles-Lea, Robert Neffson, Denis Pannett, David Parfitt, David Paskett, Jonathan Pike, Ethan Pollock, Nessie Ramm, Francisco Rangel, Martha Richler, Joyce Rowsell, Dennis Roxby-Bott, Alex Russell-Flint, Melissa Scott-Miller, Gerard Stamp, Sergei Sukonkin, Francis Terry, Viktoria Tikhomirova, Peter Welton, Anthony Whishaw, Steve Whitehead, Michael Whittlesea, Antonia Williams, Stephen Wiltshire and Tom Young.

Ukiyo-e Images of the Floating World 4-day sale 16-19 Sept

Pierre Bergé & Associés are holding a four day sale of Japanese prints in Paris from the 16-19 Sept. The catalogues are available online on its website here. Alternatively you can get the four catalogues from the auction house for €70. I've only got the one set at the moment and I'm hanging on to them for myself. Obviously if I get more I'll sell them on the stall.

Mount Taranaki, New Zealand

Mt Taranaki (or Mt Egmont in old money) is a dormant volcano and New Zealand's Mt Fuji. This image is from January, in the middle of our summer - hence not much snow.
Want to see what it looks like at the moment? There's a webcam that lets you get a snapshot right now. Be aware that NZ is 11 hours ahead until around October (then 13) so if the screen is black then it's because it's the middle of the night. Have a look here.

The Affordable Art Fair 21-24 October 2010

From the website (here):

'Whether you are looking for the perfect painting to go over the mantelpiece or the next Murakami, amongst the 120 galleries you will find artwork to suit every taste and pocket. Alongside established names such as Norman Ackroyd, Howard Hodgkin and Bridget Riley, there are pieces by the stars of tomorrow, recently graduated from the likes of the Slade, RCA and Central St Martins.

The price ceiling of £3,000 and the clear labelling of all artwork ensures you know what you can and can’t afford. And with such a diverse range of paintings, sculpture, prints and photography, you will easily find a piece to love.

If you would like to be the first to hear about what’s on at the fair and receive ticket offers, please sign up for our email updates. We promise not to bombard you with hundreds of emails and we’ll never pass your data to another company.'

Islington Contemporary Art & Design Fair 1-24 October

Further details can be found at www.candidarts.com & www.icadf.com

British Art Fair 15-19 September.

A date for your diary:

From the website (here):

The 20/21 BRITISH ART FAIR, the only fair specialising exclusively in modern and contemporary British art, will take place at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7, from 15 to 19 September 2010 .

Here you will find all the great names of 20th century art: Bacon, Freud, Frink, Frost, Hepworth, Hockney, Hodgson, Lanyon, Lowry, Moore, Nash, Piper, Riley, Scott, Sutherland and Spencer. Alongside is a large selection of work by both emerging and established contemporary artists – Hirst, Emin, Grayson Perry et al together with others who may be the stars of tomorrow.

The 20/21 BRITISH ART FAIR, now in its 23rd year, not only offers an enormous variety of art under one roof but also an opportunity to tap into the expertise of the 60 leading dealers. Whether your taste is for the earlier work, Scottish Colourists, pop art or the contemporary, the breadth and depth of over a hundred years of British art may well surprise. With prices from the low hundreds to hundreds of thousands, it is not to be missed!

Adam Styka (1890-1959) - Orientalist painter

From the Styka Family website: :
Adam Styka was born in Poland in 1890. He completed his formal education at the French Academy of Fine Arts, Academie de Beau Arts, and painted closely under the tutelage of his father, Jan Styka. Each year he exhibited his paintings in Paris's most prestigious galleries such as Salon de Paris, Champs Des Elysses and others in Europe and countries of both Americas, where he was awarded the highest accolades.
After graduating from the French Military Academy in Fontainebleau, Styka served in the French Artillery during WWI. He was decorated with a Cross of Merit. Also as a reward, he was granted the French "Nationality Citizenship" and a special assistance from the French Government to visit French colonies in Northern Africa. As the result of these annual journeys, Styka developed an entire genre of Middle-Eastern and Oriental themes. His exquisite ability of captivating and conveying to his paintings the vibrating strong colours full of contrast of the hot Sahara Desert of Northern Africa, colours harmoniously blended together, made him a master without compare and earned him the appellation, "The Master of Sunlight".
Styka's Western paintings of the American Wild West were regarded by art critics such as Dick Owens, as the best Western paintings whenever painted by any artist. Later years of his life he spent on creating religious painting such as The Assumption of Virgin Mary and The Ascension of Jesus; all of them are located in the churches of Europe and the United States.
Adam Styka died on 23rd of September 1959 and is buried in the Alley of the Merit in the cemetery if the "New Czestochowa" of the Pauline Fathers in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

   I quite like his paintings and will add more as and when I come across them.

   For now, here are a couple that came up at the Orientalist sale at Sotheby's 12/11/08:

Marakesh - oil on board 12½" x 15½". Est £15000-20000
Unsold

The Donkey Ride - oil on canvas 21¼" x 25¾". Est £12000-£18000
Sold for £17500 (inc BP)

Another Adam Styka came up at auction at Aguttes in Paris on the 14/06/10:

Les amoureux - oil on canvas 36¼" x 28¾". Est €30000-40000.
Sold fo €43910 (inc BP)

   From a Christies sale of 19th Cent European Art at Sth Ken 2/12/04:

A donkey watering in a desert landscape - oil on board

14 7/8" x 18". Est £3000-5000.
Sold for £6214

   One painting came up in the Sotheby's sale in New York 23/10/08:

Zohra, A Moroccan Dancer - oil on canvas

30¼"x25". Estimate: US$40,000-60,000.

Sold for US$42,500.

   Waddington's Auctions in Toronto sold a painting on 13/05/08:

Eastern Beauty - oil on canvas
25½"x 21". Estimate: Can$20,000-25,000
Sold for Can$54,000

   Sold at Hampel Auctions in Munich December 10th 2011:

 Young girl with a Bedouin Arab - oil on canvas

32"x25". Sold for €11,000

   On December 4th 2011, Christie's Paris offered the following picture:

Couple enlacé - oil on canvas

33"x24". Estimate: €18,000-25,000

Unsold

Hiroshige print exhibition Sun 31st Jan 10.00-4.00

This Sunday, at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Victoria, SW1 (www.qeiicc.co.uk) there is an exhibition of Hiroshige prints from the '100 views of Edo' series as part of a Tokyo City promotion.
Also on show will be a kendo demonstation, music played on the koto and shakuhachi, a woodblock printing demonstration, a hand-painted silk demonstration, anime and manga films, origami and paper-cutting demonstrations as well as other activities.
Full details can be found at www.tcp2010.com
The Hiroshige prints can be viewed online at www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/100_views_edo/100_views_edo.htm

I'm new to blogging so I'm still trying to see what I can do on here. No one is reading this yet anyway.

Mount Maunganui. This is where I grew up. I'm 12,000 miles away in Hackney wondering where my life is going.