F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night, first edition with first issue dust jacket, New York, 1934.
In the wake of all the Gatsby fervor, here is F. Scott’s final novel, Tender is the Night. The original dust jacket depicts a lovely image of the cote d’azur where the tumultuous story of Dick and Nicole Diver begins. The Divers were based on the fascinating couple Gerald and Sara Murphy, artist ex-pats living on the French Riviera in the 1920s.
(Source: catalogue.swanngalleries.com)
Montauk Beach, circa 1929, an extremely rare poster, marks the development of Montauk in the late 1920s as a destination for the wealthy. Courtesy of Swann Galleries Rare and Important Travel Posters auction, November 11.
Among my all-time favorites from a Swann poster auction. Invokes the glamour of Gatsby!
SAUL STEINBERG
Landscape with Figures on a Hill.
Watercolor and gouache on heavy wove paper, 1954. 570x368 mm; 22 1/2x14 1/2 inches. Signed and dated in black ink, lower right recto, and inscribed “©1966 by Saul Steinberg” in pencil, lower right corner recto. Ex-collection the Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, with the label on the frame back.
Estimate $4,000-6,000
So, E.E. Cummings was a painter, too!
Sale 2318 Lot 110
E. E. CUMMINGS
Two studies of nudes.
Woman with Downcast Eyes, oil on canvas. 310x230 mm; 12x9 1/8 inches * Landscape with Nudes, oil on card stock, 1940. 445x218 mm; 17 1/2x8 5/8 inches. Listed in Landmarks of Modern Literature and Thought: Superb Rare Books, Manuscripts and Art, Lame Duck Books, Boston, Catalogue number 2 copies of which are included with this lot. Ex-collection the artist’s estate, with the inventory numbers on the frame versos and with a letter from John Wronoski, Lame Duck Books, August 24, 2001.
Estimate $1,200-1,800
e. e. cummings loved the ladies.
Lot 83
PAUL CADMUS
Male Nude, NM 165.
Color crayons on blue Strathmore paper toned with raw umber and white acrylic, 1981. 540x475 mm; 21 1/4x18 3/4 inches. Signed and inscribed “NM165” in crayon, lower left recto.
Estimate $20,000-30,000
Lot 84 - PAUL CADMUS
Male Nude, NM 199.Color crayons on blue paper, 1986. 673x445 mm; 26 1/2x17 1/2 inches. Signed and inscribed “NM199” in crayon, lower right recto.
Exhibited DC Moore Gallery, New York; Midtown Payson Galleries, New York; and Louis Newman Galleries, Beverly Hills, with the labels on the frame back.
Estimate $20,000-30,000Lot 85
PAUL CADMUS
Male Nude, NM 276.
Color crayons on pale bluish gray paper toned with old rose acrylic, 1996. 330x520 mm; 13x20 1/2 inches. Signed and inscribed “NM 276” in white crayon, lower right recto.
Cadmus was in his early 90s when he made this series. One of his last, the evolution of his career culminates here as a master draftsman of the human form, specifically males. Paul’s opinion was not that men were more beautiful than women, but that men were more vain and knew how to pose better for longer. The Male Nude, NM series were of his long time lover, Jon Anderson, 32 years younger, whom he met in Nantucket in 1965, “NM” standing for “Nantucket Man.”
“From 1965 onward, Paul Cadmus, in collaboration with Jon Anderson, explored all aspects of the male nude, combining a reserved but blissful eroticism with formal explorations of torsion and foreshortening in the context of innovative, often witty composition,” observes Justin Spring in his book Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude. “One of the most delightful aspects of the Anderson drawings is their variety. Cadmus was continually exploring and innovating even as he strove for formal perfection through his repeated drawings of the same model.” Cadmus and Anderson stayed lovers for the rest of Cadmus’ life, when he died in their home of 25 years together of old age, 5 days shy of his 95th birthday.
Estimate $18,000-22,000
So many limericks come to mind…
Woe is me!
In the upcoming of American art: Sale 2318 Lot 15
FRANK XAVIER LEYENDECKER
Poetry and Music.
Oil on artist’s board. 635x490 mm; 25x19 1/4 inches. Signed in oil on the cartouche, lower center recto.
Estimate $8,000-12,000
Leyendecker? I hardly know her.
This is the best thing. Alcatraz is missing out.
CLAES OLDENBURG
Proposal for a Colossal Monument in the Form of a Typewriter Eraser for Alcatraz Island.
Offset color lithograph on Arches, 1972. 790x610 mm; 31x24 inches (sheet), full margins. Artist’s proof, aside from the edition of 30. Signed and inscribed “AP 24/25” in pencil, lower margin. Published by Multiples, Inc., New York. A very good impression. Axsom 136.
Estimate $3,000-5,000
I’m sure this is making some kind of statement, but what exactly?
New Family by Wolfgang Tillmans
It’s such a quiet, common scene. The colors of the surrounding landscape, the endless possibility of the road ahead, and blur of uncertainty. Despite the depth of his work and somewhat shocking nature of a lot of his images, it’s this simple beauty I come back to time and time again.
ROBERT INDIANA
The Mother of Us All.
Portfolio with complete text and set of 13 color lithographs, 1977. Each 457x356 mm; 18x14 inches, full margins. Each signed, dated and numbered 65/150 in pencil, lower margin. Printed by Mourlot, Paris. Published by Amiel, New York. Very good impressions with vibrant colors. Sheehan 96-108.
Estimate $2,500-3,500
This would be the mother of all Mother’s Day gifts.
Great Warhol in tomorrow’s auction at Swann! Gotta love my job.
ANDY WARHOL
Mao.
Color screenprint on Beckett High White paper, 1972. 914x914 mm; 36x36 inches, full margins. Signed in ball-point pen and blue ink and numbered 59/250 with the ink stamp, verso. Printed by Styria Studio, Inc., New York, with the ink stamp verso. Published by Castelli Graphics and Multiples, Inc., New York. A brilliant, richly-inked impression with vibrant, fresh colors.
Warhol created the 10 different color screenprint portraits of Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976) following Richard Nixon’s historic visit in China in 1972. He addressed the cult of personality surrounding China’s renowned Premier using his signature portrait style previously reserved for mass-produced consumer products and Hollywood film stars. Famously blending the propaganda utilized to render modern totalitarian rulers and the liveliness of American, western media, these garishly colored, graffiti-like portraits of Mao helped propel Warhol toward international Pop icon status. Feldman 90.
Estimate $30,000-50,000
Purple isn’t usually the first color I think of when I think of Chairman Mao.
