20TH CENTURY ILLUSTRATION ORIGINAL ART • BOOKS, FEATURING MAURICE SENDAK JANUARY 24
This visual treat of a sale—scheduled during Bibliography Week in New York—includes an extensive selection of original 20th-century illustration art and books. There are illustrations by Charles Addams, Ludwig Bemelmans, Edward J. Detmold, Disney Studios, Al Hirschfeld, Ed Koren, Beatrix Potter, Jessie Willcox Smith, Dr. Seuss, Edward Sorel, Garth Williams and others. Of special note is an iconic book jacket design by Fred Marcellino for Thomas Pynchon’s Slow Learner, which represents the first public offering of work from this influential designer and illustrator, and several cartoon strips and drawings such as Li’l Abner, Mickey Mouse and an early Sunday Peanuts strip by Charles M. Schulz.
The book section contains a private collection of works written and/or illustrated by Maurice Sendak from the library of the late Reed Orenstein, bookseller and longtime Sendak collector. Included are most of his important works in first edition, many signed, and several with small sketches and inscriptions. There are unique copies of Where the Wild Things Are; scarce, signed firsts of Seven Little Stories on Big Subjects and In the Night Kitchen; as well as some related ephemera. Edward Gorey lovers will find a small section of signed, limited first editions, and an unpublished original watercolor. Desirable classic works illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Willy Pogány and Arthur Rackham represent the earlier part of the century. Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are, 25th Anniversary Edition, signed and with an ink drawing, New York, 1988. $5,000 to $7,500.
François Bouçher, Two Satyrs, chalk drawing, circa 1740s. $12,000 to $18,000. OLD MASTER DRAWINGS JANUARY 29
Recognizing a resurgence of interest in Old Master Drawings—including recent exhibits at the Frick and the Morgan Library—Swann is reinstating our Old Master Drawings sale following a five-year hiatus. The auction coincides with Master Drawings Week in New York, and features Guido Reni,Head of a Woman Looking to the Left, black and red chalk drawing, circa 1639-40, which may be related to the head of Cleopatra in Sir Denis Mahon’s collection; François Bouçher, Two Satyrs, black and white chalk study for two figures in the Beauvais tapestry of Neptune Rescuing Anymone; and Joris Hoefnagel, Still Life with Flowers, Insects and a Snail, watercolor, gouache and gold on vellum, 1589, with a Latin inscription reading, “Omnia mutantur, nihil interit,” i.e. “Everything changes, nothing perishes,” from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Previous Page: Alphonse Mucha, Moet & Chandon / Grand Cremant Imperial (detail), 1899. $10,000 to $15,000. At auction February 5. Cover: Barkley L. Hendricks, The Hawk, Blah, Blah, Blah, oil and DayGlo on canvas, 1970. $75,000 to $100,000. At auction February 14.