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Title: Rago Post-War & Contemporary Art Auction held in: Lambertville N.J. Sale Date: 11/15/08 No. of Lots: 206 No. of Pages: 116 Condition: Good Illustrated in Color
The sale begins with over 100 lots of paintings, works on paper and sculpture. Rago’s is very proud to be offering a Henry Moore bronze maquette, an archetypical reclining female figure, fashioned during Moore’s exploration of form for the UNESCO monument site in Belgium. Though he ultimately chose a biomorphic figure rather than this detailed model, he did produce much larger versions as Draped, Reclining Woman the year after the UNESCO monument was completed. This maquette, one of nine produced, was purchased by the consignor in 1956 at Martha Jackson’s New York gallery. One of the six 82” versions cast in the artist’s lifetime sold at Christie’s in London this past June for $8.4 million dollars. The presale estimate for the maquette, at 5" x 7 3/4" 4 ½”, is $100,000 - $150,000. A very different sculptor is Daniel Pflumm (Swiss, b. 1968), known for his light-boxes and videos exploring logos, brand names and symbols. Rago’s is selling a light box which considers the logo of Citicorp. It has a presale estimate of 3,000-4,000. Other sculptures include a set of six glass canisters by Kara Walker (presale estimate $5000-7000); Tom Friedman’s 2002 multiple made from 75 hand-painted Styrofoam cups (presale estimate $3000-5000) and Rachel Whitread’s plaster Switch published by Parkett in 1994 (presale estimate $4000-6000). Norman Bluhm is one of America’s great second generation Abstract Expressionist painters. Rago’s is offering a 1967 oil on canvas entitled Shell Beach and originally exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of a number of excellent examples of Abstract Expressionism in the sale (presale estimate $40,000-60,000) . Also on the block is a very early Frank Stella – an Abstract Expressionist mixed media work from 1956, painted on the back of a fiveand- dime store framed print purchased by Stella in Princeton, NJ. It was gifted to the consignor that same year and is offered with a presale estimate of $40,000-60,000. The California Abstract Expressionist John Saccaro is represented here, by Mauve Dominant, ca. 1963 (presale estimate $3000-5000). The sale is also notable for work created in the ‘70s and ‘80s. There is a large acrylic on canvas by Jules Olitski (presale estimated $10,000-15,000); a wonderful example of Martin Wong’s Lower East Side storefronts, Stanton Near Forsyth (presale estimate $5000-7000); and works by two appropriationists, Mike Bidlo and Richard Pettibone. Bidlo is represented by Not Pollock, a two panel section from the re-creation of Pollock's Blue Poles made in front of the Metropolitan Museum in 1983 and Pettibone by Marilyn in pink, from 1978 and acquired directly from the artist by the present owner (presale estimates for each $12,000-18,000). Rago’s is very excited to offer work by David Reed, whose long, narrow paintings, hung vertically or horizontally, are perfectly described by Michael Kimmelman as appearing to “unfurl like scrolls.” This 1983-84 oil is offered with a presale estimate of $20,000-30,000.
The sale also features an untitled Jane Hammond which is, like the best of her work, fresh and mysterious, funnyand provocative (presale estimate $4,000-6,000). Two small paintings by Jules de Balincourt are also included: Disposal Unit, 2002 and Home of the Braves, 2003 as well as Keegan McHargue’s painting Drinking Poison from the Left Hand, 2003 and a work on paper, both with a presale estimate of $2500-3500. Also worthy of note is a 2004 mixed media on panel by self-described “cultural vagrant” Andrew Mania (presale estimate $2,000-3,000). Among the artists offered for the first time by Rago’s is Norbert Bauer with a grouping of three portraits entitled Pool (1, 2, and 3) (presale estimate $3,000-5,000); Eva Grun, with a portrait entitled Koestlich, presale estimate $1,500- 2,500); and Michael Hafftka, with Falling Angel #1862, an oil on canvas from 1985 (presale estimate $1,200-1,800). The sale is strong in works on paper: Two Birds, a fine gouache by Antoni Tapies from 1953, among them. Signed and dated, it will be included in the forthcoming Tapies catalogue raisonné (presale estimate $40,000-50,000). Rago’s is selling an untitled watercolor on Xerox by David Wojnarowicz, the painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist and activist of the 1980s (presale estimate $4,000-6,000). Also from the East Village scene of the 1980s is Peter Nagy, here with the acrylic Study for "21st Century Rococo" from 1988 (presale estimate $1,000-1,500). A fine Theodoros Stamos abstract 1965 gouache is estimated at $5,000-7,000. Jim Shawrepresents the 1990s with Dream Drawing (presale estimate $8,000-12,000). Collectors and dealers will also find work by gifted watercolorist Gladys Nilsson; Jan Groth (one of Norway’s leading artists); David Dupuis; Elizabeth Murray, Sue Williams, Wolf Kahn, as well as the intricate topography of Daniel Zeller and the deliberate doodles of Jonathan Lasker. The second session of the sale is comprised of over 100 lots of prints and photographs. Andy Warhol is always of interest and there are three Warhols in the sale: Liz a 1964 offset lithograph in colors (presale estimate $20,000-30,000); Cow (Wallpaper) a 1966 screenprint in colors (presale estimate $3,000- 5,000); and a screenprint portrait of Mildred Scheel in colors with diamond dust from 1980 (presale estimate $2,500 – 3,500). (Scheel, a German doctor, was a friend of Warhol’s who created this limited edition screenprint to Other pop culture offerings include Roy Lichtenstein’s 1964 offset lithograph in colors Crak! (presale estimate $15,000-25,000); a 1966 triptych As I Opened Fire also by Lichtenstein (presale estimate 1,000-1,500) and three skateboard decks by Jeff Koons and three skateboard decks by Takashi Murakami, still in their wrappers (presale estimates of $3,000-5,000 and $2000-4000 respectively). Francesco Clemente is here twice, first in a woodcut Self Portrait in colors (presale estimate $2,000-3,000) and again in an Alex Katz portrait with wife Alba Clemente, entitled Pas de Deux III (presale estimate $2,200-2,800). Helen Frankenthaler is represented by Spring Veil, a verdant etching and aquatint (presale estimated $3,000-5,000). Images of the natural world take to the air with Wayne Thiebaud’s Bird on a Swing from Recent Etchings II, 1979 and a lot of four Donald Baechler etchings and aquatints. Also of note: the 1972 Edward Kienholz work For $253.00, (presale estimate $2,000-2,300); Sol Lewitt’s 1994 screenprint Brushstrokes In All Directions (presale estimate $800-1,000); Alexander Calder’s lithograph Circus (presale estimate $2,000-3,000) and lithographs by Bruce Nauman, Elizabeth Murray, Mike Kelly and Sigmar Polke. Among the significant contemporary photographs in the sale is a phantasmagorical work by Gregory Crewdson,Untitled (Vaginal Gourd) from 1995 (presale estimate of $8,000-12,000) and a second work by the artist, Shrinewith Flowers, 1994 (presale estimate $7,000-9,000). A 1993 Untitled C-print by Roni Horn is estimated at $6,000- 8,000. Thomas Ruff makes a reappearance at Rago’s with two 1989 urban landscape (presale estimate $2,000-3,000) and Arthur Fellig (Weegee) with two crime scene photos from the 1940s. Also featured: work by Anna Gaskell, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, John Waters and Ryan McGinley.
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