Skinner

BOSTON, MA – January 14, 2019 – On Friday, January 25, Skinner presents an outstanding two-session auction of Prints, Multiples & Photographs and Paintings & Sculpture with over 350 lots spanning Old Masters through contemporary offerings.  Paintings & Sculpture An exceptional selection of bronze sculptures is spearheaded by an important group of western bronzes by Harry Jackson, including early works Stampede (Lot 278, Estimate: $80,000-120,000) and Range Burial (Lot 279, Estimate: $50,000-70,000) among others from the collection of Joseph Thomas Alvarez III. The Alvarez collection also includes a large figure group by French animalier Isidore Bonheur, The Steeplechase (Lot 277, Estimate: $120,000-180,000). A major work by contemporary artist Mimmo Paladino, Assediato or a Surrounded Figure (Lot 461, Estimate: $40,000-60,000) will also be offered. A group of American Impressionist paintings from the Estate of Richard Mellon Scaife, being sold to benefit a Pennsylvania art institution includes a landscape by William Merritt Chase […]

BOSTON, MA – Skinner, Inc. will hold an auction on January 12, 2019, of European Furniture & Decorative Arts. With over 500 lots on offer, the auction features fine ceramics and silver as well as European furniture and decorative arts of the 18th through 20th centuries. This sale features a collection of 17th to 19th century Hungarian Silver from the estate of prominent White House economist, writer, and professor Francis M. Bator. Bator’s family fled to the United States in 1939; escaping pro-fascist leaning Hungary at the onset of World War II. Educated at the Groton School and M.I.T he was a special advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson on economic policy and relations with Europe. Known as urbane and erudite, he sought to surround himself with the art and culture of Hungary. Featured are a collection of Hungarian silver beakers from the 16th to 19th centuries.  Other Highlights: A fine example […]

January 24, 2019 | Reception 5:30PM, Gallery Walk 6PM Boston Gallery | 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116 Rika Smith, art conservation expert in cast bronze sculpture, will join us for an evening of conversation about all things bronze. Using artworks presented for the Fine Arts & Painting auction on January 25, 2019 by Isidore Bonheur, Harry Jackson, and Mimmo Paladino, we will examine the sculptures to identify casting methods, finishing techniques, and types of patination. We will also search for signatures and foundry marks. Specific questions regarding each artwork will be answered, and questions about sculpture conservation in general will also be discussed. Held in conjunction with a preview of Skinner’s January 25th auction of American & European Works of Art. PLEASE RSVP HERE Smith is the principal of Rika Smith McNally & Associates/SculptureCare, serving clients in the Boston area and throughout the US. She is a graduate of the […]

  Friday, January 11 | Reception: 5:30PM, Talk: 6:00PM  Boston Gallery  |  63 Park Plaza, Boston 02116  Elizabeth A. Williams, the David and Peggy Rockefeller Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, will speak about Gorham silver and the upcoming RISD Museum exhibition, Designing Innovation: The Gorham Manufacturing Company, American Silver 1850-1970, opening May 2019. This talk is held in conjunction with the January 12 European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction, featuring Gorham silver. Commissioned to create everything from public presentation pieces to one-of-a-kind showstoppers for use in the private dining rooms of America, Gorham put uniquely American design on the world stage. Silver and mixed-metal wares produced from 1850 to 1970 by Gorham reflected the industry, artistry, innovation, and technology of its time for more than 150 years in America. Designing Brilliance will cast new light on the legacy of this distinctive company, first established in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island. The RISD Museum owns the largest […]

BOSTON, MA – December 10, 2018 – December Important and Fine Jewelry auctions were led by exceptional colored stones, large diamonds, and a strong collection of antique and period jewelry featuring the Edith Weber Jewelry collection. The top lots in the auction were a rare Colombian emerald with no treatment that brought an impressive price of $177,000, a remarkable $38,000 per carat. Closely following was an Art Deco Burma Ruby Ring that reached $159,000 after spirited bidding between buyers worldwide. Early in the auction, Senior Jewelry Specialist Kaitlin Shinnick observed “antique jewerly is back,” and in fact, antique and period jewelry garnered some of the auctions most competitive bidding. Skinner was proud to offer jewelry from the collection of Edith Weber. “We are fearless in our taste,” Barry Weber once said about the iconic antique jewelry store founded by his mother Edith in 1960. The rare and sought after pieces assembled […]

Skinner’s December 14 auction offers a comprehensive selection of furniture and decorative arts of the 20th century, a time span of unparalleled creativity. BOSTON, MA – December 9, 2018 – Skinner presents a notable sale of 20th Century Design on Friday, December 14 at 10AM. The sale of over 500 lots is rich in renowned names and objects, plus unheralded treasures by modern masters waiting to be discovered. This eclectic mix for which Skinner is well-known has appeals to adventurous collectors of free-ranging tastes as well as connoisseurs seeking a rarity to complete an established collection. Highlights from famous artists and artisans include: an important Marblehead Pottery Vase designed by Annie Aldrich and decorated by Sarah Tutt (Lot 95, Estimate: $10,000-20,000); a Tiffany Studios bronze floor lamp with Maple Leaf shade (Lot 40, Estimate: $80,000-120,000); a Finn Juhl Model 45 settee (Lot 330, Estimate: $10,000-15,000); and a George Nakashima triple […]

Renowned for his large-scale sculptures, Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986) was also a prolific draughtsman, producing nearly 7,500 drawings over the course of his career. He made these drawings for a variety of purposes: as works of art in their own rights, as preparatory sketches for sculptures or prints, as nature studies, or as studies of the works of other artists. Moore made the drawing Reclining Figures, 1948-50, with the intention of using it as a study for a future print. The lower section of his 1950 color lithograph, Standing and Reclining Figures, includes the lower portion of the drawing. Confusingly, Moore inscribed “Lithograph Reclining Lead figures” at the top of the drawing, causing a debate among later owners of the work as to whether it was, in fact, an original drawing or, rather, a lithograph. The Middle Eastern owners had purchased the drawing while visiting Moore’s studio in Hertfordshire, England, […]

Who would have thought that a budding Abstract Expressionist in the 1940s would become one of the most famous sculptors of the American West just a decade later?  That is the story of Harry Jackson, whose bronzes are beloved by collectors and enthusiasts of Western art. As a young man, Harry Jackson served as a combat artist in the Marine Corps during World War II. He returned from the war seeking an outlet through his art for the intense experiences he had undergone, finding in color a way to express emotional content. When he encountered She Wolf, a 1943 painting by Jackson Pollock, the power of abstraction to express force and tension greatly moved him.  As young painter opening a New York Studio in 1946, Harry Jackson found inspiration in works by Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and the Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco. He had the opportunity to meet Jackson Pollock, […]

BOSTON, MA – January 14, 2019 – On Friday, January 25, Skinner presents an outstanding two-session auction of Prints, Multiples & Photographs and Paintings & Sculpture with over 350 lots spanning Old Masters through contemporary offerings.  Paintings & Sculpture An exceptional selection of bronze sculptures is spearheaded by an important group of western bronzes by Harry Jackson, including early works Stampede (Lot 278, Estimate: $80,000-120,000) and Range Burial (Lot 279, Estimate: $50,000-70,000) among others from the collection of Joseph Thomas Alvarez III. The Alvarez collection also includes a large figure group by French animalier Isidore Bonheur, The Steeplechase (Lot 277, Estimate: $120,000-180,000). A major work by contemporary artist Mimmo Paladino, Assediato or a Surrounded Figure (Lot 461, Estimate: $40,000-60,000) will also be offered. A group of American Impressionist paintings from the Estate of Richard Mellon Scaife, being sold to benefit a Pennsylvania art institution includes a landscape by William Merritt Chase […]

Skinner’s specialist in Modern & Contemporary Art, Kate Leland, helps to produce three major auctions annually, appraising and cataloging paintings, sculpture, and works on paper for a wide variety of Skinner clients. Kate joined Skinner in 2016 after serving in curatorial and administrative roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. If you could attend any museum exhibit in 2019. What would it be? The one show I am desperate to see actually opened in 2018 at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery—Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today. If I don’t make it to New York before it closes there in February, I hope I can see it at its next venue, the Musée d’Orsay, sometime this spring! What is something you wish prospective bidders would ask […]

January 24, 2019 | Reception 5:30PM, Gallery Walk 6PM Boston Gallery | 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116 Rika Smith, art conservation expert in cast bronze sculpture, will join us for an evening of conversation about all things bronze. Using artworks presented for the Fine Arts & Painting auction on January 25, 2019 by Isidore Bonheur, Harry Jackson, and Mimmo Paladino, we will examine the sculptures to identify casting methods, finishing techniques, and types of patination. We will also search for signatures and foundry marks. Specific questions regarding each artwork will be answered, and questions about sculpture conservation in general will also be discussed. Held in conjunction with a preview of Skinner’s January 25th auction of American & European Works of Art. PLEASE RSVP HERE Smith is the principal of Rika Smith McNally & Associates/SculptureCare, serving clients in the Boston area and throughout the US. She is a graduate of the […]

Dr. Herbert Hall started the Marblehead Pottery in 1904, as therapy for patients at his Devereux Sanitarium. His therapeutic workshop evolved into a business, and in 1915, Arthur Baggs took over the production operation and continued to produce the pottery until 1936.  In 1909, this vase was designed by Annie E. Aldrich, thrown by John Swallow, and decorated by Sarah Tutt in the Marblehead Pottery workshop. It is one of four known examples, two of the others are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Two Red Roses Foundation, Palm Harbor, Florida. This landscape vase is decorated in the style of Arthur Wesley Dow, depicting haystacks in a marsh. A fine example of the work produced at the Marblehead Pottery, as characterized by its simplicity of form and decoration, as well as its distinctive matte glazes. This rare Annie E. Aldrich and Sarah Tutt Marblehead Pottery […]