Welcome to August Americana at Skinner! Our three online sales offer all that you’ve come to expect this time of year, and more. We’ve showcased some highlights in the flyer, and explore the rest online.

The Kolar Collection online

AUGUST 3–12

Skinner is honored to be offering the Kolar Collection as the centerpiece of our annual August Auction. Carefully assembled over decades by collector, scholar, and author John Kolar, the collection is an impressive grouping of painted furniture, Windsor chairs, folk art, pottery, and weathervanes from 18th and 19th century America.… Read More

Virtual auction “rooms” packed with bidders competing from the safety and comfort of their homes on a few early New England spring days drove a $1.28M result for two highly successful online auctions of American Furniture and Decorative Arts which closed on www.skinnerinc.com on April 13th and 15th. Overall, bidders embraced the online platform and operated with a familiar competitive vigor, often causing the bidding on a lot to extend far beyond its prescribed closing time.… Read More

Talk by Scholar and Curator Trevor Fairbrother

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8

Skinner is delighted to offer two works by John Singer Sargent that have been with a local family for over ninety years. Scholar and Curator Trevor Fairbrother will give a breezy overview of the artist’s work as a watercolorist and take a close look at these splendid Italian images – Bologna Fountain and Olive Grove.

RECEPTION 5:30PM, TALK 6PM

REGISTER HERE

Trevor Fairbrother earned both his B.A.… Read More

George Washington is one of the most recognizable figures in American history. Revered as the father of our country, America’s first Commander in Chief led the struggle for independence and served as the nation’s first president. His legacy remains a vivid part of our daily lives. There are countless counties across the United States named in his honor, a state, and the nation’s capital. We see his image nearly every day on the quarter and one dollar bill, and around the President’s Day holiday in February through a dazzling array of television and print advertisements for automobiles, furniture, and a vast sea of consumer goods specially priced in celebration of the holiday.… Read More

BOSTON, MA – August 23, 2018 – On Friday, September 21, Skinner presents an outstanding two-session auction of Prints, Multiples & Photographs and Paintings & Sculpture with over 350 lots spanning Old Masters through contemporary offerings. Robin S. R. Starr, Vice President and Director of American & European Works of Art, notes, “We’re excited about the depth and breadth of the works in the September auction, from a rediscovered Gérôme masterpiece to a considerable number of fresh to the market works from private collections, including of the composer, lyricist, author, playwright, recording artist, and performer, Dory Previn.” 

Paintings & Sculpture

The marquee lot of the sale is by Jean-Léon G érôme.… Read More

A legacy of beauty, ingenuity, and craftsmanship in Skinner’s August Americana auctions

Skinner’s tradition of notable Americana sales continues with auctions on August 12 & 13 and an online auction August 6-14.  The two-day and online sales comprise nearly 1500 lots of fine American folk art, furniture, ceramics, and maritime antiques.  Day 1 kicks off the auction with two outstanding collections, the Collection of Gail and Don Piatt and the Arthur & Sybil Kern Collection of American Folk Art, Part I.  The Piatt collection features a delightful array of fine country antiques with an emphasis on early New Hampshire painted furniture, samplers, lighting, decorative arts, and painted miniature smalls.  Highlights include:

• Rare cupboard/watch hutch (Lot 28, Estimate $4,000-$6,000)
• Needlework Sampler “Ruhamah Dearborn,” Portsmouth, New Hamphsire (Lot 68, Estimate $2,000-$3,000)

The Kern collection is encyclopedic in its representation of New England folk art.… Read More

The Collection of Gail & Don Piatt

AUGUST 12, 10AM | MARLBOROUGH

The Gail and Don Piatt collection features a delightful array of fine country antiques with emphasis on early New Hampshire painted furniture, samplers, lighting, and decorative arts and painted miniature smalls.

VIEW CATALOG

 

The Arthur & Sybil Kern Collection of American Folk Art

AUGUST 12, 10AM | MARLBOROUGH

The Arthur and Sybil Kern Collection of American Folk Art is encyclopedic in its representation of New England folk art.… Read More

BOSTON, MA – Skinner, Inc. presents a notable two-session auction on Wednesday, September 27, in its Boston Gallery. Fine Prints & Photographs starts at 12PM followed by Fine Paintings & Sculpture at 4PM. Both auctions contain a broad range of fine works of all kinds, offering something for collectors of all mediums, all tastes, and all budgets.

Fine Prints

Robin Starr, Director of American & European Works of Art, notes that the prints section is dominated by modern and contemporary offerings.… Read More

More than 500 lots comprising paintings, sculpture, photographs, and works on paper and representing a wide range of periods, styles, and subject matter were offered in Skinner’s May 19 auction. Robin S. R. Starr, Director of American and European Works of Art, notes that the stand-out successes of the auction were major works by renowned artists. Their enduring appeal and well-documented provenance resulted in prices that, in many cases, exceeded pre-auction estimates.… Read More

A skilled and inventive frame maker, admired by artists and collectors for his ability to create frames that corresponded perfectly to the style and intention of the canvases they surrounded, Charles Prendergast (1863-1948) did not begin working on his own artworks in earnest until he was in his fifties. After having spent years as a woodworker and craftsman, he created his painted panels, like Lot 382 in our upcoming Fine Paintings and Sculpture auction, with many of the same materials and techniques he had used for his frames.… Read More