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506 East 74th Street
New York, NY 10021 |
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Tel. +1 (212) 717-7500
email: info@geneshapiro.com |
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Welcome to Gene Shapiro Auctions, LLC. |
* View the June 15th Online Catalog with Auction Results
Note: All posted results include 20% buyer's premium
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NEXT AUCTION
FALL 2010
| Our June 15th Auction Results are online and can be seen here (n.b. all results include 20% buyer's premium). Offers are being accepted on available lots. |
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News |
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Gene Shapiro Auctions LLC announces a new space for Russian Art in New York City |
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NEW YORK, NY - Gene Shapiro, President of the eponymous American auction house specializing in Russian art, has announced that his company has moved to new premises in New York, located at 506 East 74th Street in the Upper East Side section of Manhattan. The inaugural auction will take place on June 15th, 2010, beginning at 12:00 PM EST.
'I am very happy that we have been able to make this move," says Shapiro, 'as this has been something we have been wanting to do for a while but we were waiting for a great space to come onto the market.' The new premises is conveniently located next to the intersection of 74th Street and York Avenue, which is only two blocks away from the location of Sotheby's headquarters and auction premises. This will allow both buyers and sellers of Russian art to easily visit both companies on trips to New York.
In addition, Gene Shapiro Auctions, which currently holds two auctions a year dedicated to Russian art, will now be able to hold more auctions each year. Shapiro says the following about the new location, 'While the former space we used in the Chelsea district of Manhattan was a beautiful space, it really limited the amount of time we could spend on exhibitions. This move allows us to have a convenient location for visitors from Russia and other countries to visit us at their leisure, as we will now have extended exhibition times and open office hours for visitors." Indeed, the move to a permanent location for Gene Shapiro Auctions in New York is a positive sign for the Russian art market as a whole. For many knowledgeable collectors, America has long been an important source for Russian artworks, but the venues for acquiring them have been limited.
In favorable contrast, the June 15th Gene Shapiro auction is brimming with 19th and 20th Century Russian paintings and sculpture. Highlights of the auction include a powerful and stoic early landscape by Abraham Manievich (1881-1942) that has never before been at market and was consigned from the private collection of the artist's family, as well as a large and vibrant Moscow-period painting by Oscar Rabin (B1928), which was acquired from the artist by Walter J. Stoessel in 1976, the American Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1974-1976. The time period of the paintings and sculptures in the auction goes from the 17th Century to the present day, including particularly strong collections of Russian bronzes, avant-garde works, theatrical costume designs and illustrations, modernist paintings by Russian artists who emigrated to the west (including Abraham Manievich, David Burliuk and Constantin Westchiloff, amongst many others), and contemporary art by famous artists of the 1960s-70s, and up to the present day.
Artists and sculptors whose works are included in the auction include Samuel Adlivankin, Evgeny Agafanov, Nikolai Akimov, Alexandre Altmann, Pyotr Belenok, Anatoly Belkin, Eugene Berman, Leonid Berman, Vasilii Bobrov, Kim Britov, Alexei Brovtsyn, Fedor Burkhardt, David Burliuk, Anatol Chechik, Mikhail Chemiakin, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Makariy Domrachev, Andrei Egorov, Sergei Essaian, Nicolai Fechin, Leon Gaspard, Andrey Gennadiev, Sergei Gerasimov, Tatiana Glebova, Grigory Gluckmann, Natalia Goncharova, Eduard Gorokhovsky, Vasily Grachev, Alexis Gritchenko, Alexis Gritsai, Alessio Issupoff, Evgeny Izmailov, Vladimir Jedrinsky, Ilya Kabakov, Anatoly Kaplan, Vassyl Khmeluk, Gustav Klucis, Komar & Melamid, Gavril Kondratenko, Valery Koshlyakov, Yuriy Krasny, Boris Kustodiev, Pavel Kuznetsov, Evgeny Lanceray, André Lanskoy, Mikhail Larionov, Abraham Manievich, Lydia Masterkova, Vadim Meller, Lev Meshberg, Arsenii Meshersky, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, Sacha Moldovan, Vitaliy Mushketov, Evgeny Naps, Tatiana Nazarenko, Mykola Nedilko, Vladimir Nemukhin, Mikhail Nesterov, Natalia Nesterova, Alexander Ney, Boris Orlov, Pimen Orlov, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Boris Pastoukhoff, Lev Povzner, Oscar Rabin, Mikhail Roginsky, Dmitri Romanovsky, Pyotr Samonov, Georg Schlicht, Vladimir Serov, Simkha Simkhovitch, Vasily Sitnikov, Leonid Sokov, Boris Solotareff, Edward Steinberg, Vladimir Sterligov, Vincent Stiepevich, Constantin Stoiloff, Alexei Sundukov, Boris Sveshnikov, Arkadii Svischev, Mikhail Tarkhanov, Pavel Tchelitchew, Igor Tulpanov, Oleg Vassiliev, Wilhelm Velten, Vladimir Vetrogonsky, Sergei Vinogradov, Noi Volkov, Konstantin Vyalov, Constantin Westchiloff, Konstantin Yuon, Alexander Zakharov, and Alexander Zinoviev.
The auction will also feature numerous rare books, all related to Russian art and artists, including a 17th Century Russian Menaion that formerly belonged to the legendary nonconformist artist Vasily Sitnikov. Other books in the auction include a complete set of the influential early 20th Century arts journal Zhar Ptitsa, Bulgakov's monograph on Vasily Verseschagin, Nevedomsky and Repin's monograph on Arkhip Kuindzhi, the Legat Brother's book of caricatures of Russian Ballet dancers, the 1899-1900 Annual of the Imperial Theatres (the only year in which Sergei Diaghilev participated in the publication), the 1924-25 Revue Internationale des Arts du Théâtre (with original pochoirs by Goncharova, deThomas and Lissim included), Konstantin Somov's Le Livre de la Marquise, Alexandre and Cocteau's monograph on Leon Bakst, and the 1927 Brentano's monograph on Bakst.
Important examples of Russian decorative arts are included in the auction, including two 19th Century Russian porcelain vases made by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, several silver miniature travel icons in triptych form, and an early Cretan icon of the Nativity. In addition, the auction includes many collections of lithographs and hand-colored engravings that were produced in the 19th century illustrating Russian military uniforms, standards, and insignia, as well as André Durand's views of Russia from his Excursion pittoresque et archéologique en Russie par le Hâvre, Hambourg, Lubeck, Saint-Petersbourg, Moscou, Nijni-Novgorod, Yaroslaw et Kasan published from 1842-1848.
To make the auction even more interesting for the collector or Russian art, rounding out the sale are more than 20 original early Soviet posters, including sought-after examples by Viktor Deni, Konstantin Eliseev, Roman Gershanik, Mikhail Kupryanov, Dmitri Moor, Grigory Roze, P.G. Sergeev, Valery Surianinov, and Nikolai Valerianov.
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Our November 2009 Auction Catalog is Now Online |
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New York, NY - Gene Shapiro Auctions LLC. has announced an Auction of Important Russian and American art to be held in New York on November 22nd, 2009, starting at 12:00 PM EST. The auction will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion, located at 123 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011, on the Fifth Floor. The viewing, which takes place on November 21st from 12:00PM-9:00PM EST and on November 22nd from 9:00AM-12:00PM EST, will be held in the same location as the auction.
While Gene Shapiro Auctions has always sought to present an eclectic mix of artists from different nationalities in its auctions, this auction presented an opportunity for the auction house to increase the breadth of its American offerings. The owner of the auction house, Gene Shapiro, says about the greater variety of works in this sale, "Make no mistake, we still specialize in Russian art and are proud of our global following and reputation. But I don't think we need to be a 'one-trick pony.' My goal is to sell art of a high caliber, no matter where the artist was born."
In this respect Shapiro's November 22nd auction doesn't disappoint. There are numerous highlights of both Russian and American pieces. For example, the cover lot of the auction catalog is a contemporary work by the important Russian artist Oleg Tselkov (Russian b.1934), Four Headed with Scissors from 1980, oil on canvas, 76 3/4 x 92 1/2 in. (195 x 235cm), estimated at $125,000-175,000. Shapiro notes, "Similar size paintings by the artist were selling between $200,000-300,000 and more at auction just a year ago. I think our estimate is a conservative one that reflects economic realities. However, paintings like this are hard to find and Tselkov is, was, and will remain one of the most important contemporary artists to ever come out of Russia."
In the same auction we find a fascinating Portrait of Captain Paul Cuffee by Chester Harding (American 1792-1866), oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches (73.7 x 61 cm), estimated at $5,000-7,000. Captain Paul Cuffee was an important figure in American history and especially African-American history. His father was a freed black slave, and mother an Aquinnah Wampanoag Native American. Growing up in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Cuffee was eventually beckoned by the sea. Eventually he would become a wealthy and influential ship-owner and businessman. A great deal of his life and energy was spent trying to improve the plight of African-Americans in the United States, but also to supporting colonization of African countries such as Sierra Leone with Americans of African descent.
The provenance of the painting of Cuffee includes being in the noted George Arden Collection of American Art. A prolific collector, Arden specialized in collecting American Art of the 19th Century, and his collection contained many of the best examples of works by artists from this time period. Shapiro's auction is fortunate to have numerous works from this renowned collection. Another very appealing work in the auction that also was in the Arden Collection, is a work by Rembrandt Peale (American 1778-1860), The Sisters, oil on panel, 7 x 8 1/4 in. (17.8 x 21 cm), estimated at $5,000-7,000. A rare early work by Peale, this painting was in the important 1923 Peale retrospective exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Loan Exhibition of Portraits by Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, and James Peale. Bearing an original label from the 1923 exhibition, this painting exhibits Peale's refined palette at an early point in his career, as well as the neoclassical influences of European art of the time. An interesting side note is that the lender of the painting to the exhibition was Francis B. Gummere, who is best known for her widely read 1910 translation, and literary championing, of the medieval English poem Beowulf.
As in many of his previous auctions, Shapiro's November 22nd sale features numerous works by David Burliuk, including a powerful and quintessentially-Burliuk landscape scene with figures. From a private collection, the man and the woman in the painting represent Burliuk and his wife Marussia. Regarding the auction house's affinity for painting by Burliuk, Shapiro states, "Burliuk is that rare phenomenon of painter who is equally appreciated in America as he is in Russia. I think the reason that we have become the first choice for buying and selling Burliuk for many buyers and sellers is that we are quite selective in our choices for auction. I reject a lot more Burliuks than I take in. Since prices for Burliuk began to reach multiples of their earlier price-levels with the advent of the Russian art boom, it has been an unfortunate development that a relative flood of Burliuk fakes has appeared on the market. A search for 'Burliuk' on eBay almost any day of the year will list many incorrect works, some obvious forgeries, and some almost decent. I even see these same fakes appear at some other auction houses outside of eBay, which is bad for the market as a whole. Burliuk did indeed paint in many different styles, but once you see real Burliuks, it becomes easy to distinguish them from the fake ones."
Another American highlight of the Gene Shapiro November 22nd auction is a superbly executed Portrait of Dr. Oliver Wolcott Gibbs from 1857 by Daniel P. Huntington, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm), estimated at $8,000-10,000. In addition to its presence and skill, the painting is a historical artifact of 19th Century American academia, especially as it existed in New York. The artist Daniel Huntington was President of the National Academy, while the subject Dr. Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was a founding member and later President of the National Academy of Sciences.
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