Clarke Auction's Fifth Annual Fine Art Sale Nears - Monday, October 27, 2008

    LARCHMONT, NY, October 14, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Clarke Auction is finalizing the catalog for its Monday, October 27th, 2008, Fifth Annual Fine Art Auction.

Clarke's previous Fine Art Auctions uncovered the rare, the emerging, and the exceptional in 19th and 20th Century art . This sale not only continues, but aggressively builds upon this tradition.

Orientalism from Local Estates
"Welcome to the Bazaar", an Orientalism article in the October issue of Art+Auction quotes Deborah Coy of Christies "it's going to get harder to find the top quality things...These works aren't bought by dealers; they're bought by collectors. They go into private collections and don't come out."
In fact, however, two Orientalist works have come out to Clarke - a circa 1890 oil painting by the Italian Fabio Fabbi of two dancing girls with carpets and musicians and a second oil by the American Addison T. Millar depicting a mosque with Arabs and their horses. Each is fresh-to-market and come from local Bronxville and Connecticut estates respectively.

20th century African-American Art
African-American art, a Clarke strength, features works by Alvin Loving Jr., Purvis Young and Beauford Delaney. The Al Loving, from a Wisconsin estate, is a rare 1960's figural piece. A 1929 charcoal portrait by Delaney appears to be the earliest work dating from his arrival in New York while a 1950 48" x 36" oil dates from his Greene Street period, prior to Delaney's expatriation to Paris. The sale also offers two lithographs attributed to an unknown African-American artist working in Iowa in the 1980's.

Clarke and the New York School
Fresh-to-market New York School paintings from Larry Rivers, Jane Freilicher and Jose Guerrero came from Manhattan estates. The 1951 Rivers double portrait is typical of his work in the early 1950's and depicts a male nude and River's mother-in-law Berdie. A current Guild Hall Museum exhibition "Larry Rivers - Major Early Works - is focused on this period. The New York Times noted "this can only be one of the most poignant shows of the season. In it, we find ourselves face to face and nose to nose with a group of young people - among them Jane Freilicher, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara and John Bernard Myers - who have left a distinct mark on the life of art and literature as it has been practiced on the Eastern Seaboard. We also meet others on whom Larry Rivers has conferred a secondary immortality. They are present to us, one and all, with an exceptional immediacy..." Clarke is also featuring two oils by River's friend Jane Freilicher in this sale. The small Guerrero Abstract Expressionist oil was exhibited by the Betty Parson Gallery.

International art includes works from a watercolor portrait of George Morland by Thomas Rowlandson, four Italian scenes by Eugene Berman, three oils by Gabriel Spat(3), a large oil by Ferruccio Rontini, a red chalk nude by Ariside Maillol, watercolor of Granada by Wynne Apperley, lithographs by Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso and a Picasso Madoura bowl, a large watercolor of Sligo by John Faulkner, a drawing by Tchelitchew, and Dali prints as well as a photograph of Dali by Pepe Diniz and an immense oil by the Spaniard Cristobal Toral. A papier mache sculpture of Joseph Stalin by the Jewish-Russian provocateurs Komar and Melamid comes from a Rye consignor via the Jewish Museum.

Matisse the Master
Clarke anticipates great interest in the signed 1925 lithograph by Henri Matisse, fresh from a collector in New Rochelle.

Ashcan and Contemporary prints
Two fresh-to-market single owner collections of prints feature rare pieces by Martin Lewis, John Sloan, Reginald Marsh, and Yasuo Kunioshi in addition to works from Robert Motherwell, Stanton MacDonald Wright, Helen Frankenthaler, James Rosenquist, and Joan Miro. A rare, possibly unique 1986 oil on silver "silent Muses" by the American photographer Duane Michals comes from a Manhattan estate with a Sidney Janis Gallery provenance.

A Riverdale NYC estate provided an unusual midcentury collection from American sculptors, including signed designs by Alexander Calder, Fritz Bultman, and Theodore Roszak. Other sculpture includes rare pieces by Americans Gladys Bates and Dorothy Robbins.

Back Alleys, Wall Street, Your Walls
Founder and owner Ronan Clarke notes "We simply go places and visit people outside typical auction circles. The result is that we find the exceptional - a Fabio Fabbi and a Millar; the great Ashcan and Contemporary prints; the two Delaneys and the Larry Rivers. He adds, "In these times, stop obsessing over Wall Street and hang Art That You Love On Your Walls. It will give you years of pleasure, and might be the best investment you've ever made..."

NOTE Previews Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 24-25-26 12:00 Noon to 6:00 pm and Monday, day-of-auction, 12 Noon to auction start.

For further information or to discuss future appointments, please call Clarke at 914-833-8336 or visit its website at www.clarkeny.com

About Clarke Auction Gallery

Clarke Auction Gallery, Westchester's Premier Auction Gallery, conducts catalogued sales monthly featuring distinctive fine and decorative arts, antiques, exceptional furniture, oriental rugs, sterling silver and midcentury modern. For further information, please contact us at (914)833-8336 or [email protected]

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