Hindman’s Fall Fine Art Auctions to Feature Significant Works by Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Henry Moore and Others
Hindman’s Fine Art Department Continues to Build on the Success of Spring Sales with Important Midwestern Collections
Chicago – September 30th – October 2nd, Hindman will offer over 500 works of art across four separate auctions. The three days of Fine Art sales kick-off on Wednesday, September 30th with American and European Art, followed by Post War and Contemporary Art and American and European Art Online taking place on Thursday, October 1, and ending with Prints and Multiples on October 2nd. The upcoming fall sales follow a spectacular spring auction season that, despite the economic climate, soared past presale estimates and continued the department’s record setting trend. Exciting collections and premier works will be offered over the course of the three days, including important works by blue-chip artists such as Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Pablo Picasso.
One of the finest collections Hindman is proud to present this fall, is the estate of Joan Conway Crancer, the beloved St. Louis art collector. Born into an artist’s world, Joan Conway Crancer spent her entire life surrounded by art and artists. The only daughter of legendary St. Louis painter, Fred Conway, Joan grew up watching him work and came to appreciate art in all its forms, as well as the people who create it. Her early experience fostered her love of collecting and over the years, the collection she built with her husband and their commitment to the arts grew. The Crancers became actively involved with the Saint Louis Art Museum, where Joan served for many years as a Museum Trustee and a member of its Acquisitions Committee. Always generous to the Museum, the couple were members of its Beaux Arts Council and were the honorees for the Council’s 1999 Awards Dinner. They also endowed a gallery in the Museum, which is named for Alice and Fred Conway, Joan’s parents. Joan remained an Honorary Trustee of the Museum throughout her life. Highlights from her collection include archetypal sculptures by Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, Gaston Lachaise, Ibram Lassaw, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson and John Storrs, elegant prints and works on paper by George Ault, Paul Klee, Emil Nolde, David Smith, Joseph Stella and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as well as a stunning and versatile array of Fred Conway paintings and drawings.
“The property from the Estate of Joan Crancer will be the foundation for the fall Fine Art auctions and we feel honored to be handling her collection. Highlights from the Crancer collection will be spread across our Fine Art categories and will be complemented by other fantastic examples of Post War, Prints and American and European Art during the auctions,” said Joe Stanfield, Director and Senior Specialist of Fine Art. “These sales are incredibly strong and not just relatively speaking in our current climate, but in any market.”
October 1, 2020, 10am CST
Hindman’s Post War and Contemporary Art department continues to offer strong works by highly sought-after artists in its fall auction. The Crancer collection anchors this auction with two Alexander Calder mobiles and sculptures by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, among other works. Calder’s Triple Cross from 1947 and Petit poteau jaune (Little Yellow Post) from 1963 will be offered with presale estimates of $600,000-800,000 and $200,000-400,000, respectively.
This auction also boasts another exciting session of Imagist and Hairy Who works. Hindman continues to see strong results in this category and has built another exceptional collection of offerings. Of particular note, is the collection of celebrated founding member of the Hairy Who, Suellen Rocca, who passed away this year. Her career as an artist, as well as an instructor and curator, began at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute which launched her lifelong friendship with the artists that would come to be known as the Chicago Imagists. From there, as her career blossomed, she taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), The Jane Addams Hull House and Elmhurst College, among others. Through these associations, she cemented her legacy as a part of Chicago’s own art history. Highlights from her collection include Gladys Nilsson’s 1965 oil on canvas, Untitled (Hairy Legged, Star Tattooed Giantess in Striped Dress Skipping Rope), offered with a presale estimate of $40,000-60,000 and two oil on canvas works by Roger Brown, Untitled (Two Figures at Bar, Female Behind Counter, Carpet Frame) from 1969 and Untitled (Stepped Stage with Velvet Glove Curtains) from 1970, each estimated at $30,000-50,000.
“Suellen Rocca left a lasting impression not just as an important and influential artist but also as a keen-eyed curator. We are humbled to be handling these significant early works by her fellow Chicago Imagist artists and friends which she thoughtfully selected to be part of her personal collection. Sharing and collaboration was integral to the movement, and lovely collective threads of vision clearly emerge and shine in this group of paintings,” said Zack Wirsum, Senior Specialist of Post War and Contemporary Art.
September 30, 2020, 10am CST
The American and European Art auction will offer over 130 lots of paintings, sculpture and works on paper from the 19th and 20th centuries with an impressive session of Modernist and Regionalist works by Grant Wood, Marvin Cone, Dale Nichols and John Storrs among others.
The auction features important works by native Iowans from the Cedar Rapids, Iowa estate of Nancy Holmes, including Marvin Cone’s oil on canvas, Interval (Cloud Painting) which was acquired directly from the artist and holds a presale estimate of $60,000-80,000. Additionally, two landscapes by Grant Wood come from this same collection, Decorative Landscape with Crocuses from 1912 and Reflections, Ville d’Avray from 1920. They are expected to sell between $30,000-50,000 and $15,000-25,000, respectively.
Two works by French sculptor, Gaston Lachaise are also included. Woman on Divan and Pudeur are both offered from the Joan Conway Crancer estate and are each estimated at $20,000-30,000. While casts of Pudeur reside in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the present cast was created as a wedding gift from the artist to his nephew and his nephew’s bride.
October 2, 2020, 10am CST
The Prints and Multiples auction features over 140 lots by a number of well-known artists, such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Vija Celmins, M.C. Escher and Emil Nolde.
The top lot of the auction is Andy Warhol’s portrait of Jane Fonda. It consists of three of the 25 unique trial proofs that Warhol released for this image. Arranged as a triptych with connecting frames, this combination embodies the spirit of the most recognizable themes of Warhol’s career: fame, celebrity, politics and repetition. This gridded style of portraiture is signature Warhol and imbues the sitter with his unmistakable commentary on fame itself. It is expected to sell between $70,000-90,000. The sale also boasts a strong session of prints by Jasper Johns. The session of six works by the artist includes Target with Plaster Casts, Two Flags and Corpse and Mirror embodying three of the central themes of John’s career: targets, flags and crosshatches.
The American and European Art, Post War and Contemporary Art and Prints and Multiples auctions will be held September 30th through October 2nd, each at 10am CST in Hindman’s Chicago saleroom. Bidding for these auctions is available by absentee, telephone and four online bidding platforms. The American and European Art Online auction will be held on Hindman’s own platform, LH Live and on LiveAuctioneers. Preview is available by appointment. Please contact Hindman’s Client Services by calling 312.280.1212 to schedule a time to preview the sale.