Swann Auction Galleries in Manhattan has announced a sale of vintage posters, including Mather Work Incentive Posters and Circus and Wild West Posters, to begin its 2012 season. Exceptional, rare pieces and iconic images from the United States and Europe will make up most of the sale.
Leading the sale is a set of four panels by Alphonse Mucha known as The Seasons, completed in 1896 and estimated to sell between $70,000 and $100,000. In addition, two variations of Mucha’s stunning Reverie poster featuring a goddess-like woman (one edition from 1897 and one from 1898) are each estimated to sell between $12,000 and $18,000.
Other major highlights include Toulouse-Lautrec’s 1895 image La Revue Blanche, $25,000 to $35,000, and Jacques Villon’s 1899 image L’Anti-Bélier, $15,000 to $20,000. Cocorico, a poster by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, 1899, depicts a rooster that was featured on the cover of a literary magazine of the same name. Cocorico, which also appears on the cover of the auction catalogue, is estimated to sell between $12,000 and $18,000. Also, a rare 1893 horizontal format piece titled New York Symphony Orchestra is estimated at $3,000-$4,000.
Swann will also feature international ski posters in this sale. Highlights include Emil Cardinaux’s Palace Hotel / St. Moritz, 1920, $10,000 to $15,000. Also, Franz Lenhart’s Sports Invernali in Italia, circa 1930; H. Ashley’s Ski at Banff in the Canadian Rockies, 1938; and Maciej Urbaniec’s Come and See Polish Mountains, 1961, $1,200 to $1,800 each.
Concluding the sale will be a collection of circus and Wild West posters, including the 1900 piece Count Orloff, who was known as “the transparent man,” $1,000-$1,500. Similarly, a 1900 poster titled Giant Beard Man depicting a “man with the largest and most beautiful beard in the world” is estimated at $1,200 to $1,800. Images of the classic character Buffalo Bill, such as 1900’s Buffalo Bill’s Wild West / Le “Poney Express,” $4,000 to $6,000, and 1905’s W.F. Cody / Buffalo Bill, circa 1905, $12,000 to $18,000, are also offered.
The auction will take place February 2nd at 10:30 a.m. with public viewings to be held on January 28th, January 30th, and February 1st at Swann Auction Galleries (104 E. 25th St.) (212) 254-4710.
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