The block was awash with color this past week. Abstract art reached the six-figure mark with a canvas by Alma W. Thomas, and a George Morrison composition multiplied its estimate […]

NANTUCKET, MASS. – Wouldn’t marine, nautical and Nantucket items be what you would expect from an auction on Nantucket? Rafael Osona’s December 3 Christmas Stroll Auction delivered on those expectations. The sale, grossing just over $500,000, included numerous paintings by Nantucket artists, other marine paintings (some with mermaids), woolies, whalebone walking sticks, nine Carl Voorhees carved whales, 34 lots of Nantucket baskets and several tea caddies.

WILMINGTON, MASS. – There has been an end-of-the-year show at The Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, Mass., for years. Formerly run by Marv Getman, Covid-19 restrictions forced its cancellation for the last two years and he elected not to produce the show again.

LOS ANGELES – Abell Auction presented Twentieth Century design on November 29, an online sale featuring more than 450 lots of designer furniture, paintings and multiples, decorative arts and luxury goods. Among the original works of art on offer, a highlight topping the sale was a Mr Brainwash (b 1966) subway panel from 2016.

WAVERLY, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA – Crowther & Brayley Ltd conducted its online-only November 2022 sale via HiBid, opening bidding on November 25 and closing on December 1. The auction presented more than 400 lots of fine art, decorative arts and jewelry.

FREEHOLD, N.Y. – A life-size cast iron deer attributed to J.W. Fiske and in old red paint more than tripled its $3,000 high estimate to sell for $10,800 at Carlsen Gallery’s December 4 antiques and fine art auction. The sale, which closed out the year for owners Abby and Russ Carlsen, was a diverse offering of just over 350 lots and totaled $300,000, passing just six lots out of 358 offered.

The art of cartoonist and social realist painter William Gropper (American, 1897-1977) whose work satirized war, prejudice, exploitation and greed, finds parallels in our current moment in history. When we learned there was a selling exhibition of his works at Helicline Fine Art, we wanted to find out more about how the exhibition came to be and why Gropper’s work is enjoying a renaissance of interest.

NEW YORK CITY — Poster Auctions International’s (PAI) third sale of the year on November 13 finished at just over $2.2 million. Rare Posters Auction LXXXVIII saw sustained passion for rare and never-before-seen lithographs from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco eras, continuing PAI’s streak of $2 million auctions this year.

NEW YORK CITY — Henry Popple’s 1773 A Map of the British Empire in America staked out a final price of $60,000, including buyer’s premium, at Swann Galleries’ December 8 sale of maps and atlases, natural history and plate books.

WILLOW, N.Y. — Robert Henri’s (1865-1929) “Cottages –County Mayo, Ireland,” circa 1910, with a bird’s-eye impression of cottages in a lush countryside, took top honors at James Cox Gallery’s Collectors Exchange fine art auction on December 11.