Clars – Important Summer Fine Art Sale
June 20th 10am PDT
www.clars.com
5644 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA 94609

OAKLAND, CALIF. — This June, Clars Auctions is presenting a sale bursting with exceptional artwork from iconic creators. June 20 is the summer fine art sale, at 10 am; June 21 has jewelry, furniture and Asian items at 9:30 am; the Warehouse sale starts at 9:30 am on June 22.

One of the most exciting pieces in this month’s sale is a never-before-sold oil on canvas by the world-renowned Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí. Over the early to mid-Twentieth Century, Dalí established himself as perhaps the most celebrated Surrealist painter, famous for his instantly recognizable visual style and eccentric personality and antics. The painting featured in this month’s sale is titled “Portrait of Mrs Luther Greene” and dates to 1942, the year of the artist’s first retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The portrait depicts the patron seated in the foreground, wrapped in a wine-red sheet, with her dark hair juxtaposed against olive skin. Behind her is a classic Dalíesque landscape, an otherworldly desert with smooth orange sand under a gradient green and blue sky. Two figures stand in the distance: one, a partially skeletonized angel with one wing intact and both arms cut at the shoulder, recalls antique marbles such as the Venus de Milo. An amorphous hill on the far right, dotted with buildings, resembles a forgotten ghost town in desolate terrain, and a small boat sits beached by the shore on the far left. This exemplary piece of Dalí’s catalog is accompanied by preliminary sketches done by the artist in preparation for the painting.

Another important piece in the June sale is a serigraph by American Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein is one of the most prominent figures of the Pop Art movement and is best known for his comic strip-inspired paintings, prints and sculptures. The print featured in the June sale is titled “Reverie” and dates to 1965. It depicts a young woman with blonde hair and a melancholy expression holding a microphone while a speech bubble over her head reads the lyrics, “The melody haunts my reverie.” This lyric is from the song “Stardust” by Tin Pan Alley musicians Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish, written in 1927 and popularized during the 1930s big band era. “Reverie” was created for a portfolio titled 11 Pop Artists, published by Original Editions, which included two other prints by the artist, as well as prints by Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann and other major names in the Pop Art movement.

A third highlight in the June auction is an oil on canvas painting by key Harlem Renaissance figure Aaron Douglas. Douglas is widely known for the murals he was commissioned to paint in high-profile locations, including several historically Black colleges and universities, the Harlem YMCA and one of his most acclaimed works, “Aspects of Negro Life,” at the New York Public Library in Harlem. The work in this sale shows three silhouetted human figures holding spears and chasing five bison-like animals through an abstracted environment that uses the interplay between color and light to mimic an earthly landscape while remaining nonobjective..

In addition to the aforementioned works in the June sale, there are abstract sculptures by Claire Falkenstein, a life-size bronze gown by Karen LaMonte, a suite of six bullfighting paintings by LeRoy Neiman, an abstract expressionist oil by Tancredi Parmigiani, and much more.

Jewelry highlights in the Friday sale include a diamond and platinum rivière necklace ($25/30,000); a diamond and platinum tennis bracelet ($15/20,000); an 18K gold Cartier wristwatch ($2,5/3,500); a Chopard diamond and 18K gold “Your Hour” wristwatch ($4/6,000); an antique aquamarine and 18K gold parure set ($6/8,000); and a Victorian citrine, diamond, enamel and gold brooch ($3/5,000). In addition is a set of sapphire, diamond and gold brooches designed by Dalí, never before seen on the second-hand market.

The Friday sale features modern highlights from design masters such as Isamu Noguchi, Guido Faleschini, Hans Wegner and Philip and Kelvin LaVerne. Other highlights include Pre-Columbian and other Indigenous arts, sterling silver, musical instruments, porcelain, Bohemian glass, and Persian and modern carpets.

The Asian Art department will offer a single-owner collection of Chinese archaic jade and hardstone carvings ranging from bi discs to pendants and cong vessels. The highlight from this collection is a jade “dragon” disc, possibly dated to the Eastern Zhou period (771-256 BCE).

Clars Auction Gallery is at 5644 Telegraph Avenue. For information, 510-428-0100 or www.clars.com.

888 339 7600 (toll free)
510 428 0100 (local) info@clars.com
1. Salvador Dalf, Portrait of Mrs. Luther Greene, 1942, oil on canvas, 24″ x 20″. Accompanied by sketches of Mrs. Greene by Dalf from 1942 (charcoal/ink on paper). Provenance: Private collection (by descent); Mrs. Luther Greene (Ellen Chamberlain), New York. Catalog reference: © Fundacid Gala – Salvador Dalf: Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings by Salvador Dalf (cat. no. P 565). 2. Tancredi Parmeggiani, Untitled, oil on board, 16″ x 26″. Provenance: Private Collection, Auburn, CA, thence by descent to the present owner. 3. Aaron Douglas, Untitled, circa 1955, oil on canvas, 22″ x 44″. 4. (lot of 6) LeRoy Neiman, The Red Corrida, oils on panels, largest: 7.75″ x 11.75″.
5. Karen LaMonte, Nocturne, 2015, white bronze, 58.5″ x 18″ x 11″. 6. Roy Lichtenstein, Reverie, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II, 1965, screenprint in colors, 27″ x 23″.
Clars Auctions | 5644 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA 94609
In Person + Online Bidding | Preview: June 19th, 1-5 PM PDT