Leading the sale was Robert Longo’s “Rick,” 1994, artwork from his “Men in the Cities” series, which sold for $27,940 to an online buyer.
Review by W.A. Demers, Photos Courtesy Sloans & Kenyon
CHEVY CHASE, MD. – Robert Longo (b 1953), the American artist best known for his photorealistic drawings of jumping figures, sharks, tigers and guns, got the attention of bidders on the second day of Sloans & Kenyon’s February 10-11 auction. “Rick,” 1994, artwork from his “Men in the Cities” series, sold for $27,940 to an online buyer. Pencil signed, dated and numbered, the limited edition original lithograph on Arches paper numbered 44 of an edition of 170 was published by Greenpeace (New York) and measured 46 by 30 inches. Longo came to prominence in the early 1980s with his “Men in the Cities” series – a sequence of large-scale drawings depicting formally dressed men and women in contorted poses. Many of these drawings were used in advertising, album covers and other forms of commercial art throughout that decade.
The overall sale featured Americana, antiques, furniture, paintings and sculpture, jewelry, silver, decorative arts and more. Totaling $222,630 with a 67 percent sell-through by lot and 88 percent by value, the sale hosted 336 bidders and 238 successful buyers. It was the firm’s first time using the LiveAuctioneers platform, and online bidding was facilitated by Invaluable as well.
Setting the table at $7,015 was a 193-piece Tiffany & Co. Faneuil pattern set of sterling silver flatware. Variously monogrammed, the set included 12 dinner knives, 11 luncheon knives; 12 dinner forks, 12 luncheon forks; 12 fish knives; 12 fish forks; 11 salad forks; 13 dessert forks; 12 steak knives; 12 flat-handle butter knives; 12 ice cream forks; 11 seafood forks; 22 teaspoons; 12 demitasse spoons; four baby feeding spoons; one salad serving fork and more.
A 193-piece Tiffany & Co. Faneuil pattern sterling silver flatware, partially shown here, went out at $7,015.
Two other items of silver tableware combined to bring $3,302, one a German silver (800-fine) menorah with hand-hammered surface texture, the other, signed Jos. Hein, Paris/New York, a bronze and silver cream pitcher. Also, a set of eight Reed & Barton sterling silver service plates with shaped, molded borders spaced by shells and floral sprays in the Edwardian taste climbed to $2,928.
Dale Chihuly’s (American, b 1941) “Starlight Seaform Macchia,” 2004, of handblown glass was signed and attracted a winning bid of $4,575.
A Louis XVI carved and gilt console table sporting a black-painted and flecked wooden slab top of later date realized $3,683. It was 35½ inches high and the top measured 65 by 34 inches.
There was more notable continental furniture among the top highlights. A German inlaid walnut and burl walnut serpentine-front secretary desk from the Eighteenth Century, approximately 72 by 40 by 20 inches, went out at $3,050. And a George III chinoiserie decorated red lacquer step-back cabinet from the Nineteenth Century earned $2,921. In two parts, its upper section had a pair glazed doors with gilt-wood mullions dividing geometric panes; opening to vertically bisected interior with two shelves; lower section with pair paneled cabinet doors opening to shelves over plinth base. Dimensions were 94½ by 56½ by 19½ inches.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. The firm’s next general auction is set for April 8 in its newly refurbished facility. Jewelry auction will be conducted in March, date to be announced. For information, www.sloansandkenyon.com or 301-634-2330.
