Christie's New York Announces Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts: The Collection EXCEPTIONAL AMERICAN PAINTINGS, IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART, AND 20TH CENTURY DECORATIVE ARTS TO HIGHLIGHT CHRISTIE’S MAJOR SPRING SALES IN NEW YORK
the stylized contortion of the animal’s elongated neck forming a graceful echo to its arched back. Of similar stylized design is Mountain Goat Fire Screen (estimate: $150,000-250,000) by William Hunt Diederich (1884-1953), whose fascination with animals and their fluid movements engendered a range of exquisite artworks in paper, wrought iron, and bronze.
Additional highlights from the May 20 sale include several works by Oscar Bluemner (1867-1938), including A New Hampshire Town, a tempera on board painted in 1929 (estimate: $200,000-300,000), a group of works on paper by Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893-1967), featuring February Dusk, 1918, a watercolor on paper (estimate: $60,000-80,000), and a selection of four exceptional paintings by Marguerite Thompson Zorach (1887-1968) led by Night Still Life, from circa 1940 (estimate: $50,000-70,000), a vibrant floral still life that showcases a broad array of artistic devices and influences, from folk to trompe l’oeil realism.
20th Century Decorative Arts Highlights
As a highlight of its June sale of Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, Christie’s is pleased to present a dozen carefully-curated works from the Bernard Goldberg Collection, including designs by prominent American designers Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) and George Washington Maher (1864 -1926). An excellent example of Stickley’s minimal, rectilinear design aesthetic is Hanging Chandelier, model no. 291, from 1904 (estimate: $60,000-80,000). Made from copper and mica, the earthy brown and red materials Stickley selected are meant to gently complement his furniture rather than compete for attention. The chandelier remains in excellent condition and features all of the original components.
Known for blending the traditional with the Arts and Crafts style, Maher was a leading practitioner of the Prairie School style of architecture. Through the application of his motif-rhythm theory, first conceived in 1897, Maher strove to create simple yet harmonious interiors through the exclusive use of a single recurring theme that links interior decorative elements with exterior structural forms. His chosen motifs survive today in lighting fixtures, furniture, and woodwork, as well as elaborate pieces of art glass. The upcoming sales will feature two exciting examples of Maher’s designs: his Poppy leaded glass windows, 1905-06 (estimate: $40,000-60,000), and Rockledge Floor Lamp, with original leaded glass shade (estimate: $60,000-90,000). The latter was designed for and originally installed at Rockledge, the summer home of Ernest L. King and his wife Grace Watkins King that became Maher’s most famous architectural commission.
Additional items from the collection to be featured in the June 17 sale include a Wrought-Iron Chandelier, executed circa 1921 (estimate: $20,000-30,000) by the Philadelphia designer Samuel Yellin, whose works included commissions for the most prestigious institutions and families in America, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Yale University, and the Vanderbilt family, and an oak table from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo circa 1916-22 (estimate: $10,000-15,000) designed by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The property to be sold in the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening and Day sales will be exhibited from April 30 to May 4. The majority of the collection will be exhibited together in
