Rago’s Announces a 20th /21st Century Design Auction on June 16-17 1,100 lots of exceptional property, including pottery by Saturday Evening Girls; lighting by Tiffany; studio furniture by Nakashima; glass by Zynsky and Chihuly and much more. Previews begin June 9th.
and an Orotone photograph, “Bear Legs,” by Carl Moon.
Metalwork:
Famous metalworkers represented in the sale include: Samuel Yellin, Roycroft, Gustav Stickley, Gorham, Joseph Heinrichs, Dirk Van Erp, Hugo Levin, and John Pearson.
The sale contains a large and important pair of doors by Samuel Yellin, estimated at $10,000-15,000, from Goodhart Hall, Bryn Mawr College. Another good Samuel Yellin lot is #220, a pair of andirons with fire poker, estimated at $4,000-6,000. Also of note is lot 178, a rare and large Dirk Van Erp hammered copper kindling box, $6,000-9,000. The box originates from a five-piece fireplace set made as a wedding gift for Van Erp's friends William Woods Adams and Marie-Louise Weber. Lot 55 is an usual copper wine cooler by Gustav Stickley, priced at $4,500-6,500.
Modern Ceramics on Saturday, June 16 (following Early 20th C.):
Following the Early 20th C. Design sale is a run of modern ceramics, by artists such as: Pablo Picasso, Viktor Schreckengost , Jun Kaneko, Vally (Valerie) Wieselthier, Axel Salto, Betty Woodman, Otto & Gertrud Natzler, Aaron Bohrod, Adrian Saxe, Anish Kapoor, Anne Hirondelle, Carl Walters, Claude Conover, Colin Pearson, David Gilhooly, Edwin Scheier, Gudrun Baudisch, Harrison McIntosh, Hiroaki Morino, Hui Ka Kwong, Jais Neilsen, Michael Frimkess, Otto and Vivika Heino, Paul Soldner, Paula Winokur, Peter Voulkos, Steven Montgomery, Toshiko Takaezu, Viola Frey, Wayne Higby, and Wilhelm Kage.
20th C. Studio Pottery begins with lot 400, a massive “Jazz” bowl, made by Viktor Schreckengost for Cowan, estimated at $40,000-60,000. This is one of the few original and possibly one of the last “Jazz” bowls still in private hands. The “Jazz” bowl was originally commissioned by Eleanor Roosevelt in celebration of her husband's reelection as governor of New York in 1931. Mrs. Roosevelt was so taken with the bowl that she commissioned two more. Immediately after, a New York City gallery placed an order for approximately fifty. No one knows with certainty how many hand-incised “Jazz” bowls were made, but fewer than twenty are known. The one to be sold at Rago’s in June is the latest to emerge, and it may be the last.
The sale contains a run of fourteen lots of Goldscheider ceramic busts and masks from a private New Jersey collection, ranging in estimate from $700 to $1,500. There are six lots of Picasso pottery, most notably lot 418, a unique hand-painted tile, "Tête de Garçon," estimated at $30,000-40,000. There are several Scheier lots (432-441), including earthenware, prints and wool weavings. One of the most outstanding is lot 437, an important three-piece earthenware totem, from the collection of Dr. Albert Grokoest, estimated at $8,500–12,500. The work was featured in a 2001 documentary, “Four Hands, One Heart: Ed and Mary Scheier” by Ken Brown, depicting the cultural heritage of American studio crafts and fine arts/design. Other notable pieces in the sale include: lot 446, an earthenware bowl by Otto and Gertrude Natzler, estimated at $14,000-19,000; lot 451, a massive closed form sculpture by Toshiko Takaezu, estimated at $8,000-12,000; lot 465, a massive
