Imposing Walter Sinz, 'Dolphin Boy' Fountain at Gray's June 27 Gray’s Summer Auction on June 27th features an exciting mix of furniture, paintings, prints, jewelry, books and unique decorative art objects including an impressive fountain designed by Walter Sinz.
on horseback, and the head of a unicorn. Perhaps one of the most stunning objects in the auction is Lot 228, a vintage gilt plated pewter and natural shell table lamp by Moritz Hacker, circa 1900. Its graceful design features natural forms typical of the period’s popular art nouveau style.
Gray’s is also delighted to offer a number of fun and truly unique objects in this eclectic summer sale. Perhaps most notable is the Water Boy Fountain, an early fiberglass sculpture fitted with internal plumbing created by Cleveland-trained artist Walter Sinz (Lot 74). The design is modeled after an original plaster work from the Great Lakes Exposition held in Cleveland, Ohio during the summers of 1936 and ’37. Conceived as a way to energize a city hit hard by the Great Depression, the exposition was a commemorative celebration of the centennial of Cleveland’s incorporation as a city. Extensive fairgrounds were established along the Lake Erie shoreline on lands that now house the Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fortunately the festival was a huge success, drawing four million visitors to Cleveland in its first season and over seven million by the fall of its second year. Another treasure is a songbook compiled by the American composer and arranger George Bassman made especially for Judy Garland (Lot 366). The custom made folio is bound in three-quarters brown leather with strong cloth sides and stamped with the actresses’ name in gilt lettering on the lower left front cover. It includes sheet music from Vincente Minnelli’s 1945 film, The Clock, which starred Garland and for which Bassman did the score. This one-of-a-kind book also includes an inscription to Garland from Bassman that reads, “For Judy – my favorite actress...”
Finally, Gray’s will be auctioning a number of works by important contemporary Cleveland artists including Thomas Roese, Bruce McCombs, and Fred Leach (Lots 66-72). Done in a variety of mediums, these images highlight several of the city’s most recognizable landmarks such as the West Side Market, the Flats, and views of downtown. Gray’s is also thrilled to introduce works by a newly discovered Cleveland painter, Ronald Carvell Meaux, whose psychedelic expressions in oil are consistent with the Lyrical Abstraction movement in post-war modernist painting (Lots 41-55). His artwork seems to be of a highly personal nature and features such fantastic titles as Bacchanale with Telepathic Window and The Metamorphosis and Influence of an Ancient Demi-God or Aphrodite Feigning Virginity, Summer 1965.
The June 27th auction will take place at Gray’s spacious showrooms, located at 10717 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, at 11am. Live online bidding for this auction is offered by LiveAuctioneers.com, together with telephone bidding and absentee bidding offered directly through Gray's. The auction showrooms will be open for preview June 20th through 26th, 11am – 6pm, Saturday, June 23rd by appointment, and closed on Sunday, June 24th.
Gray's Auctioneers and Appraisers are the only licensed, bonded, and insured auction house in Cleveland holding monthly live auctions, and
