Sporting Immortality
Émile Lepron achieved sporting immortality. Champion of France in the single scull 1890, 1892, and 1893, Champion of the Seine in 1889 and 1892, and Champion of the Marne from 1888 to 1894; Lepron could rest on his oars, his…
News
“I heard a roar, like thunder…”
On December 21st, 1792 in the Bay of Bengal, a small party fatefully disembarked the ship Shah Ardaseer to hunt deer on Saugor Island, resulting in an event that would resonate for decades to follow. In the words of party…
Auction Gallery Exhibitions: Behind the Scenes with Elizabeth Pook
With the resumption of live sales at Pook & Pook comes the return of a favorite pastime, the auction preview. People gather to wander through the exhibition, admiring and engaging with the antiques on display. Old friends, multigenerational families, young…
Complicit In His Curse
The Midas Head was created in 1989 by Dame Elisabeth Frink (British 1930-1993) as an emblem for the BBC program The Midas Touch, directed by her stepson, Mick Csaky, and presented by Anthony Sampson. With influences from the classical (see…
Miniature Masterpieces of Modern Art
On October 28th, Pook & Pook is excited to offer at auction two brooches created by one of the greatest artistic pioneers of the 20th century, Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963). Perhaps most famous for revolutionizing painting by founding, together with…
Treasure of the Concepción
On a bright day in 1641, under sweltering skies, twenty one ships sailed out of Vera Cruz, the port of New Spain, headed for Seville. They were the ships of the Spanish Treasure Fleet, laden with a fortune in silver,…
Sublime Feline
In Paris in 1910, William Zorach was a student of traditional art schools. He met and fell in love with a fellow student, the brilliant Marguerite Thompson. The two decided to break with past methods of painting, to see the…
Cloudscape
Cloudscape is a word coined by American artist and author Eric Sloane (1905-1985). His largest cloud painting is a 58 foot by 75 foot mural covering an entire wall of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. In the 1920’s Sloane…
A Boy and His……Cat?
Malvina Hoffman (New York, 1885-1966) was taught by Auguste Rodin from 1910 until 1917, learning to sculpt in a realistic style. Moving back to New York after Rodin’s death, she rented a mews apartment in a little cul-de-sac called Sniffen…
The Significant Form of Elie Nadelman
Elie Nadelman (New York/France, Poland, 1882-1946) is known for abstract, elegant, stylized sculptures, and for his original, modern aesthetic. Nadelman’s style evolved throughout his career as he sought new ways to achieve perfection. He explored influences from long ago and…
Lots at Sea
The September 15th Decorative Arts sale features a number of objects with a nautical theme. Lot 2544 is an ingenious shipboard light fixture: a scarce wrought iron gimbal-mounted ship’s fat lamp, mid 19th c., with three inner gimbaled hoops. In…
Crest of the Wave
An allegory of the element of water, Crest of the Wave is all about motion and lightness and gravity. Harriet Frishmuth (American, 1880-1980) was a Beaux Arts sculptor of the early 20th century. She studied briefly with Rodin, and then…
Press Release – Americana & International Auction
Pook & Pook Auction’s two-day sale September 30th and October 1st promises to be one of its biggest Americana & International events to date. The sale will begin with the Pennsylvania Mocha collection. The first three quarters of this noted…
The Moods of Time
Paul Howard Manship (American, 1885 – 1966) created four bronze fountains The Moods of Time: Morning, Day, Evening, and Night for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The sculptures were hour markers on a large sundial, allegorical figures representing the…
Tobias Hirte Redux
Tobias Hirte’s life may have spanned 1748-1833, but he was a man far ahead of his time. In our Photography, Prints, and Ephemera auction on August 18th, Pook & Pook will offer an important and exceedingly rare document demonstrating the…
The Collection of Barbara A. & Fred Johnson, of Rockford, Illinois
On August 19th, 2021, Pook & Pook presents The Collection of Barbara A. & Fred Johnson, of Rockford, Illinois. Owners of Barbara A. Johnson Antiques, the couple spent decades traveling throughout the U.S. and Europe in search of antiques, specializing…