For many years, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers has achieved consistently strong prices in a range of collecting categories. The Art & Design sale on Thursday, December 2, 2021 was no exception. In fact, Toomey & Co. delivered some quite impressive returns for its consignors during the auction. Consignments are now invited for 2022 and those interested may request an estimate online or email photos to info@toomeyco.com.
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers is considered one of the premiere specialty auction houses in the United States and has been conducting auctions since 1987. Located just west of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. holds several carefully curated sales annually with material sourced from six departments: Fine Art, Early 20th Century Design, Modern Design, Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts, Silver & Objects of Vertu, and Fine Jewelry & Timepieces. Recent schedules have presented single-owner and special sales drawn from important estates and private collections.
Art & Design on December 2 featured works by major figures who have shaped their respective fields for more than a century. Highlights from the auction include the following items that sold well beyond their estimate ranges:
The first lot in the auction was a newly discovered Alphonse Mucha oil on canvas, Young Couple from Rusadla, 1920, which soared beyond its $100,000-200,000 range to realize $965,000 including buyer's premium, nearly 10 times the estimated value. This price is an auction record for a study by Mucha.
While the Czech-born Mucha first gained fame in Paris for his Art Nouveau lithograph poster advertisement for Sarah Bernhardt’s play Gismonda, 1894, his true calling as an artist was to represent Slavic peoples and history, which he later accomplished through a 20-painting series, Slav Epic. The vividly detailed work that Toomey & Co. sold in Art & Design on December 2 is a fully realized study from Mucha’s Rusadla, which illustrates a procession scene from a Slavic Midsummer Feast.
Situated just blocks from the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. has long offered designs by the world-famous Prairie School architect at auction. The Art & Design sale on December 2 boasted a rare, copper weed holder, circa 1895, by Wright that realized $161,000 with premium over its $100,000-150,000 estimate.
The Wright weed holder was one of a pair owned by the Burdick family of Oak Park, with the other donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in 1995; it is currently on display in the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. The slim obelisk shape of the weed holder illustrates Wright’s practical and organic design philosophy to incorporate the local landscape — in this case, to display Midwestern prairie weeds. Examples are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the British Museum in London, and other fine institutions.
Another work that drew considerable attention was French artist Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s Model of Ugolino and His Sons, executed circa 1875, which came from the collection of Governor Jim Thompson, Chicago, Illinois. While this sculpture had a relatively modest estimate of $8,000-12,000, Carpeaux’s terra cotta figural group achieved $149,000.
Modeled on Michelangelo’s Last Judgment panel in the Sistine Chapel and the classical Rhodes statue, Laocoön and His Sons, Carpeaux’s initial bronze version of Ugolino and His Sons was cast by the French Ministry of Fine Arts in 1863 and depicts a 13th-century count from Dante’s Inferno who is imprisoned and starving with his children. An 1867 marble example of the sculpture was later acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Mid-century father-and-son designers Philip LaVerne and Kelvin LaVerne are known for their brass, pewter, and bronze furniture and sculptures, which are usually adorned with acid-etched depictions of classical figures or Asian motifs. Art & Design on December 2 included a rare, four-paneled Chan Li cabinet in brass by Philip and Kelvin LaVerne that had a $25,000-35,000 estimate and sold for $81,250 altogether. This elaborate example bears a scene from imperial China with various characters on either side of a palace gate.
Designs by Art Nouveau glass innovator Louis Comfort Tiffany come to auction at Toomey & Co. often, but a Tiffany Studios Oak Leaf & Acorn table lamp in Art & Design on December 2 was in particularly high demand. Selling for $46,875 over its $15,000-25,000 estimate, bidders no doubt took note of this attractive form’s excellent bronze patina and the almost pristine state of its mottled glass, both of which are original to the lamp.
Beloved Chicago artist Ed Paschke was known to incorporate elements of pop culture into his works in thought-provoking ways. During Art & Design on December 2, Paschke’s oil on canvas, Eye Balk, 1969, had a $15,000-25,000 estimate and realized $43,750. Paschke used obscure baseball player Vern Fuller’s 1968 Topps trading card to create the central imagery for this painting and juxtaposed three repeated zombie faces from Tor Johnson’s portrayal of Inspector Daniel Clay in Ed Wood’s cult sci-fi/horror classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, 1957.
As these auction highlights demonstrate, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers handles a diverse selection of material and frequently sells items at prices significantly above their estimates. To consign with Toomey & Co. in 2022, you may request an estimate online or email photos to info@toomeyco.com.
