This June, Uppsala Auktionskammare is unveiling three auctions: a Classic, Asian and Modern & Contemporary sale. Over 1,200 lots will entice seasoned collectors between June 11-15, who can bid on a range of works, from a Jan Van Eyck painting to Warhol's Perrier Bottles silkscreen. Here are the highlights of each sale:
Asian Art (June 11)
Uppsala's Asian Art auction will offer over 100 vases, scrolls, sculptures, ceramics and more, including this beautiful Chinese jar depicting four servants watching a large elephant as a Buddhist monk and soldier look on.
Classic (June 13-14)
Jan Brueghel the Elder was one the top Flemish Renaissance artists along with Peter Paul Rubens in the 16th and 17th centuries. He was known for his exquisitely rendered landscape scenes that often incorporate historical, allegorical or religious messages. This work depicts St. Jerome, known for translating the Bible into Latin in the 4th century, with the typical motifs associated with him. St Jerome traded in a life of secular study to devote himself to the Bible and so is often shown plainly garbed in the wilderness with a book and a lion. Brueghel's softly rendered strokes and atmospheric treatment of color and light create a mystical scene that mirrors Jerome's spirituality and life of piety.
Perfect for keeping small treasures in, this beautiful box, accompanied with its original case, is composed of 18K gold and enamel. The painted decor depicts mythological scenes and unites pinks, blues and grays. The box depicts a prestigious stamp for Frères Cellier, Geneva, early 1800s.
August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. His career spanned decades and from his earliest work – no matter the medium – he developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language and visual composition.
This is evident in his Flowering Wall painting, likely completed around 1903. The piece is immediately dramatic, the long sweep of blue sky coming down the picture plane vertically (as opposed to the typical horizontal format with a thin stretch of sky at the top). The medley of colors pool together beneath this blue expanse in dabs and swirls, signaling a somewhat Impressionistic version of flowers atop and beneath a wall.
Modern & Contemporary (June 11-12)
A leading figure in abstract expressionism, Sam Francis is one of the stars of the post-war American art scene. Combining bright primarily colors in an abstract, action painting reminiscent of Pollock, Francis' work, Composition in red, blue and yellow, ignites the paper with spurts and drops of carefree, liberated color.
Andy Warhol's Perrier Bottles are characteristic of his silkscreen technique and pop art themes. Beginning in the 1950s, Warhol would source his subjects from everyday culture, including celebrities and consumerist products. Here, he combines the Perrier Bottles with subdued neon shades as he blends the lines between art and marketing.
A friend and collaborator of Warhol was the young Jean-Michel Basquiat who revolutionized the 1980s art scene with his provocative works that combined text, symbols, figures and hidden messages. This series was published posthumously and are prints of the Daros Suite, a collection of 32 drawings that Basquiat completed in 1982-83 that display his observation of the world around him and the development of his unique style.
