Material Editor

Leading the May 5 auction. With Material Culture's Inaugural Auctions, the same kind of unique items of exceptional artistry and craft that have formed the backbone of the company for years have launched it boldly into the international auction market. The Inaugural Sale, “New World Orders,” on May 5, and the Inaugural Specialty Sale, “Antique Carpets, Textiles and Ethnographic Arts,” on May 26, grossed approximately $750,000, with all prices including the buyers' premium. Notably, both auctions saw over 90% of the lots sold. The sales garnered international interest, attracting bidders from 38 and 29 different countries, respectively. Domestic interest was also high, demonstrating a local desire for exotic artifacts, bridging continents through shared appreciation of art of all origins. The May 5 Auction, “New World Orders,” provided an eclectic mix of antiques, collectables and decorative arts, a collection that sought to transcend the borders of the art world along with those of the countries represented. The top lot, an original nineteenth-century Cigar Store Indian, attributed to Samuel Anderson Robb (1851-1928) sold for $35,400. A finely carved marble relief from northern India, dating all the way back to the 12th century, achieved $6,600, while a Russian Icon with a [...]

We invite you to come by Material Culture all of this week for our special exhibition preview of our May 26 auction, “Antique Textiles, Carpets, and Ethnographic Arts.” Our exhibition galleries, nearly 20,000 square feet of naturally-lit space, are housed under the same roof as Material Culture’s retail space. All of the items from the exhibitions 384 lots will be on view from 10 AM -6 PM, every day of the week. This auction offers many museum-quality lots, and the exhibition is a spectacular opportunity to view these rare objects, free and open to the public. Eighty-seven of the lots come from the Bill Liske Collection of Antique Tibetan Textiles, Carpets and Artifacts, all exquisite examples of Himalayan artistry, with textiles as old as the 10th – 13th centuries. The diverse mix of other exceptional items include an 18th century Ottoman silk embroidery in excellent condition, a 17th century Spanish Alcaraz carpet, a Ming period (1368-1644) carved wood Buddha, a woven Pre-Columbian band from Peru, a Dharmapala (Wrathful Deity) Dance Mask embellished in coral from Mongolia, early Christian textiles dating to the 16th century or earlier, a rare 19th century Shah-Savan horse cover from Azerbaijan, and a group of 16th-early [...]

In anticipation of our May 26th auction, and in honor of Bill Liske and his collection of textiles, carpets and artifacts, we are hosting a talk and reception on Saturday, May 19th at 6pm. Mr. Liske will discuss his life and experience as a collector over three decades of travel and work in the Himalayas. Mr. Liske's talk about his collection, at 6 PM, will be followed by a reception from 7-10 PM. Live music and refreshments will be offered, and the event is free and open to the public. This event will also open our gallery exhibition of the objects in the upcoming auction, which will be on view from 10 AM-6 PM every day until the auction on 5/26. Read our article about Bill Liske and his collection or visit our online catalogue for our May 26th auction for more information.

Our May 5 auction, “New World Orders: Art, Furnishings, Collectables, Decorative Arts,” features nearly 100 lots of Asian art, from the 12th century to today, but we are particularly pleased to be showcasing a number of works from contemporary Chinese painters. Over the past decade, the value of contemporary Chinese art has steadily increased, setting record sales for auction houses everywhere. Sotheby’s, which has held auctions dedicated solely to contemporary Asian art since 2004, credits Chinese art, in particular, for driving the entire discipline to be “one of the most dynamic sectors in the international art market with demand steadily growing.” Gou Runwen, "Standing Nude with Back View" This field will be led at our auction by a painting by Gou Runwen, “Standing Nude with Back View.” Born in 1955 in the Zhejiang Province, Runwen originally studied art for the theatre, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Stage Art of Shanghai Drama Institute in 1982. Not two years later his work was shown in an exhibition of young artists, and he returned to school, graduating in 1988 from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Art. Runwen is now a professor of oil [...]

"Priest and Village Dancers," Prince Twins Seven-Seven We are very pleased that our inaugural auction,"New World Orders," will be continuing our relationship with Prince Twins Seven-Seven, who spent time at Material Culture as Artist-in-Residence; we hope, additionally, to honor his recent passing, in June of 2011. Born in 1944, Prince was an original member of the acclaimed Osogbo School, named for the Yoruba town Osogbo, in southwestern Nigeria. The Osogbo School had its roots in the Mbari Mbayo Club created by Ulli and Georgina Beier to foster young artists; Prince benefited from the encouragement, but his style, from the first day he put pen to paper, was his own. Intricate in both style and cosmology, his works are detailed at every layer, portraying spirits with double eyes, plants teeming with patterns, animals whose decoration are revealed to be smaller animals, all evocations of the forces, the impulses and narratives of his complex worlds. The universes of gods and men that Prince depicts, and many of the elements of his own personal mythology, are drawn from the artist’s profound connection to traditional Yoruba beliefs; throughout his life, Prince was also a dancer and a musician, putting him forward as [...]

"Guitar," Felipe Jesus Consalvos Among our May 5th auction's many offerings, we seek to showcase the works of talented artists whose work travels beyond the traditional borders of fine art. Self-taught artist Felipe Jesus Consalvos (1891-c.1960) will be represented at auction by three of his striking mixed media pieces, created in the vernacular tradition of cigar band collage. Working as a cigar roller for much of his life, Consalvos transformed the tradition that surrounded him into a complex, sophisticated blend of political satire and Dadaist absurdism. From his birth outside of Havana, Cuba, to his emigration to Miami in 1920, and later, to Brooklyn and then Philadelphia, he became highly skilled in the creation of playful collages on paper, found photographs, furniture, and musical instruments—such as the spectacular piece “Guitar,” featured in our May 5 auction, in which a real guitar is almost entirely covered by cigar bands. Fanned, feathered and striped, the cigar bands set a rhythmic stage for a clock face at the guitar’s center, the ‘face’ of the clock enhanced by eyes and even a physical pair of plastic glasses. A photograph of a woman looks expressively out of the sound hole. This mixed media [...]

James Castle's "Labor Day" Material Culture Auctioneers is extremely proud to be presenting three works by famous self-taught American artist James Castle (1899-1977) at our May 5th auction, "New World Orders: Art, Furnishings, Collectables and Decorative Arts." Castle was the subject of a major retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which subsequently toured in 2008-2009, and most recently had a large exhibition in Madrid, Spain. Born completely deaf, Castle communicated with his world, in part, by creating artwork out of found objects--largely packaging, mail, and food containers—and created materials. Castle stayed in his native Idaho community for all of his life, and it is unclear whether he used sign language, or to what extent he could read and write. Scholars agree, however, that he knew little if anything about the world of art beyond his own creations, which make their many parallels to the journey of “mainstream” art throughout the twentieth century all the more stunning, ingenious, and prescient. His isolation, both from the larger art world and from speaking with the people around him, endows his collages and assemblages with a keen sense for uncovering the strange beauty of found objects, and his drawings present a [...]

We are privileged to present a Samuel Anderson Robb Cigar Store Indian at our May 5th auction. Though these hand-carved statues were once frequent sights in front of 19th century cigar stores, original examples are now extremely rare, and highly collectable due to the resurgent popularity of cigars and related memorabilia. Exceptional pieces have been known to sell for over $100,000. This figure comes to auction from Reese's Antiques of Philadelphia, who have been its sole owners since the 1940s. Not only is it an important and rare piece of American folk art, but over the seven decades that it stood at the door of Reese's Antiques, attracting customers, praise, and interested buyers, it has been an emblem of Philadelphia's Pine Street “antiques row.” It has never before been offered for sale. The statue remains in remarkably good condition for its age, with minimal abrasions and wear. It appears to sport its original paint, with only a portion of the right arm bearing a more recent restoration. This minor addition easily blends in tone with the original paint. The 19th century original Samuel A Robb Cigar Store Indian up for auction on May 5th. Samuel A. Robb was [...]