Blog

Ethnographic, Tribal, Asian and Textile Arts Live Online Auction: Thursday, February 25, 2021, 10AM ET Preview: February 23-24, 10am – 3pm, appointment required. Also accepting phone and absentee bids Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) Please Note: There Are No Hidden or Confidential Reserves; All Acceptable Bidding Commences at the Online Start Price ROGER HOLLANDER Material Culture is pleased to offer textiles from the collection of internationally recognized collector Roger Hollander in its upcoming Ethnographic, Tribal, Asian and Textile Arts Auction. Roger Hollander collected textiles with a passion, eye and intellect seldom matched. A graduate of Yale and a successful businessman, Hollander left the business world in the 1990s to devote himself to building the greatest collection of antique Indian trade cloth in the world. In the process, he collected many of the Indonesian textiles being auctioned this week by Material Culture. These museum-worthy textiles display motifs inspired by Indian trade cloth including batiks from Java and Sumatra and ikats and songkets from the outer islands. Well-versed in world cultures, he collected with a scholar’s eye and many of his [...]

January Arts | Fine Art | Sculpture | Works on Paper | Prints ~ 440 Lots ~ Live Online Auction: Thursday, January 28, 2021, 10AM ET Preview: January 26-27, 10am – 3pm, appointment required. Also accepting phone and absentee bids Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) Please Note: There Are No Hidden or Confidential Reserves; All Acceptable Bidding Commences at the Online Start Price.  

Oriental Rugs from American Estates | 44 ~ 472 Lots ~ PLEASE NOTE NEW DATE: Live Online Auction: Friday, January 22, 2021, 10AM ET Preview: January 20-21, 10am – 3pm, appointment required. Also accepting phone and absentee bids Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) Please Note: There Are No Hidden or Confidential Reserves; All Acceptable Bidding Commences at the Online Start Price.    

Fine, Folk & Outsider Art | Featuring Top Haitian Artists Lots 230-337 Live Online Auction: Monday, November 23, 2020, 10AM ET Preview: November 21-22, 10am - 3pm, appointment required. Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) Selections of Artwork by Top Haitian Artists:

Fine, Folk & Outsider Art Live Online Auction: Monday, November 23, 2020, 10AM ET Preview: November 21-22, 10am - 3pm, appointment required. Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF)

ARTISTS WE HAVE KNOWN Vernacular Artworks from the Home of Norman Girardot & Diane LaBelle Their Story in Seven Beguiling Chapters, by Norman Girardot Norman & Diane Contemplate the Possibilities of Eating Art (Photos: Ron Yoshida & Armen Elliott) OUR ROSTER OF VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE Artists included in the auction: Howard Finster, Michael Finster, Allen Wilson (Finster), Roy Finster, Beverly Finster, Gregory Warmack/Mr. Imagination, Margaret Warmack, Danielle Jacqui, Myrtice West, Mario Mesa, Volis Simpson, R.A. Miller, Rudolph “Rudy” Bostic, Mose Tolliver, Annie Tolliver, Purvis Young, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Nek Chand, William Thomas Thompson, Norbert Kox, Twins Seven Seven, Jonas Dos Santos, Clyde Jones, Tom Every/Dr. Evermore, Willy Jinks, Sam “The Dot Man” McMillan, Teresa Gloster, Rudy Rotter, Eric Legge, Tubby Brown, Annie G. Wellborn, Mary Michaels (daughter of Georgia Blizzard/Micheals), Brian Wilson, Brian Dowdall, Echo/Macallister, Connie English, Carter Wellborn, Michael Wysochansky, Dale Gibbons, James Billie Lemming, face jug makers (Whelchel Meader, Yardbird, Bobby Ferguson, Jamie Ferguson, Kurt Hewell, Gracie Marie Rodgers, Nell Hewell, Michael Purdue, Amedeo Salamoni), unknown southern snake artists, some southern and African carved walking sticks, some ethnic art (Africa, China, South America), gourd art, Elvis art and memorabilia (induding works by Charlie Lucas, Mr. Imagination, [...]

Fine Decorative and Collectible Antique Oriental Rugs Live Online Auction: Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 11AM ET Also Accepting Phone and Absentee Bids Preview: October 19-20, 10am - 4pm, appointment required. Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF)

Lee and Vichai Chinalai Welcome to our auction and thank you to Material Culture for making it happen. Why now? First and foremost, this sale reflects our near-historic lack of restraint in buying Southeast Asian and Chinese ethnographic antiques! It is also about our love of learning and for the artifacts and cultures that created them; and for the people who share our passion. We started this business over forty years ago with the philosophy that we only would buy what we would be happy to have ourselves. This removed a certain pressure from us: it meant we didn’t have to study the market or try to forecast its trends when we preferred to devote our time to studying the pieces we were buying. We believed in intrinsic value rather than value dictated by fashion or whim. Not that the market didn’t influence sales but it nearly always was more by coincidence than by design. For example, there was one time at a show when we displayed ten lingam stones of varying sizes, all standing upright on rubber O rings. We thought they were stunning together but O seemed to stand for zero attention. Then Indiana Jones and [...]