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George Colin (American, 1929-2014) George Colin was a flour sacker at the Pillsbury Company in central Illinois for 30 years. He retired in 1975 on a pension of $100 per month to work on his art full-time. The holder of a certificate from a mail order art school, he worked from his home in a small town of 100 called Salisbury, Illinois. George Colin created a large body of work that is now almost legendary. When he was discovered in the 1980s, there was a barn on his property filled with 7,000 paintings and drawings. Many of the pieces in today’s auction are original barn paintings that were never sold or exposed to the general public before. Colin was imbued with an insatiable will to create art. Unable to afford materials, he originally settled on chalk as his preferred medium as it was cheap and could be bought at the local five and dime. The paper he used early on was primarily wrappers from rolls of printing paper salvaged from the dumpsters of nearby printing plants. He also used the backs of discarded printed pieces. This material is referred to as “found paper.” It differs from the archival [...]

“Cuadros de una Exposicion” Paintings of an Exhibition —by Mirta Mabel Scokin de Portnoy Originally, they shared the same vocation, the Argentinean sky and the landscape of silver rivers. Today the circumstances of life make them share the same roof but under different latitudes. I don’t know if it is a case of serendipity or coincidence, but I l know that I am writing this note due to the enthusiasm and fascinations that is found when one discovers something in a most unexpected time and place. In the city of Philadelphia, lives the Ficher family. The owner of the house is Dr Ilda Ficher who I met personally. Dr Ficher had just moved in to a magnificent apartment on Locust Street in the famous Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. This corner of Philadelphia is well known for its dedication to the arts especially music. It is the home of Academy of Music which is the oldest building designed for performances of opera and is still in use today. A half block away is Broad Street better known as the Avenue of the Arts which houses the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Opera House, and several theaters. On a beautiful sunny day in autumn, I [...]

DECEMBER ESTATES | FINE, FOLK, ASIAN, ETHNOGRAPHIC ART | ANTIQUES & DECORATIVE ARTS | ORIENTAL RUGS Live Gallery Auction: Monday, December 9, 2019, 11AM ET Exhibition: December 7-8, 11AM-4PM Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) Fresh to the Market | Collection of 20th C. Argentine Art from the Estate of Ilda and Miguel Ficher, Philadelphia. For more information on the family and the collection click here.

ORIENTAL RUGS FROM AMERICAN ESTATES | 36 Live Gallery Auction: Thursday, November 21, 2019, 11AM ET Exhibition: November 19-20, 11AM-4PM Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF)  

Browse the virtual print catalog APSARA ARTS OF ASIA | IMPORTANT SINGLE OWNER COLLECTION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC ART & TEXTILES Live Showroom Auction: Sunday, October 27, 2019, 11AM ET Exhibition: October 19-26, 11AM-4PM Also accepting online, phone and absentee bids  Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PD

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ORIENTAL RUGS & TEXTILE ARTS FROM AMERICAN ESTATES | 26 Live Auction: Monday, November 19, 2018, 11AM ET
 Exhibition: November 16-17-18, 11AM-4PM Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF)  

Join Us | Reception & Refreshments Saturday, August 18, Noon-4PM Gallery Talk: Saturday, August 18, 2PM, Our Becoming: Identity and Ethos in American Material Culture Guest Speaker: Ramona Austin, Curator for The Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University. (Free, Open to the Public, Unlimited Free Parking) "Unpacking meaning in America’s material culture over discrete historical periods can, in the aggregate, show us who we really are. Such investigation brings into high relief the narratives we make with words and the narratives we make with art and artifacts. For America that investigation involves three major streams; the Euro-American; the African American; and First Peoples. This discussion shows how these streams, in parallel and divergent expression, create the turbulent seas of American identity and ethos discovered in its material culture." —Ramona Austin Ramona Austin Ramona Austin has over three decades of professional experience in the arts and arts education. Currently Ms. Austin is Senior Curator for the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion University, a major repository of self-taught art in the United States, as well as a consultant in the museum field. From 2001 to 2004, she was the Director of Hampton University [...]