Press Release

Bloomfield, NJ, USA, July 16, 2024 -- Nye & Company Auctioneers’ two-day Chic and Antique auction slated for Wednesday and Thursday, July 31st and August 1st, starting at 10 am Eastern time both days, is so big it’s being sold over two months. The online-only auction will feature around 825 lots in a wide variety of fine and decorative arts from the 17th century all the way up to the modern day.

The sale is packed with collections and estates primarily from the tri-state area. One of the top highlights is a pair of Keith Haring subway drawings, titled Dogs Eating Man. The diptych drawings from circa 1980-1984 are illustrated in the 1984 edition of Art in Transit, Keith Haring’s tome of subway drawings, with photographs by Tseng Kwong Chi. Estimated at $80,000-$120,000, these works of pop/street art are a rare survival of Haring’s subway drawings.

Continuing with the theme of contemporary and modern art, Nye and Company will be selling property from the estate of Theodore (Ted) A. Bonin who, along with Carolyn Alexander, formed the Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York City. The firm was known for working with rigorous, genre-defying artists, many now deceased and underappreciated while still alive.

In an interview with ARTnews, Elisabeth Sussman, curator of the Whitney’s Thek retrospective, said, “Bonin was exceptional as a scholarly and exacting advocate for every artist that he, as a dealer, represented, including among others, Paul Thek and Sylvia Mangold. He will be missed.”

Highlights from the collection include an acrylic on cast plaster bust titled Michael by John Ahearn (est. $3,000-$5,000); an untitled work on wax paper by Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum (est. $800-$1,200); a great contemporary piece by Roman Ondak titled Pocket Money of My Son (est. $3,000-$5,000); and works by Javier Pinon, Marco Neti, Rita McBride and Stefan Kurten.

For those who prefer more traditional art, there is a terrific single-owner selection of Folk Art coming from a New England collection. The sinuous lines and simplistic nature of some of the pieces actually bridge the gap into modernism. These are the type of objects that would be an excellent focal piece in a more modern or contemporary setting.

Highlights include a terrific life-size articulated wood figure illustrated in American Vernacular, New Discoveries in folk, self-taught and outsider sculpture by Roger Rico and Frank Maresca (est. $3,000-$5,000). There is also an exceptional whirligig solider once in the collection of Isabel and Harvey Kahn, a dynamic piece of moving sculpture estimated conservatively at $1,500-$2,500 and a splendid group of 19th century painted game boards and portrait miniatures.

Traditional furniture will feature a small but choice group of property from a private collection that features a rare Gothic lancet arched back side chair attributed to the Philadelphia cabinet maker Crawford Riddell. Estimated at $2,000-$4,000, the chair should sell within range or more.

From the same collector is a rare labeled butler’s desk from another Philadelphia cabinet maker, Charles White, and a sideboard with a stenciled label by (Michel) M. Bouvier, as illustrated in Philadelphia Empire Furniture, by Allison, Johnathan A., Christopher, Peter and John W. Boor.

For more information about Nye & Company Auctioneers and the Chic and Antique online-only auction on Wednesday and Thursday, July 31st – August 1st visit www.nyeandcompany.com. The full color catalog will be available to viewed shortly at www.nyeandcompany.com, www.liveauctioneers.com, www.bidspirit.com, www.bidsquare.com and www.invaluable.com.

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