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The Most Widely Read Collector's Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 45, NO. 21 FRIDAY MAY 23, 2014
Material Culture Holds Cataloged Sale For The Kristina Barbara Johnson Estate By Karl Pass
hiladelphia’s Material Culture held an 851lot cataloged sale on May 4 for the Kristina Barbara Johnson estate. The hammer total was $419,900 (not including buyer’s premium). Material Culture charges a 25 percent buyer’s premium. It is the same for bidders through the live auctioneers online platform. Presale estimates were $260,000 to $445,000. Of the 851 lots, 30 did not sell. An eclectic sale of decorative and antique items, the first 100
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sold for $1,875 (prices include buyer’s premium). A 40-by-54-inch standing beagle dog sold for $1,375, and a 34-by-63-inch mermaid sold for $1,250. European born, Barbara came to this country as a student. She resided in Princeton, N.J. Johnson died in April of 2013. Princeton could actually claim several Barbara Johnsons. Not to be confused with the
Material Culture is an auction house, retail store and cafe located in northwest Philadelphia off Roosevelt Boulevard. Pass photo.
lots were garden material, including concrete garden sculpture, cast iron urns and benches, cast stone benches and tables, and a gazebo, among other things. Johnson collected the work of American sculptor Robert Cannon (b. 1969). Cannon is know for his terraform concrete garden sculpture. There were 24 lots of his work. A 34-by-51-inch lion sculpture with glass eyes
others, this sale was for the (Kristina) Barbara, the first wife of sculptor J. Seward Johnson Jr. His grandfather was a co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. Barbara was a lawyer and museum patron. She was a long serving board member and one-time president and director of the American Folk Art This is the auction and exhibition gallery showMuseum in New York casing objects from the Kristina Barbara City (NYC). An avid art Johnson estate. Pass photo. collector with the means to buy, she went through several art, leading her to found the Whale collecting phases throughout the Research Foundation. Her scrimdecades. In her early years, she was scraw and whaling artifacts collecinvolved with the art scenes of both tion was sold in the 1980s through New York and Paris. She befriend- four sales at Sotheby’s and two at ed influential artists such as Andy Swann Galleries. It was believed to have been the largest private whalMost of the fish decoys were Warhol during this time period. grouped in lots. This group of nine Barbara often visited Nantucket ing collection ever amassed. Also sold for $2,125 (est. $200-$400). and developed a love for whaling during the 1980s much of her collecting energy was focused on sculpture, paintings, and textiles. She had a passion for the artistic expression and design of hooked rugs and bought hundreds of them. An exhibit on the subject titled “American Classics,” shown in 1988 and 1989, was one of several exhibitions she contributed to. In the 1990s she These Robert Cannon (b. 1969) graduated topiary spheres This Raymond Coins (1904sold between $688 to $1,625 each. Cannon studied sculpture 1994) carved river stone figure focused on Outsider at Yale. The 19th century French cast iron fountain figure in measuring 21-by-15-inches sold Art. Barbara colthe lower left sold for $3,125. Pass photo. for $5,000 (est. $2,000-$3,000). lected the work of
Sister Gertrude Morgan (19001980), Jimmy Lee Suddeth (19102007), Sam Doyle (1906-1985), Justin McCarthy (1891-1977), and Moses Tolliver (1925-2006) to name just a few artists. Many of the highlights of this sale were Outsider Art paintings. A Clementine Hunter (1886-1988) paint-on-board titled “Christmas Tree” sold for $4,375. A Sister Gertrude Morgan mixed media-onpaper titled “Wake Up Read Run” sold for $2,875, and Justin McCarthy’s “Hatted Beauty” painting done in 1962 and used to illustrate the cover of the sale catalog sold for $3,750. Also sold was her lithographic poster collection by the Frenchman Raymond Savignac (1907-2002), illustration art by American George Carlson (1887-1962), a vast offering of Japanese woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858),
close to 100 mounted hooked rugs, her French Jaspe pottery collection, about 150 fish decoys, jewelry, fashion accessories, furniture, canes, Arts and Crafts lamps, silver tea sets and flatware services, coins, and her antique reference book and catalog library, among other things. Northeast Auctions of Portsmouth, N.H., has sold some of her material, as has Swann Galleries in NYC. Pook & Pook, Inc. of Downingtown, Pa., sold a large amount of items from her estate as well, including most of the hooked rug collection. On January 24, Christie’s in NYC offered 77 lots of various selected highlights from multiple categories. A few things that failed to sell at the other sales, noteably several lots from Christie’s, were sold at Material Culture. (Continued on page 2)