NOTEWORTHY
RARE BOOKS FROM A DURHAM COLLECTOR Lyon & Turnbull’s 11 October auction will include books from the collection of the late Robert James ‘Bob’ Dickinson, sometime lecturer in classics at the University of Durham and bookseller. The collection dates from the 1950s when Robert Dickinson was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge. At its peak, it numbered 25,000 volumes covering an eclectic range of subjects, including incunabula, 16th and 17th century foreign books, architecture, travel, tobacco smoking, cricket, fishing, modern firsts and books of local interest. From 1967 until 1993, he ran the bookstall at the New Markets, Durham. RARE BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, MAPS & PHOTOGRAPHS OCTOBER 11 | EDINBURGH CONTACT: Simon Vickers, simon.vickers@lyonandturnbull.com
WORK BY HANS HOFMANN
HANS HOFMANN (GERMAN, 1880-1966) “THE MALE” Oil on board. $25,000-40,000 (£19,250-30,800) + fees
MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART NOVEMBER 7 | PHILADELPHIA CONTACT: Dunham Townend, dtownend@freemansauction.com Anne Henry, ahenry@freemansauction.com
Freeman’s is pleased to offer in its November 7 Modern & Contemporary Art sale an exemplary work by acclaimed Abstract Expressionist artist and teacher Hans Hofmann. Praised as the “most important art teacher of our time” by seminal art historian and critic Clement Greenberg, Hofmann bridged the gap between the School of Paris, led by titans and particular role models Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Robert Delaunay and Henri Matisse and the nascent group of Abstract painters in Post-War New York. Many of these artists, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock and Frank Stella, were students of Hofmann and his influence can be seen in their significant and varied bodies of work. His style of painting synthesized elements of Fauvism, Cubism and Expressionism, while incorporating his own innovative abstract theory which relied on the “push and pull” of interacting colors and form, simultaneously asserting the flatness of the canvas and the illusion of space. “The Male” was painted in 1950, a pivotal and highly productive year for the seventy year old painter, often referred to as the apex of his artistic career during which time he fully refined this now signature aesthetic. Comprised of dynamic brushstrokes, a wide color palette and varying textures, this painting is characteristic of Hofmann’s artistic output during this period. “The Male” belonged to the Estate of the Artist until 1974 when it was acquired by the legendary André Emmerich Gallery and later that year by the Harcus Krakow Gallery in Boston. It has remained with the same Private Collection since and we are pleased to reintroduce it to the market.
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