On August 5, Swann Auction Galleries in New York will host their Vintage Posters auction, featuring more than 700 lots—the house’s largest sale of the category to date. According to Nicholas D. Lowry, Swann’s president and director of the department, the subject driven sale will attract specific collectors for the various fields represented, including Art Nouveau, Travel, and World War I and II propaganda posters. Because the auction “is segmented in very different and specific collecting fields, it is really more like four smaller auctions,” says Lowry, “and we expect it to do quite well.”Sought after artists within the category will be offered, including works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha, Roger Broders, Howard Chandler Christy and James Montgomery Flagg. Several works by Toulouse-Lautrec will be up for sale, including “Salon des Cent,” 1895, which will lead the sale with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. The picture depicts a young woman the artist met during the summer of 1895 when Lautrec was traveling aboard a boat from Le Havre to Bordeaux.A four paneled folding screen by Alphonse Mucha, titled “Times of Day,” 1899–mounted on beechwood screen and representing four scenes throughout the day, including “Nightly Rest,” “Evening Reverie,” “Daytime Dash,” and “Morning Awakening”—is tagged with an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.Over 20 ocean liner images will be up for sale, including Geo Ham’s Monaco, 1948, which depicts a racecar speeding in front of stone walls, slated to sell between $6,000 and $9,000. Keeping in line with seasonal themes, several beach and resort posters will hit the auction block, including Gert Sellheim’s “Australia/Surf Club,” circa 1936, slated to sell between $2,000 and $3,000.The market for vintage posters, which still remains a relatively young area of collecting compared to books and prints, “is constantly growing and evolving,” says Lowry, “more over the last 10 years or so.” Consequently, “more and more people are discovering the allure of the field,” he adds, resulting in higher prices paid for works offered and an expanding collector base for the category.
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