art nouveau

Rare Opal Necklace Up For Auction

Filed under: Jewelry

As with art, provenance in jewelry can be important. But sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to know where a piece came from. The piece above, a gorgeous Art Nouveau-style gold necklace embellished with 45 carats of fine Australian fire opals, diamonds and freshwater pearls is an interesting case. It is said to have maybe been the property of interior designer Elsie de Wolfe, America's first famous interior decorator to the rich and famous. The Vanderbilts, the Fricks, the Morgans and the Duchess of Windsor were among her high-profile clients. The piece, which goes up for auction on April 18 at Austin Auction Gallery was purchased by the consignor in 1976, at an antiques show in Hillsborough, California. At that time it was sold as being de Wolfe's personal jewelry . De Wolfe, who later became Lady Mendl after marrying British diplomat Sir Charles Mendl did have an extensive and noted jewelry collection.

The necklace will be offered with an opening bid of $30,000. It appeared in an episode of Leigh and Leslie Keno's television show Find! The Keno brothers brought in jewelry expert Peter Shemonsky for a specialist appraisal. Shemonsky said the necklace of 23 opals, 52 diamonds and 19 freshwater pearls was unique and gave it an insurance value of $60,000-$80,000 on the necklace. A video of the TV show appraisal is after the jump.

Tags: Art Nouveau, elsie de wolfe, jewelry auction, opal necklace, opals

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Rare Moulin Rouge Poster Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Fans of Art Nouveau may want to check out this one, Swann Galleries in New York is holding an auction of rare and important Art Nouveau posters on December 17. The highlights include 11 posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and seven by Alphonse Mucha. The posters are from the collection of Bob and Peggy Marcus, who assembled their collection over the course of 30 years. The auction's top lot is a copy of Lautrec's Moulin Rouge, La Goulue, 1891, the artist's first poster, in the very rare three-sheet version, and with the original top banner. Considered one of the most important posters in the history of graphic arts, the enormous color lithograph advertises a performance by can-can dancer La Goulue at the famous cabaret. When the poster was first released, dealers found the size unmanageable and discarded the top banner, making versions with the original top virtually unavailable. The provenance goes back to Lautrec's own estate, after which it passed on to his close friend, art dealer Maurice Joyant, and then descended to his heirs. It is estimated at $250,000 to $350,000.

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Tags: alphonse mucha, AlphonseMucha, art, art nouveau, ArtNouveau, mucha, posters, toulouse-lautrec

Rare Art Nouveau Book Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

For fans of the Art Nouveau, Swann Galleries' December 19 auction of Art Nouveau Posters offers are chance to buy a rare treasure. Up for auction is a a book containing 138 hand-colored proofs by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha. This book, in which Mucha applied watercolor coloring to sheets with lithographed outlines of his designs for Ilsee Princesse de Tripoli, is Mucha at his most ethereal. The book represents Mucha's most complete statement in the Art Nouveau style. The book hasn't been exhibited in 110 years, since 1897 when the Salon des Cent dedicated a show to over 400 of Mucha's works. The book is estimated to sell for $300,000 to $400,000.

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Tags: art, art auctions, art nouveau, rare books