Cowans + Clark + DelVecchio is pleased to announce our second Modern and Contemporary Ceramics Auction will feature fresh-to-the-market ceramics from the collection of Dorothy Miner (1936-2008) of New York City.  The auction is divided into three sections, including Ceramic Masterworks, teh Potter's Market, and the Dorothy Miner Library of Ceramic Art and History.  The Masterworks portion features significant works by the likes of Betty Woodman, Lucie Rie, Peter Voulkos, Richard Devore, and many others. The sale will be held at Cowan's Auctions salesroom on June 4, 2011.

"We decided to produce three curated auctions this time so that we could address different needs in the marketplace," explains Garth Clark.  "In keeping with the success of November's auction in Chicago, Masterworks features the most exceptional pieces from well-known artists.  The Potter's Market should be considered a new venue for lesser-known artists; we hope it will be an approachable entry-point for new collectors.  Finally, Dorothy Miner's library is unparalleled in scope and deserved its own audience."

A Wood-Fired Plate by Peter Voulkos is estimated to bring $9,000/12,000 in the Masterworks portion of the auction.  For this piece, Voulkos has torn off most of the collar on this plate leaving only four portions behind. The actual drawing on the plate is a cross between cave markings and an astrological map. This is an exceptional work.

A work by Betty Woodman titled Three Princesses with Shadows is estimated to sell for $15,000/20,000. Woodman is an internationally known artist with works in over 100 museums. This is one of the earlier expressions of her triple vases with shadows.

An Untitled Stoneware Vessel by Richard Devore is expected to bring $16,000/20,000. This "torso" form is unusually passionate for an artist known for his shyness and restraint.

A Bowl with White Stripes by Lucie Rie is expected to bring competitive bidding in the auction. The piece, estimated at $12,000/18,000 is from the collection of Dorothy Miner. Dame Lucie Rie is the most celebrated and widely collected of all 20th century ceramists eclipsing the position once held by Hans Coper. Issey Miyaki curated an exhibition for her, Dan Flavin created light sculptures in her honor and she received both the OBE and CBE, birthday honors from the Queen.

Another piece by Lucie Rie titled Bottle Vase with Flaring Sgraffito Rim is expected to bring $6,000/8,000. The silhouette of this piece produces an elegant upwardly thrusting line.

An Untitled Vessel by Robert Turner is estimated at $6,500/9,500. This is a rare and important prototype vase that would later morph into Turner's distinctive bowls with a square top.

A Charger with Impressed Rope Decoration by Tatsuzo Shimaoka is estimated to sell for $8,000/12,000. A member of the Mingei Folk Art movement, Shimaoka was an apprentice of Shoji Hamada and is the second Mashiko potter to be made a National Living Treasure. His signature Jomon zogan pottery surface on this charger is the synthesis of two ancient processes; the pre-historic Jomon period technique of impressing rope into leather-hard clay and the Korean Yi Dynasty method of white slip inlay.

A Pale Green Bottle by Lucie Rie is estimated to sell for $9,000/15,000.

An Untitled Vessel with Figures by Rudy Autio is estimated at $7,500/12,000. The drawing on this torso pot by Autio is exceptionally spirited and free and working in low fire-enabled him to produce a vibrant but delicate blue engobe and on the verso a delicate shade of lilac. The modest scale of this work is both rare and intimate.

A piece titled Fallen Bowl by Diego Romero is expected to bring anywhere from $4,500/6,500. In this bowl Romero plays with stereotype and shows a fallen angel as an alcoholic Indian seated on the desert ground with extant pots buried in the soil below him. Hailed as "the Keith Haring of the southwest", Romero, mixed blood Cochiti and Anglo, brings extraordinary illustrative skill to the traditional pottery bowl.

A ceramic by Beatrice Wood titled Rose Pink and Gold Footed Bowl will sell in the auction. Estimated at $4,500/6,000, this is an exceptional work by Wood. Thrown in extraordinary precision, thin walled, elegantly proportioned, and with a rich complex multi hued gold glaze. Wood is known as the "Mama of Dada" for her involvement in Marcel Duchamp's group in New York in 1917. She is also known as the "Queen of Luster" for her mastery of the difficult art of in-glaze luster.

A piece by Rick Dillingham titled Globe is estimated at $4,500/5,000. Dillingham was known as much for his contemporary ceramics as for his scholarship of the pottery traditions of the North American Indian and published classic texts such as Acoma and Laguna Pottery and Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery.

A Celadon Lidded Vessel with a Carved Base by Ralph Baccera is estimated to sell for $4,000/6,000. When Bacerra died in 2007, American ceramics lost a dedicated educator and its most virtuosic ceramist who asserted against current fashions that his work was simply there to channel beauty.

About Cowan’s Auctions, Inc.

As one of the nation’s leading auction houses with sales approaching $20 million, Cowan’s has been helping individuals and institutions build important collections for more than a decade.  The company’s four divisions of American History, American Indian and Western Art, American and European Fine and Decorative Art, and Historic Firearms & Early Militaria hold semi-annual cataloged sales that routinely set records for rare offerings.  

Through its extensive mailing list of more than 35,000 collectors, dealers and institutional clients, each Cowan’s auction typically attracts more than 1,000 bidders from across the globe.  To learn more about Cowan’s visit our website at www.cowans.com.

About Clark + DelVecchio

Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio founded Garth Clark Gallery in Los Angeles in 1981 and opened a second space in New York in 1983 at 24 West 57th Street. They were soon established as the preeminent international dealers in 20th century ceramics and have organized eight major international symposia on ceramic history and criticism, published numerous books and catalogues and received a slew of prestigious awards, both lifetime achievement and honorary doctorates. In addition Clark was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London and was the only practicing dealer to receive the College Art Association’s Mather Award for distinguished achievement in art journalism.

They now live in Santa Fe, work as private dealers and are in the process of organizing two traveling exhibitions, Christine Nofchissey McHorse and Diego Romero. Clark is finishing two more books (his 52nd and 53rd), Lucio Fontana Ceramics and Homage To R. Mutt: Writing on Marcel Duchamp's Fountain since 1917. For more information about Clark+DelVecchio visitwww.clarkdel.com.