On May 6, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers held its first of two Interiors sales this year, which included 600 lots of fine and decorative artwork, sculpture, early 20th century and modern furniture, art pottery, lighting, silver, jewelry, and more. The entire auction had a 90% sell-through rate and the first 17 lots, which all sold, featured paintings deaccessioned from the Oak Park Art League (OPAL) that combined to realize $29,397. Proceeds from the OPAL offering will help this vital Chicago-area organization expand its arts programming, offer more educational scholarships, and improve the historic carriage house where it operates. 

Background on OPAL and the Works Offered in Interiors on May 6

One of the longest running non-profit art centers in Illinois, OPAL was founded in 1921 by artist Carl Krafft. For nearly a century, OPAL’s mission has been to enrich Chicago’s cultural landscape by providing art education to people of all ages and skill levels, along with various programs and guest lectures, artist demonstrations and critiques, and monthly gallery exhibitions. 

Given a lack of space as well as a desire to see works from its collection appreciated and preserved, OPAL reached out to Toomey & Co. Auctioneers recently to coordinate the sale of various paintings that were donated by artist members over the years. On the OPAL offering that began the Interiors auction on May 6, Executive Director Jill Kramer Goldstein said, “Given that the art originated here in the Oak Park area, by local artists, it was important for us to continue OPAL’s practice of supporting local people and businesses.”

Among the strong OPAL results, highlights included: two landscapes by founder Carl Krafft in original gilded frames, which together brought $9,490; a circa-1920 meadow scene by Karl Albert Buehr, selling for $3,500; a pair of Indiana Dunes works by Arthur Coplin, which garnered $1,500; John Thomas Nolf’s finely rendered portrait of a girl in a wooded landscape that achieved $5,937; and Oscar Soellner’s 1919 Chicago painting, Looking East, with Navy Pier in the distance, reaching $1,750. 

Following the Interiors sale, OPAL’s President of the Board Kim Robinson expressed her gratitude, commenting: “We at OPAL are thrilled with the outcome of the Toomey & Co. auction of [selected works from our] collection. The results obtained by Toomey well exceeded our expectations and the auction estimates. The sale proceeds we will be receiving shortly couldn't come at a more opportune time, given the current pandemic and its impact on our operations and our ability to fundraise. We want to thank all who participated in the auction and who bid generously on the collection, thereby allowing us to continue our mission of offering opportunities for artists — professionals and students — to learn and grow in the arts.”

Art & Design on June 28 and Consignments

Toomey & Co.’s next auction is Art & Design, scheduled for Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. The sale will be held at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. Preview will take place starting June 22 through June 27 and further details about preview options will be shared in early June.

Consignments are now invited for upcoming auctions. Photographs of items may be submitted for estimates to info@toomeyco.com. To learn about past or future sales, please visit toomeyco.com.

About Toomey & Co. Auctioneers

Located just west of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers holds several carefully curated auctions annually with material sourced from six departments: Fine Art, Early 20th Century Design, Modern Design, Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts, Silver & Objects of Vertu, and Fine Jewelry & Timepieces. Recent schedules have included single-owner and special sales drawn from important estates and private collections.