On Thursday, June 13, Swann Galleries will offer more than 150 unique works of art in an auction of American Art. Highlights include a run of works by Paul Cadmus, created in his early 90s and representing the culmination of his career as a master draftsman of the human form—specifically males. The Male Nude, NM series was of his longtime lover, Jon Anderson, 32 years his junior, whom he met in Nantucket in 1965—the “NM” notation stands for “Nantucket Man.” Cadmus and Anderson’s collaboration explored all aspects of the male nude, and the two remained lovers until Cadmus’s death just days before his 95th birthday. 

The variety among these drawings is evident in color crayon drawings such as Male Nude, NM 165, toned with raw umber and white acrylic, 1981; Male Nude, NM 199, 1986 ($20,000 to $30,000 each); and Male Nude, NM 276, toned with old rose acrylic, 1996 ($18,000 to $22,000). Other Cadmus drawings include female nudes and studies for his painting David and Goliath.

A selection of works by Cadmus’s contemporary and friend Jared French includes Coupla Girls, casein tempera on board, 1948-49 ($10,000 to $15,000) and 1960s drawings such as Grief #1, pencil and pen and black ink, and Alterigia, pencil ($6,000 to $9,000 each).

From the 19th century is an early illustration by Childe Hassam of a Frame House with a Woman and a Dog, pen and black ink on board, circa 1882, which will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné for the impressionist artist ($7,000 to $10,000).

There is a riveting cover design for the June 1927 issue of Liberty Magazine by Frank Lloyd Wright, color crayons and pencil, 1927, initialed and titled June, The Garden Window in pencil ($40,000 to $60,000).

More drawings of note are George Bellows’s Sunday in the Park, charcoal on paper, ($6,000 to $9,000); Edward Hopper’s Monkey, pencil, 1901 ($5,000 to $8,000); Charles Sheeler’s The River Rouge Plant, charcoal, 1920 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Milton Avery’s color pastel of a Lady Seated in a Chair, 1935 ($20,000 to $30,000).

A selection of fine works by Jade Peterson features two pieces in gouache, pastel and charcoal: Street Corner and Campo Santa Margherita, Venice ($15,000 to $20,000 each); as well as an oil on board of Florida Everglades ($3,000 to $5,000).

Additional oil paintings are Frank Xavier Leyendecker’s Poetry and Music, on board ($8,000 to $12,000); Anne Estelle Rice’s Roses and Morning, on board, 1914 ($6,000 to $9,000 and $7,000 to $10,000 respectively); David Burliuk’s Farm Landscape with Two Women, on board, 1945 ($8,000 to $12,000); Robert Gwathmey’s Two Seated Men, on canvas, a wonderful example of his paintings of African-American subjects ($7,000 to $10,000); and Rufino Tamayo’s Mujercita, oil and pencil on handmade paper, 1981 ($7,000 to $10,000).

A pair of winsome female nudes in oil by poet e.e. cummings are featured, 1940 ($1,200 to $1,800 for the two); as are other celebrations of the female form, including Everett Shinn’s Nude Seated on a Bed, color pastels, 1912 ($6,000 to $9,000); Abraham Walkowitz’s watercolor and pencil drawings of Isadora Duncan Dancing, 1909;and works by Arthur B. Davies, Maynard Dixon, George Grosz, Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer and Elihu Vedder.

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 13.

The works will be on public exhibition Saturday, June 8, from noon to 5 p.m.; Monday, June 10 through Wednesday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to noon.

An illustrated catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at swanngalleries.com.

            For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Todd Weyman at (212) 254-4710, ext. 32, or via email at tweyman@swanngalleries.com.