In its debut as part of Heritage Auction Galleries’ Signature July Illustration Art Auction on July 15 and Signature July Art of the American West & Texas Auction on July 16, the first portion of The Charles Martignette Collection – some 311 works selected for these two auctions from the collection’s 4300 pieces – realized a very strong $2.6 million, with a virtually unheard of 99% sell-through rate. The results from the Martignette canvasses in the July 15 auction led Heritage to its most successful overall Illustration Art event yet, which topped out at $3.1 million, including Buyer’s Premium.
“By any reckoning we blew the top off the pin-up market,” said Ed Jaster, Vice President of Heritage. “It’s safe to say that it soundly exceeded not only our expectations, but also those of the collectibles and fine arts communities. There was so much interest, in fact, that the auction took more than seven hours to complete; the average for an Illustration Art auction is about four hours.”
Leyendecker
While Charles Martignette is rightly known as the king of the pin-ups, his fantastic eye for the entire history of Illustration Art was more than evident in the top two offerings in the auction from his epic collection and impeccable taste in artists shown through in much more than glamour art. In fact, it was J. C. Leyendecker’s 1917 Kuppenheimer as diptych, A Proud WW I Sailor’s New Uniform, which led the offerings attached to his name with a $155,350 price tag. Martignette’s other high profile Leyendecker in the auction, The Hero’s War Story – the cover from the May 10, 1919 Saturday Evening Post – showed its enduring appeal at $101,575.
In the Western & Texas Art Auction on Thursday, July 16, 26 canvasses from Martignette’s estate were in the mix, and they brought in almost $500,000, led by William Herbert Dunton’s Western masterpiece, The Badger Hole (The Spill), which brought $143,400. J.C. Leyendecker, who led the previous day’s Illustration Art Auction, made another strong showing in the Western art auction when his illustration for the Howard Watch Company, Two O’Clock, brought $89,625.
Record prices were set for many diverse artists, including Peter Driben, K.O. Munson (more than three times the previous high), Vaughan Alden Bass and Al Buell (more than double the previous high), H.J. Ward, Emery Clark, Walter Beach Humphrey (more than three times the previous high price) Charles Gates Sheldon, Frederic Stanley and Monte Crews, whose Saturday Evening Post cover, The College Sweethearts, realized more than 10 times the previous record for a work by the artist, at $19,120.
Avati
“One of the great surprises of the afternoon was an astonishing record price paid for a work by James Avati, widely considered the greatest paperback book cover artist,” said Hignite. “His masterpiece for the 1959 Signet Classics edition of Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye To Berlin shattered the previous record set for the artist, $6,600, when it soared to a final total of $26,290.”
With all that said, however, it was indeed the pin-ups – especially the work of the greatest pin-up artist to ever pick up a brush, Gil Elvgren – which provided the greatest fireworks of the afternoon. The top Elvgren offering from Martignette, 1964’s A Near Miss (Right on Target), was certainly a bullseye with a final price of $143,400. It provided a direct compliment to the top two lots of the entire auction, both Elvgrens, as well – It’s a Snap (Pretty Snappy; Snap Judgment) from 1958 realized $215,100 and Cover Up, 1955 finished at $191,200 – though not from the Martignette Collection. Upsetting Upset, a 1969 Elvgren from Martignette performed very well for a later period piece from the master, finishing the afternoon at $80,660.
“Beyond the staggering prices for Elvgren – one collector in the gallery pointed out that the top prices were equal to those collectors pay for sketches from Rembrandt – pin-ups were notably strong across the board with Enoch Bolles leading the way,” said Jaster. “Ideal for a Hunting Lodge Film Fun Magazine cover from December 1936 brought $38,840, a record which stood for about two minutes before his February 1935 Film Fun Magazine cover, Slipping Beauty, almost doubled that at $65,725.
Robust prices were also seen for works from Earl Moran and George Petty, while Alberto Vargas and his beautiful Vargas Girls continued to show the stature of legendary gatefold artist for both Esquire and Playboy. Among the strong prices realized for the variety of his work in the Martignette Collection, it was his delicate December 1946 Esquire Calendar Girl and Reclining Nude, Preliminary Drawing for the Very First Varga Girl, from October 1940, that realized the most healthy prices, bringing $53,775 and $50,790, respectively.
The biggest names in Illustration history performed well throughout the marathon auction, with Dean Cornwell leading the way with two epic paintings, Captain Blood Inspecting the Treasure Chest Jewels, a July 1930 illustration for Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Spanish Tavern, 1922. Amos Sewell also got some well-deserved recognition for his wonderful March 11, 1950 Saturday Evening Post cover, Kids Playing Cowboy, which realized $41,825, also a record for the artist. Formidable prices were also posted for works by Harvey Dunn, Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, Tom Lovell and Howard Pyle.
Consignors and sellers of Illustration Art are invited to www.HA.com/Sell. Or simply email Todd Hignite at [email protected], or call 1-800-872-6467, ext. 1790.
For more information, go online to www.HA.com.
