If you're a collector with an eye for Willem De Kooning, you won't want to miss Grogan and Company Fine Art Auctioneers and Appraisers' upcoming December 11 auction in Dedham, Massachussetts.
Four-hundred art lots in the sale will comprise fine art, Chinese furniture, Chinese decorative works of art, textiles and carpets, and more.
Highlights of the fine art session will include a charcoal drawing by the legendary Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning, entitled Easter Cross.
As the name suggests, the piece was created in Easter of 1968. It was later presented to De Kooning's friends Xavier Fourcade and Eugene Taylor while the artist was a guest at their Belport, Long Island home.
 Easter Cross by Willem De Kooning, created in Easter of 1968 |
In the forty or so years that have passed since, the painting has appreciated into a very valuable 'gift' today estimated at $20,000-30,000.
Also among Grogan & Co's various charcoal and pencil sketches for sale is Wall Street, a 16 x 12 inch oil on board by American artist, Guy Wiggins, and a John Singer Sargent pencil sketch of Amory Austin, the artist's cousin from Newport, Rhode Island, US.
That work has been given a conservative $500-1,000 estimate - evidence that the art markets offer collectibles of interest whether you have a small or large budget.
Although De Kooning's Easter Cross is an expensive high-end example, the great thing about sketches as collectible artworks is that you can find many opportunities at the lower end of the price spectrum - just in time for Christmas.
Another pencil sketch signed by Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe - for sale priced at just a fraction of the De Kooning, £1,250
What's more, how about buying a pencil sketch with celebrity provenance attached?
Items we've recently acquired at Paul Fraser Collectibles include a sketch by Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe (1940-1962) - the fifth Beatle who left the group during their early days, only to later tragically die young from a brain haemorrhage.
After leaving The Beatles, Sutcliffe enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art where he studied under pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi and was regarded as a star pupil.
This work is for sale priced at just £1,250. An original artwork by an original Beatle - at just a fraction the price of a De Kooning.
