A Crocodile armchair designed by Claude Lalanne. Courtesy of Sotheby s.
A $400,000 pair of bronze pigeons and a $2 million armchair in the shape of a crocodile were among the highlights of a sale of objects from the estate of Michelle Smith, a Washington, D.C. businesswoman and philanthropist who died last year. The event brought in a whopping $45 million at Sotheby’s this month, nearly tripling the presale estimate of $16 million.
Led by pieces from French design duo Les Lalanne and the Giacometti brothers, the auction set a new record for a design sale at the auction house’s New York branch. Its success lends credence to auction-house rhetoric that collectors are increasingly interested in buying across categories, including design, jewelry, and handbags.
Exhibition at Oxford Ceramics Gallery featues some 40 works by 10 pioneering female artists
Left of image: Bodil Manz, Shadow, slip cast porcelain (2019, 14.5 x 14.5 cms). Middle of image: Bodil Manz, For Dessau, slip cast porcelain (2019, 14.5 x 14.5 cms). Right of image: Bodil Manz, Scandinavia, slip cast porcelain (2019, 18 x 23 cms). Image: Michael Harvey.
OXFORD
.-Oxford Ceramics Gallery is presenting Pioneering Women, an exhibition featuring some 40 works by 10 pioneering female artists. The exhibition celebrates the significant contribution this group of artists has made to the development of contemporary ceramics, with a focus on the ceramic vessel form.
From trailblazing figures such as Lucie Rie and Ladi Kwali to Bodil Manz, Magdalene Odundo and Jennifer Lee, the exhibition reflects a broad interpretation of formal ceramic traditions. The vessels on display range from Japanese clay work and the domestic pottery forms of Denmark, Korea and Nigeria, to works influen