International Art
At Charleston’s Fine Art Auctions, you’ll find original lithographs, etchings, heliographs, offsets, and limited edition prints by some of the most famous painters of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the most famous art movements during this period include Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art.
Over the years, Charleston’s has featured the work of many international artists at auction, including the following: Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Erté, Gustav Klimt, Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, Louis Icart, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Edouard Manet, Jane Wooster-Scott, Leroy Neiman, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Itzchak Tarkay, and others. These artists continue to draw significant attention at our international art auctions.
Impressionism
Impressionism is one of the most popular art movements of all time, and images from that period are always in demand at Charleston’s Fine Art Auctions. Impressionism started in Paris during the 1870s and 1880s and was a reaction against traditional European painting. Impressionist artists, influenced by the increasing popularity of photography, sought to capture the moment as a “snapshot” of their subject matter as perceived by the human eye. Famous impressionist artists include Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Frédéric Bazille, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, Armand Guillaumin, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Important Impressionist works include “Jardin a Sainte-Adresse” (1867) by Monet, “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” (1882) by Manet, and “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette” (1876) by Renoir. Many of these works are showcased at international art auctions.
Cubism
First developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism is one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. Cubist works analyse objects, reducing them to their component geometric forms and reassembling these shapes in an abstract manner. A further development of the style, called Synthetic Cubism, included collage mixed with oils – newspaper or common wallpaper was often incorporated into compositions. Picasso and Braque were joined by other Cubist artists, including Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier, Fernand Léger and Juan Gris.
Surrealism
Surrealism grew out of the anti-rationalism of Dada, a movement that turned protest against the horror of war into a celebration of the absurd and the irrational. Mixing dream elements and exploring the limits of imagination, Surrealism became a major art movement in the 1920s. Perhaps the most well-known Surrealist artist was Salvador Dalí, famous for works like “The Persistence of Memory” (1931), “Metamorphosis of Narcissus” (1937), and “The Burning Giraffe” (1937). Other Surrealist artists include Man Ray, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, Yves Tanguy, Luis Buñuel, and Alberto Giacometti.
Pop Art
Emerging from the post-war popular culture of the 1950s, Pop Art celebrated mass-produced imagery from advertising, comic books, and popular figures of the time like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. Famous Pop Art artists include Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg. Some well-known and popular Pop Art works are “Drowning Girl” (1963) by Roy Lichtenstein, “Flag” (1954-1955) by Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup I” (1968).