Leonora Okarma Weaver Print Sale Now Live on iGavelAuctions.com

Jan. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- iGavel Auctions and Lark Mason are pleased to announce the sale of the print collection of Leonora Okarma Weaver, of Decatur, Georgia. Ms. Weaver, an internationally trained fine arts conservator specializing in works on paper, is the daughter of the late Eugene Okarma, founder of the well-known Okarma Gallery formerly of Atlanta, Georgia, and Brobury House, Herefordshire, England. From its inception in 1952 until its recent closing the gallery specialized in English, European and American prints, maps, illustrations and drawings from the historical to the contemporary.

The auction comprises works from the 16th – 20th centuries in differing print mediums such as drypoints, lithographs, etchings, steel engravings and chiaroscuro. The subject matters range extensively, and include political cartoons; fashion plates; sports; the American West; colorful depictions of botanical and ornithological flora and fauna; views of castles, gardens and follies; historical portraits; topographical views; military and genre scenes; scientific discoveries; Neoclassical and antiquarian imagery, and a host of other topics.

Highlights include a spectacular 18th century full-margin etching, “Stag and Hunting Dogs,” by the German artist Elias Ridinger (1698-1767), showing a powerful stag being pulled down by a pack of dogs; “The Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln,” as drawn by Winslow Homer for the pages of Harper’s Weekly; a partial set of the “Buck’s Antiquities” series, published in the early 18th century by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, depicting then-extant medieval and later architecture throughout the British Isles; two very early mid-19th century baseball prints, “The 1874 Boston Red Stockings at Prince’s Ground” and “The 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics”, baseball’s first championship team; rare hand-colored botanical etchings by Horto van Houtteano (Belgian, active mid-19th c.) and others; William Bartlett’s “Views ofAmerica;” and antique Roman ruins from the circa 1835 “Raccolta delle Principali Vedute di Roma”, by Domenico Amici (Italian, 1808-ca. 1870).

There are numerous illustrations, culled from popular mid-19th century publications such as The Illustrated London News, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, The Graphic and Harper’s Weekly , which feature an almost limitless range of subjects, including hunting; Native Americans; slavery; railroads; early Mormonism and frontier life. For map lovers, there are black and white and hand-tinted examples from the United States, England and Europe, including a fine copy of “(An) Accurate Map of Hereford Shire Divided Into Its Hundreds”, published in Emanuel Bowen’s “Large English Atlas”, London, 1755-1767, and A.T. Andreas’s “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Iowa”, ca. 1875.

Civil War enthusiasts will find countless depictions of battle and military scenes and maps, a number of them by the famous on-site illustrators A.R. and William Ward, Winslow Homer, Edwin Forbes and Thomas Nast; contemporary genre scenes, and portraits of generals and politicians in both print and illustration form. Highlights include a hand-colored rendering of “The Bombardment of Fort Sumter;” an illustration of a naval battle featuring ironclads; a Harper’s Weekly center spread of “The Trial of Jefferson Davis;” searing delineations of the siege and occupation of Vicksburg and Sherman’s March to the Sea, resulting in the destruction of Georgia; drawn-from-life renderings of battles both small and momentous; portrayals of prisoner of war camps such as Andersonville, and representations of camp life, alternately humorous and sobering.
The Leonora Okarma Weaver Print Sale includes works by: Francesco Bartolozzi; Anton Schutz; Horto van Houtteano; C. F. Fritzsch; Charles Adolph Alphand; Domenico Amici; Adolphe Lalauze; Francis Grose; Elias Ridinger; Adam Perelle; Gerard Vandergucht; Winslow Homer; Thomas Nast; Walter Gerkie, and many others

iGavel is a leader in online art auctions. Our sellers are a select group of international dealers, non- profit organizations, and regional auction houses, who follow a code of professional conduct in their presentation and sale of works of art on the iGavel site.

Lark E. Mason - President of iGavel - was formerly a Senior Vice President with Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art Department, and a Director of Online Auctions for Sothebys.com. He frequently appears on national and international media as a guest appraiser.

The sale is now online at www.igavelauctions.com; it will be closing January 29th. Please call 212-289-5588 during business hours for more information, or email us at office@igavelauctions.com.