By Carter B. Horsley

No serious collectors of Post-War art can afford to miss the day sales that may not have the glamour of the evening sales but boast a much larger and usually less expensive selection of works that invariably include some really good art.

This day auction is no exception.

Highlights include three stunning works by Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), two good early and late works by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), a fine William Baziotes (1912-1963), a strong Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) drawing, two excellent paintings by Joan Mitchell (1926-1992), a good painting by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), two pleasant works by Red Grooms (b. 1937), a vibrant and colorful painting by Sam Francis (1924-1997), a good portrait by Andy Warhol ((1928-1987), several works by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), a good painting by James Rosenquist (b. 1933), a good Kumi Sugai (1919-1996) painting, a good paiting by Maria Helena Viera Da Silva (1908-1992), a handsome sculpture by Lynn Chadwick (b. 1914), an excellent sculpture by Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), and a pleasant sculpture by George Rickey (b. 1907).

The Hans Hofmann works are particularly outstanding as good works by this important teacher and founder of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism rarely appear on the market.

The most exciting Hofmann work, shown at the top of this article, is Lot 217, "Nocturn," a 60-by-52-inch oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962. It has a very conservative estimate of $80,000 to $120,000 and is the best work in this auction. This is the kind of painting one hoped Clyfford Still would have eventually gotten into. It sold for $143,500 which includes the buyer's premium as do all results in this article.

The catalogue includes the following commentary:

"Nocturn is a wonderful example of Hofmann's late paintings that digress from the tight linearity of his slab paintings. Hofmann's sense of freedom is expressed in the way in which the paint was densely applied layer upon layer; background concentrated forms in the center contrast with a brilliant Matisssean blue and hove in space. As the title of the painting suggests, Hofmann is describing a natural phenomenon of nightfall and alluding to its elegiac and somber atmosphere….Hofmann had often stated that his painting process is linked, and could be understood in relation to the larger forces of human creativity and the mystical cosmos. His desire to view things in an all-encompassing manner is demonstrated in a work such as the present painting."

This work should be ideally be hung next to a large Rothko, a large Franz Kline, a large Still and one of Robert Motherwell's large elegy paintings. (A version of "Elegy to the Spanish Republic" by Motherwell (1915-1991) is offered as lot 103, a very strong but small india ink and brush on yellow lined paper, 7 3/4 by 12 1/4 inches, painted circa 1958, with a conservative estimate of $18,000 to $25,000. It sold for $23,325.) The Hofmann "Nocturn" would stand out admirably in such a group. What is particularly wonderful in this work are the short vertical strokes of bright green near the center, the thin open rectangle of white, the smear of deep blue and the forceful red at the bottom. This work is a masterpiece of Abstract Expressionism that is resonant, vibrant, and forceful, and not a placid or bland reverie.

Lot 105, "Landscape," is a 24-by-30-inch oil on panel that Hofmann painted in 1941 and it is a very dynamic work that has quite remarkable structure and full coverage of the panel with a very broad palette for Hofmann, who is style is usually characterized by large blocks of color with a few painterly flourishes. Here there are swirling forms and angular dark highlights and great liveliness. The unsigned lot has a very conservative estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $84,600.

Lot 107 is a striking monochrome oil on canvas by Hofmann that measures 50 1/4 by 48 1/3 inches and was executed in 1949. It is an extremely tantalizing composition with finely drawn thin outlines and wonderful dynamics. Entitled "Germania II," the signed work has a very conservative estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 and one can almost perceive a "goose-step" form and the eroding face of an onlooker. It sold for $39,950. Despite its very bold areas of white, this work has a delicacy not often found in Hofmann's works.

Several other works in the auction would make nice companion pieces to the Hofmanns. Lot 221, "Hatchery (Shiner)," a 49-inch-square acrylic and silkscreen inks on stainless steel, by Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925) is similar temperamentally with "Nocturn," Lot 216. The Rauschenberg was executed in 1987 and has a conservative estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. It sold for $61,100.

Lot 223, "Waxahachie," a 61-by-49-inch oil on canvas by Theodoros Stamos (b. 1922) could be another "Nocturn" companion piece. It was painted in 1960 and has a very conservative estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $22,325.

Lot 106, "Choir," by Jack Tworkov (1900-1982) could be an interesting "mate" to Hofmann's "Germania II" although it consists of red, yellow and blue strokes against a white background, much in the manner of some of the very late work of de Kooning. The Tworkov measures 45 1/8 by 41 7/8 inches and was painted in 1951, two years after "Germania II." It has an estimate of $35,000 to $45,000. It sold for $42,300. In the catalogue it is placed on the page facing "Germania II," and the auction houses are to be congratulated for their organization in catalogues of paintings that are very similar in subject, or style, rather than putting all the works of an individual artist in one section.

Lot 123, "Bibliothèque," by Maria Helena Viera Da Silva, a 28 1/2-by-36-inch oil on burlap, executed in 1952, is a very rich and almost pulsating, grid of yellows and blues and reds that would be fine "mate" for Hofmann's "Landscape." Lot 123 has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $149,000. The catalogue notes that the artist "created visual labyrinths which draw the viewer's gaze on a meandering path with an infinite number of entrances, exits, and quite often, an equal number of dead-ends which spur one to continue the intellectual journey." "Rich in color with tightly woven brushstrokes," the catalogue continued, "the present works offers an affront to three-dimensionality….Bibliothèque's brick-like pattern consumes space and defies the conventions of foreground and background."

Lot 218, "Woman," by de Kooning, is one of the more "accessible" works in this celebrated series that is noted for the extreme distortion, abstraction and overwhelming of the image of a woman with splashy bright colors and wild brushwork. This 23 3/4-by-19-inch oil on vellum was executed in 1966 and the woman's figure stands out in dark green outline through a orange and red haze of overpainting. The catalogue notes that the woman in this figure is "loose-limbed and fanciful" and that the "choice of vellum as a support allows him further means to collapse the space between the figure and background, and to infuse the composition with light which remained a constant source of inspiration for him." The lot has a conservative estimate of $90,000 to $120,000. It sold for $105,000.

A more amorphous and typical de Kooning "Woman" is Lot 149, entitled "Paper Tigress," a 19-by-11 1/8-inch oil on paper towellaid down on cardboard laid down on panel. Painted in 1964, it has been consigned by the Sydney and Frances Lewis Art Trust Collection and has a conservative estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 117, "Untitled," by Arshile Gorky is a very fine pencil and colored wax crayons on paper, which measures 18 by 24 inches. Drawn in 1945, it has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.

"Unmistakably Gorky," the catalogue observes, "the present drawing incorporates many elements from the artist's vocabulary - a cast of imaginary biomorphic shapes and identifiable objects from the real world. A pair of bird's legs, a shoehorn, and a nipple intermingle with undecipherable columns, funnels and curved lines. In their variety and ambiguity the wondrous shapes and figures of this drawing capture the dynamic combination of the artist's powers of imagination and observation."

Lot 219, "Simple," is a very strong and excellent oil on canvas, 76 1/2 by 44 1/2 inches, by Joan Mitchell that was painted in 1990 and has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $248,000. It is a very handsome and painterly work with its totemic verticality and rich coloration. Lot 148, "Untitled," is a very good oil on canvas, 39 by 33 inches, that Mitchell painted in 1960. The painting has vigorous brushwork with a central broad black line surrounded by many green and deep red strokes against a white background, creating a fine spatial environment for the abstract but very dynamic strokes to float. It has a conservative estimate of $90,000 to $120,000. It sold for $160,000. Mitchell's painting is frenetic in comparison with the orderly and formal abstract painting by Kumai Sugai, Lot 120, "Ko-Oni," that was executed in 1956, The 48 3/4-by-38 1/4-inch oil on canvas combines the aesthetics of Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, William Baziotes and the East. The fine work has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $47,000.

Lot 112, "Figures in the Night," is a very powerful but subtle oil on canvas, 28 1/4 by 24 inches, by Baziotes (1912-1963) that was executed in 1947. It has a modest estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It failed to sell. Baziotes and Stamos remain significantly undervalued in the art market.

Lot 237, "Pylon," by Isamu Noguchi, galvanized steel, 114 inches high, shown above, was executed in 1981 and is one of an edition of 18 plus six artist's proofs. The striking and subtle work has an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $47,000.

Lot 155, "Two Paintings, Sleeping Muse," by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), is a good, almost stately collage and gouache on paper, which was executed in 1983 and has an estimate of $280,000 to $320,000. It sold for $589,000.

Lot 175, "Judith Green," by Andy Warhol, synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas, 20 by 16 inches, was executed in 1963 and has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 150, "Tube," by James Rosenquist (b.1933), oil on circular canvas, 60 3/4 inches in diameter, was painted in 1961. A quite striking and unusual work by Rosenquist, it has an estimate of $70,000 to $90,000 and was consigned by the Sydney and Frances Lewis Art Trust Collection. It sold for $58,750.

The auction has two nice lots by Red Grooms (b. 1937), Lots 163, "Eighth Avenue Snow Scene," and 164, "Maine Room." The wall reliefs of wood, paper and cardboard in Plexiglas boxes are typical, albeit not sensational examples of the work of this most humorous and inventive artist. Each lot has an estimate of $18,000 to $25,000. Each lot sold for $37,600.