Auction Houses
It may take only minutes for the gavel to fall when in-demand artworks are put up for sale at auctions, but dozens of people and months of labor to plan and execute these events by the leading auction houses.
Lowy helps the likes of Christie’s and Sotheby’s ensure that the paintings they sell at their high-profile auctions are in top notch condition. Auction houses that rely on Lowy framing and conservation services include Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Philips, Heritage, Bonhams, and Scottsdale.
In 2012, for example, history was made at Sotheby’s when Edvard Munch’s iconic masterpiece, The Scream, sold for nearly $120 million, breaking the then world record for the most expensive work of art to sell at auction. Sotheby’s entrusted Lowy with fitting the masterpiece with the appropriate glazing and acid-free materials, and with ensuring that the frame was well conserved.
Lowy, Heritage, and the Fabulous Adventures of Norman Rockwell’s early painting,“Lazy Bones.”
Every painting that comes to Lowy has a story, but we think the tale of this long-lost
Norman Rockwell is particularly engaging!
In 1919, when artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell was twenty-five- years old and
starting out on his legendary career, he painted a whimsical cover for The Saturday Evening Post. “Lazy Bones” depicted a chubby adolescent boy playing hooky from his gardening chores -- his eyes closed, his mouth slack, his faithful dog asleep on his thigh, and his straw hat and hoe tossed aside while he naps.
The painting (not considered valuable at the time) hung in a New Jersey man’s recreation room…until the fateful day in the early 1950s when Robert Grant came over to play pool. Grant inadvertently tore the Rockwell with his cue stick and ended up paying his friend between $50 and $100 dollars for the damaged painting, which he happily hung in his home.
“Lazy Bones” became a Grant family treasure, but the sleeping adolescent’s adventures were far from over. In 1976, burglars broke into the house and stole a television, a coin collection, and the Rockwell. They left no clues and the Grants despaired at ever finding their beloved painting.
Want to learn more about how we help auction houses? Contact Us.