Heritage Auctions Inc.
06/22/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/22/2021 13:36
Bowl-ed Over: Largest Selection from Celebrated California Artist Headed to Heritage Auctions
Press Release - June 22, 2021
DALLAS, Texas (June 22, 2021) - In the never-ending pursuit of greatness, some try to expand their repertoires to the point that they can not help but be acknowledged for the sheer scope of their accomplishments.
Others, like ceramicist James Lovera, take the alternate approach: find a talent and perfect it - mix in variations, as needed, but continue to execute at an unsurpassed level. The California-born artist developed and perfected what is now considered his signature style of bowl, 19 of which will be featured in Heritage Auctions' Design Auction July 15.
Likely the largest selection of Lovera's work ever brought to a single auction, the lots all come from a single collection, from a consignor who got each of them directly from the artist.
'James Lovera is exceedingly important, and perhaps a little bit underrecognized, within the market from the American post-war Ceramics movement,' Heritage Auctions Design Director Brent Lewis said. 'Perhaps it's because he did something really simple … but then did it so brilliantly, experimenting endlessly with glazes, textures and colors.
'The selection in this auction includes some of what are the most interesting examples of his work to come to market, in both color and execution. Heritage Auctions is offering a trove of his work that really represents Lovera's considerable contributions to ceramics.'
'The types of glazes he used are direct opposites although both reference the natural world he saw around him,' according to The Marks Project, dubbed 'The Dictionary of American Studio Ceramics 1946 onward. 'They can range from the textural crater glazes for which he is perhaps most well-known to glossy Asian inspired glazes in vivid colors.'
Highlights of the Lovera lots in the auction include, but are not limited to:
Bowl (estimate: $3,000-5,000)
Bowl, 2003(estimate: $2,000-3,000)
Three Bowls(estimate: $2,000-3,000)Bowl, 2001< /a>(estimate: $2,000-3,000)Bowl, circa 1995 (estimate: $1,800-2,400)
For images and information on all lots in the auction, visit HA.com/8064.
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
Heritage also enjoys the highest online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,400,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.
Steve Lansdale, Public Relations Specialist
214-409-1699; [email protected]