Online Magazine No.373

Sir Elton John, Stamp Act placard, Americana Week, Bob Beamon’s Olympic gold, North American exhibitions, James Ensor, and more | [View in browser]( [Christie's]( [BUY]( [SELL]( [STORIES]( [Christie's] [Goodbye Peachtree Road: why Sir Elton John is parting with treasures from his Atlanta home]( [How this 1765 placard — made in defiance of the Stamp Act — helped shape America’s destiny]( ‘ [Americana Week: Nureyev’s giltwood eagle, Stuart’s portrait of Washington, and much more]( [Bob Beamon, his Olympic gold medal, and that famous leap: ‘I felt like I could float over water’]( [Best new exhibitions in North America — from Mary Cassatt to Maynard Dixon and Matisse]( [The man behind the masks: 75 years on from his death, James Ensor celebrated and reassessed]( [More stories]( Editor’s picks [This rare carved figure of a racetrack tout was probably made in New York or Chicago around 1880. The life-size character’s original function — hinted at by the cigars poking out of his breast pocket and the others clutched in his hand — was to stand outside a tobacco shop and entice buyers inside]( [Estimate: $300,000-500,000 19 January, New York]( [The 1833 hand-coloured engraving Barn Owl is one of only three night scenes in John James Audubon’s masterpiece The Birds of America. Designed to show its feathered subjects at their actual size, the work was printed on metre-high pages. This folio has royal provenance, having been owned by Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV]( [Estimate: $20,000-30,000 17 January, New York]( [Dating from the early 16th century, this Italian bronze horse is from the Quentin Collection of Renaissance and Baroque sculpture. The work shows a knowledge of equine physiology in motion that was only found at the time in Leonardo da Vinci’s studies, suggesting that it was made by a member of his circle]( [Estimate: $350,000-500,000 30 January, New York]( [William Michael Harnett was a master of trompe l’oeil painting, imbuing his illusionistic works with a startling immediacy. That quality is heightened in London Times, July 17, 1879 by the inclusion of a particular day’s newspaper alongside the other objects meticulously depicted]( [Estimate: $50,000-70,000 18 January, New York](   © [Christie’s 2024]( [Web version]( | [Privacy policy]( | [Unsubscribe from Online Magazine]( Terry O’Neill (1938-2019), Elton John (Album Cover Variant), 1974 (detail). Chromogenic print, printed 2014. Image: 24 x 24 in ( 60.9 x 60.9 cm); sheet: 30⅜ x 29⅞ in (78.1 x 75.8 cm). Estimate: $6,000-8,000. Offered in The Collection of Sir Elton John: Opening Night on 21 February 2024 at Christie’s in New York // The Stamp Act defiance placard, written by the Sons of Liberty, 23-24 October 1765. Manuscript document, one page on laid paper. 6⅕ x 7½ in (15.6 x 19.2 cm). Estimate: $4,000,000-6,000,000. Offered in Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana on 17 January 2024 at Christie’s in New York // Bob Beamon at the 1968 Olympics, Mexico City. Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images // Tsuboi Asuka 坪井明日香, Chinese-Brocade Ancient Skirt (唐織 裳), 2017. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. From Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan at Art Institute of Chicago // Abraham Ángel, Self-Portrait / Autorretrato, 1923. Oil on cardboard. 31⅞ x 28¼ in. Museo Nacional de Arte. INBAL / Secretaría de Cultura, Mexico City. From Abraham Ángel: Between Wonder and Seduction at Dallas Museum of Art // Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Family Group Reading, 1968. Oil on canvas. 22 7/16 x 44⅜ in (57 x 112.7 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Watson Webb, 1942. From Mary Cassatt at Work, Philadelphia Museum of Art // Melonie Bennett, Suzie, Bahama Beach Club, Portland, Maine, 1996. Gelatin silver print. 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Framed: 22⅞ x 28⅞ x 1¼ in (58.1 x 73.3 x 3.2 cm). Portland Museum of Art, Maine, promised gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection. From Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder at Norton Museum, Palm Beach // Preston Singletary, Gagaan Awutáawu Yéil (Raven Steals the Sun), 2008. Blown, hot-sculpted, and sand-carved glass. 9½ x 26 x 9½ in. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, gift of the artist. Photo by Russell Johnson. From Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight at Oklahoma City Museum of Art // James Ensor (1860-1949), The Intrigue, 1890. Oil on canvas. 89.5 x 149 cm. Collection KMSKA — Flemish Community, Inv. No 1856. Photo: Rik Klein Gotink