OAK PARK, IL.- Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will present Tradition & Innovation, its inaugural auction of important works from the 19th century through today on December 2 at 10 a.m. CST. This sale offers items across a variety of artistic movements and media by painters, furniture makers, designers, ceramicists, silversmiths, sculptors and architects who have helped define the world of art and design for more than a century.

Fine art includes four works by Chicago artist Gertrude Abercrombie, who was most recently featured in a retrospective exhibit at New York’s Karma Gallery, and Gladys Nilsson, a member of Chicago Imagist group, “Hairy Who”, currently featured in an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Other artists include Chicagoans Ed Paschke, Ed Flood and Richard Howard Hunt, as well as a Sol LeWitt sculpture estimated at $100,000-200,000, a 1955 painting by Charles Green Shaw, Edgar Payne’s Twin Peaks, estimated at $150,000-250,000, two Keith Haring Pop Shop screenprints and an Edward Sheriff Curtis orotone.

19th and Early 20th Century Design includes several works by Frank Lloyd Wright ranging from an early print cabinet for the Avery Coonley house in Riverside, Illinois, estimated at $80,000-120,000, to a Usonian coffee table, estimated at $15,000-20,000. Works by California Prairie School architects Greene & Greene, a wrought iron gate by Samuel Yellin, metalwork by renowned English silversmith Paul Storr, Mexico’s famed William Spratling and early examples by Chicago’s Kalo Shop, and pottery pieces by Fritz Albert for Teco and the Grueby Faience Company also will be auctioned.

Modern Design includes a tapestry by Alexander Calder, two sets of chairs from the Chandigarh Administrative Buildings in India by Swiss designer Pierre Jeanneret, with estimates between $10,000 and $18,000, a deep-relief cabinet by Paul Evans, estimated at $30,000-40,000, and an iconic rocking stool by Isamu Noguchi.

“In an ever-evolving art market, it has become increasingly necessary to distinguish ourselves from other auctioneers and dealers,” said Joe Stanfield, Vice President of Toomey & Co. and Senior Specialist in the Fine Art Department. “Art collectors attend thousands of auctions, gallery openings and art fairs around the world, and the material they encounter often is shown exclusively among works from the same movement or period. Similarly, certain mediums such as ceramics and silver typically have been branded as ‘decorative’ or ‘functional.’ With Tradition & Innovation, our goal is to present and elevate important artists and makers from across the world, across time and across media to help bridge the collecting gap between what is distinguished as Traditional, Modern, Contemporary, Fine and Decorative Art.”

Tradition & Innovation will be presented in the morning prior to Toomey & Co. Auctioneers’ Art & Design auction, which boasts a selection of nearly 700 prominent fine and decorative artworks including furniture, paintings, pottery, sculpture and lighting.

Preview exhibition for this auction is open to the public and will be held at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Ill., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST beginning November 26 through December 1, with extended hours on November 29 (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

For more information on all of the works to be included in the auction, please visit: toomeyco.com.

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers holds several carefully curated auctions each year. Our departments include: Fine Art, Early 20th Century Design, Modern Design, Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts, Silver & Objects of Vertu and Fine Jewelry & Timepieces. Our 2016 and 2017 schedules each included additional single-owner auctions dedicated to works from the Estate of Candice B. Groot and the Estate of Joan and Milton Baxt.

Located on the western border of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. is surrounded by a vibrant arts community as well as Prairie School architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, William Eugene Drummond, George Washington Maher and Marion Mahony Griffin.