?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
PAUL SWAN (1884-1972)
Self-Portrait of the artist as a young woman. Oil on linen canvas. 502x426 mm; 19⅝x16⅝ inches. Circa 1920s
Provenance: acquired from Eldred's Auction House July 2022, private collection, California.
One of Paul Swan's "Mona Lisa" paintings, this self-portrait is of Swan as a young woman. His other paintings consisted of subjects of society, antiquity, and scenes from myths and fairy-tales.
Paul Swan was a painter, sculptor, dancer, poet, and actor, known for his beauty, unconventional behavior, and gender nonconformity. He performed Greek-inspired dance throughout his career -- his near-nude performances shocked even Paris, where he performed for a time in the 1930s. Later he held weekly Sunday dance recitals from his studio in Carnegie Hall (1939-1969). His approach, which remained unchanged over the decades, came to be perceived as camp, and Andy Warhol included him in his 1965 underground film, entitled Camp. Swan's multi-faceted career also included appearances in silent films, including Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, and painting and sculpture commissions. His bust of Willa Cather is in the Nebraska Capitol Building.
