SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Douglas Litterick Swan (1930–2000) was an American artist whose education took place mainly in Scotland, before continuing in London and Italy. His family settled in Scotland in 1936, when he was six years old. From 1943 to 1953, he studied at Dundee College of Art, where James MacKintosh was among his teachers. He also obtained a diploma from Trinity College of Music in London. In 1958, a British Council scholarship enabled him to continue his studies in Italy; based in Milan, he discovered the contemporary Italian art scene there, particularly through the works of Lucio Fontana, Enrico Castellani and Roberto Crippa.
In his paintings, Swan often chose ordinary objects — bicycles, shoes, saucepans, brushes or brooms — and also used urban views of Bonn as subjects, including the Hofgartenwiese and the Baroque university. His affinity with music is evident in a cycle devoted to major and minor keys as well as in the “Bonn Variations”, associated with Beethoven. A watercolour entitled “Air broom, Sweeping Air” is signed and dated (19)78; it measures 36.5 × 29 cm.
He exhibited, among other venues, at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, the Salon des Jeunes Contemporains, the Group of London and Galerie Gimpel Fils. He also held solo exhibitions in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. An exhibition list mentions the Saarlandmuseum in Saarbrücken in 1983. In 1994, he held a solo exhibition at Galerie Pudelko in Bonn and took part in Art Basel with the gallery. He died in Bonn in 2000.
This profile brings together identity references for Douglas Swan and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Dobiaschofsky · Germann
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Mixed media on canvas
"Dark Garden Pail. Air".
Mischtechnik auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2021-11-06
Published result : 500 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Mischtechnik und Collage auf Mkt
Catalogue period : 2021-05-08
Published result : 700 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 800
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Watercolour
"Air broom, Sweeping Air".
Aquarell
Catalogue period : 2018-05-03
Published result : 500 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 500
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Watercolour
The Milkmaid - J. Vermeer, Study for Triptych, 1978
Aquarell.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Mixed media on board
Untitled, 1982
Mischtechnik auf Karton.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Mischtechnik auf Papier und Sand.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Mixed media and collage on paper.
Sea Wall & Air Wave Form, 1976
Mischtechnik und Collage auf Papier.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Mixed media on board
La cantatrice Chauve, 1994
Mischtechnik auf Karton.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗Oil on canvas
"Zinc watering Can 2. Air Aspect".
Öl auf Lwd
Date to be documented
Published result : 1000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1600
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Watercolour
"Air broom, Sweeping Air".
Aquarell
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Profile updated :
Recently enriched profiles
The Italian painter Arturo Ricci (1854–1919) is documented here through his identity and information relating to a work, La supplique. A sale notice states that the painting was purc…
1 auction referenceThe German artist Hannah Höch uses photomontage and cut-and-paste collage as means of social and political critique. Her compositions parody bourgeois life and question representatio…
8 auction referencesAbstract sculptor, painter and graphic artist, Otto Herbert Hajek (1927–2005) developed a body of work that also extends into public space and is particularly visible in Stuttgart, h…
1 auction reference