Auction Block: Works by Eakins, Dubuffet and Goldin
By • August 31, 2026 0 355
This month’s Auction Block features a self-portrait by contemporary photographer Nan Goldin, works on paper by artists Jean Dubuffet and Thomas Eakins, an embroidered Fendi handbag, an Arts & Crafts-style bookcase and an autographed note and photograph mailed by Helen Keller to thank a San Antonio man for sending her a birthday greeting in 1960.
Bonhams
Sold for: $12,800
This silver dye bleach print from an edition of 25 — signed by Nan Goldin (b. 1953), titled “Self portrait in my bathroom, Berlin” and dated 1991 — is about two by three feet on a framed sheet. Born in Washington, D.C., Goldin grew up near Boston, living in foster homes in her teens, when she took up photography. Her best-known work deals with the HIV/AIDS crisis and queer subcultures, including in Berlin, where she lived for several years.
“Self portrait in my bathroom, Berlin,” 1991. Nan Goldin.
Christie’s
Estimate: $15,000–$20,000
Sold for: $114,300
From a private collection in Japan, this gouache (opaque watercolor) on paperboard by School of Paris painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) sold for more than five times the high estimate. Titled “Paysage Aux Routes” — in English, “Landscape With Roads” — it is signed and dated “VIII 43.” The work’s childlike style indicates that Dubuffet was already responding to what he came to call art brut (raw art), now known as outsider art.
Doyle
Estimate: $3,000–$5,000
Sold for: $16,640
“Man with Hands behind Head” (shown) and four other drawings in pencil, black chalk and charcoal by Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) sold for more than three times the high estimate at Doyle’s “Summer Impressions: Fine Prints & Works on Paper” auction. Among the greatest American artists and teachers, Eakins’s oeuvre includes portraits, sculling scenes on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River and, for the Centennial Exhibition, “The Gross Clinic.”
“Man with Hands behind Head.” Thomas Eakins.
Freeman’s
Fendi Embroidered Baguette Bag
Estimate: $1,500–$2,000
Sold for: $4,160
From the estate of Rebecca Lee, this multicolored, baguette-style handbag with silver-tone hardware, crafted in the 2000s by Italian fashion house Fendi, sold for over twice the high estimate at Freeman’s “The Summer Edit: Jewelry and Luxury Handbags” auction in Chicago. Featuring all-over floral embroidery, it is trimmed in lizard skin, also the material of the strap. Lined in yellow satin, the interior includes a sidewall zipper pocket.
Freeman’s sold this embroidered Fendi baguette bag for over twice the high estimate.
The Potomack Company
Estimate: $500–$700
Sold for: $850
This Arts & Crafts-style bookcase topped the high estimate at the Potomack Company’s “June Art, Furniture & Decorative Arts Cornucopia” auction. Just over four and a half feet tall, the oak bookcase, on square legs with wooden casters, is fitted with two wood-framed glass doors with false mullions. Michigan-based Grand Rapids Bookcase and Chair Company called its early 20th-century line, discontinued by the 1920s, Lifetime Furniture.
An early 20th-century bookcase made by the Grand Rapids Bookcase and Chair Company.
Weschler’s
Helen Keller Autographed Note and Photograph
Estimate: $30–$50
Sold for: $325
Expected to sell for under $100, this lot — an autographed note and photograph (with envelope) mailed in 1960 by author and disability rights activist Helen Keller (1880-1968) from Westport, near her Connecticut home — went for more than $300 at Weschler’s July 28 Metro Online auction. The printed message begins: “I am touched by your delightful birthday greeting which is like a candle of joy shining on my birthday.”
An autographed note and photograph (with envelope) mailed in 1960 by author and disability rights activist Helen Keller.
