Gordon Wagner Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Gordon Wagner Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 02, 2024
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Mixed Media Surrealist Painting
Est: $100 - $200
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Mixed Media Surrealist Painting. Signed and dated '73 bottom right. Overall: 17 X 13 1/4 in. Sight: 13 1/4 X 9 1/2 in. #3869 . Gordon Parsons Wagner was born on April 13th, 1915 in Redondo Beach, California. He became an orphan at the age of twelve, and worked at arcades around the beach to raise enough money to attend college. These experiences had a profound impact on his artistic sensibilities, as well as his desire to combine multiple mediums for maximum impact. In his late teens he was heavily influenced by his mentor and fellow painter Norman S. Chamberlain, with whom he traveled to France and met renowned artists like Pablo Picasso and Maurice de Vlaminck. His interest in art was bolstered by exposure to the surrealists, particularly Dali and Max Ernst. He came to prefer their mysticism and fantastical elements over the works of the cubists he first emulated. Returning to the United States, he studied engineering at UCLA starting in 1935, before transferring to the Chouinard Art Institute in 1937. He eventually returned to UCLA to finish his degree in 1941, and went to work as a tool and design engineer for the EMSCO Derrick Equipment Company. He found it difficult to stay at any one job for long, quickly moving to work as a mechanical engineer for Hughes Aircraft and Rocketdyne, all while experimenting with sculpture. Wagner became one of the earliest pioneers of the California Assemblage movement, combining debris from beaches, city streets, and forests into artistic tableaus. He traveled extensively as well, primarily to Arizona and Mexico, where his fascination with Native American mythology and legends and with the presentational forms of fetishes and icons had a profound effect on his early paintings and later assemblages. By 1950 he was exhibiting at Willard Houghland and Graywood Galleries in Los Angeles, with his first solo show in 1956 at the Now Gallery. In 1958 he became an art instructor at Barnsdall Art Center, where he taught classes for the next ten years. In 1966 Wagner joined artists Noah Purifoy and Judson Powell as a participant in their exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, conceived as a collaborative project in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion against the racist and abusive practices of the Los Angeles Police Department. The project made national headlines and catapulted him into the limelight. In subsequent years Wagner moved from making free-form junk sculptures to placing found objects in cases under glass. After traveling in Europe, notably in Sweden, Holland, and Belgium, where his work was regularly shown, he began producing narrative box constructions using fabricated objects and painted backdrops in which odd juxtapositions and distortions recall the work of surrealist painter René Magritte. Wagner returned to junk sculpture in the mid-1980s, by which time he had won 75 awards and had work in over 500 collections and museums around the world. He died on December 4th, 1987 in Los Angeles. His mechanical designs, as well as his paintings, poetry, ephemera, and assemblage creations are still highly sought after by collectors.
Sarasota Estate Auction
Nov. 02, 2024
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Mixed Media Surrealist Painting
Est: $100 - $200
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Mixed Media Surrealist Painting. Signed and dated '75 bottom right, the year he exhibited at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Overall: 23 5/8 X 20 in. Sight: 13 x 9 3/4 in. #3829 . Gordon Parsons Wagner was born on April 13th, 1915 in Redondo Beach, California. He became an orphan at the age of twelve, and worked at arcades around the beach to raise enough money to attend college. These experiences had a profound impact on his artistic sensibilities, as well as his desire to combine multiple mediums for maximum impact. In his late teens he was heavily influenced by his mentor and fellow painter Norman S. Chamberlain, with whom he traveled to France and met renowned artists like Pablo Picasso and Maurice de Vlaminck. His interest in art was bolstered by exposure to the surrealists, particularly Dali and Max Ernst. He came to prefer their mysticism and fantastical elements over the works of the cubists he first emulated. Returning to the United States, he studied engineering at UCLA starting in 1935, before transferring to the Chouinard Art Institute in 1937. He eventually returned to UCLA to finish his degree in 1941, and went to work as a tool and design engineer for the EMSCO Derrick Equipment Company. He found it difficult to stay at any one job for long, quickly moving to work as a mechanical engineer for Hughes Aircraft and Rocketdyne, all while experimenting with sculpture. Wagner became one of the earliest pioneers of the California Assemblage movement, combining debris from beaches, city streets, and forests into artistic tableaus. He traveled extensively as well, primarily to Arizona and Mexico, where his fascination with Native American mythology and legends and with the presentational forms of fetishes and icons had a profound effect on his early paintings and later assemblages. By 1950 he was exhibiting at Willard Houghland and Graywood Galleries in Los Angeles, with his first solo show in 1956 at the Now Gallery. In 1958 he became an art instructor at Barnsdall Art Center, where he taught classes for the next ten years. In 1966 Wagner joined artists Noah Purifoy and Judson Powell as a participant in their exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, conceived as a collaborative project in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion against the racist and abusive practices of the Los Angeles Police Department. The project made national headlines and catapulted him into the limelight. In subsequent years Wagner moved from making free-form junk sculptures to placing found objects in cases under glass. After traveling in Europe, notably in Sweden, Holland, and Belgium, where his work was regularly shown, he began producing narrative box constructions using fabricated objects and painted backdrops in which odd juxtapositions and distortions recall the work of surrealist painter René Magritte. Wagner returned to junk sculpture in the mid-1980s, by which time he had won 75 awards and had work in over 500 collections and museums around the world. He died on December 4th, 1987 in Los Angeles. His mechanical designs, as well as his paintings, poetry, ephemera, and assemblage creations are still highly sought after by collectors.
Sarasota Estate Auction
Nov. 02, 2024
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Signed Vorpal Gallery Exhibition Poster
Est: $100 - $200
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) American, Signed Vorpal Gallery Exhibition Poster. For the New York Vorpal Gallery Exhibition in 1977. Signed and dedicated bottom middle: "To Basia with all my love." Size: 38 1/4 X 14 3/4 in. #3855 . Gordon Parsons Wagner was born on April 13th, 1915 in Redondo Beach, California. He became an orphan at the age of twelve, and worked at arcades around the beach to raise enough money to attend college. These experiences had a profound impact on his artistic sensibilities, as well as his desire to combine multiple mediums for maximum impact. In his late teens he was heavily influenced by his mentor and fellow painter Norman S. Chamberlain, with whom he traveled to France and met renowned artists like Pablo Picasso and Maurice de Vlaminck. His interest in art was bolstered by exposure to the surrealists, particularly Dali and Max Ernst. He came to prefer their mysticism and fantastical elements over the works of the cubists he first emulated. Returning to the United States, he studied engineering at UCLA starting in 1935, before transferring to the Chouinard Art Institute in 1937. He eventually returned to UCLA to finish his degree in 1941, and went to work as a tool and design engineer for the EMSCO Derrick Equipment Company. He found it difficult to stay at any one job for long, quickly moving to work as a mechanical engineer for Hughes Aircraft and Rocketdyne, all while experimenting with sculpture. Wagner became one of the earliest pioneers of the California Assemblage movement, combining debris from beaches, city streets, and forests into artistic tableaus. He traveled extensively as well, primarily to Arizona and Mexico, where his fascination with Native American mythology and legends and with the presentational forms of fetishes and icons had a profound effect on his early paintings and later assemblages. By 1950 he was exhibiting at Willard Houghland and Graywood Galleries in Los Angeles, with his first solo show in 1956 at the Now Gallery. In 1958 he became an art instructor at Barnsdall Art Center, where he taught classes for the next ten years. In 1966 Wagner joined artists Noah Purifoy and Judson Powell as a participant in their exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, conceived as a collaborative project in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion against the racist and abusive practices of the Los Angeles Police Department. The project made national headlines and catapulted him into the limelight. In subsequent years Wagner moved from making free-form junk sculptures to placing found objects in cases under glass. After traveling in Europe, notably in Sweden, Holland, and Belgium, where his work was regularly shown, he began producing narrative box constructions using fabricated objects and painted backdrops in which odd juxtapositions and distortions recall the work of surrealist painter René Magritte. Wagner returned to junk sculpture in the mid-1980s, by which time he had won 75 awards and had work in over 500 collections and museums around the world. He died on December 4th, 1987 in Los Angeles. His mechanical designs, as well as his paintings, poetry, ephemera, and assemblage creations are still highly sought after by collectors.
Sarasota Estate Auction
Feb. 27, 2024
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987), "Quaternity (LA Series II, No. III)," 1966, Acrylic on canvas, 32" H x 30" W
Est: $800 - $1,200
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) "Quaternity (LA Series II, No. III)," 1966 Acrylic on canvas Signed, titled, and dated on the stretcher: Gordon Wagner
John Moran Auctioneers
Feb. 28, 2023
Gordon Wagner, (1915-1987), "Metamorphosis in a Keyhole," circa 1970s, Assemblage framed under glass, as issued, 23" H x 13" W x 5" D
Est: $800 - $1,200
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) "Metamorphosis in a Keyhole," circa 1970s Assemblage framed under glass, as issued Paper label affixed to the verso: Southern Illinois University / Title: Metamorphosis in a Keyhole / Media: bone, egg, rubber, & plastic, wood, acrylic, glass, pearls, gold, mesh / Artist: Gordon Wagner
John Moran Auctioneers
Feb. 28, 2023
Gordon Wagner, (1915-1987), "Fire Queen," 1979, Assemblage framed under glass, as issued, 12" H x 11" W x 3" D
Est: $600 - $800
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) "Fire Queen," 1979 Assemblage framed under glass, as issued Signed: Wagner / 79 / 'Fire Queen'
John Moran Auctioneers
Sep. 14, 2022
GORDON WAGNER (1915-1987) Sunburst, 1968
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
GORDON WAGNER (1915-1987) Sunburst, 1968 signed and dated 'Wagner 68' (on the reverse) assemblage of wood, ceramic, metal, brush hairs and latex paint on canvas on panel 32 1/8 x 27 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. 81.6 x 70.5 x 4.4 cm. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
May. 03, 2022
Gordon Wagner, Memories of the Future
Est: $600 - $800
Gordon Wagner Memories of the Future 1972 lithograph box: 25.25 h × 18.25 w in (64 × 46 cm) sheet: 25 h × 18 w in (63 × 46 cm) The complete portfolio comprised of 19 lithographs with 12 plates of story poetry. Signed, titled, dated and numbered to lower edge of each lithograph '12/150 Wagner 72'. Portfolio is number 12 from the edition of 150 printed and published by Stone Publications, Inc., Los Angeles. Sold with original box. This work will ship from LAMA in Los Angeles, California. Condition of the item is not included in this description. Condition reports are available from LAMA upon request. LAMA strongly recommends that you review a condition report for each item on which you plan to bid. Email condition@lamodern.com to request a condition report.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
May. 03, 2022
Gordon Wagner, Coin Gold
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Gordon Wagner Coin Gold 1972 mixed media assemblage 6 h × 5 w × 3 d in (15 × 13 × 8 cm) Signed and dated to underside 'Wagner 72'. This work will ship from LAMA in Los Angeles, California. Condition of the item is not included in this description. Condition reports are available from LAMA upon request. LAMA strongly recommends that you review a condition report for each item on which you plan to bid. Email condition@lamodern.com to request a condition report.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Jun. 09, 2020
Gordon Wagner, (1915-1987, American), Figural Clock, 1965, Mixed media assemblage on wood, 39" H x 18" W x 6" D
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987, American) Figural Clock, 1965 Mixed media assemblage on wood Signed and dated verso: Wagner 65 39" H x 18" W x 6" D Provenance: The Collection of Cindy Tietze-Hodosh and Stuart Hodosh
John Moran Auctioneers
Dec. 08, 2019
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) Mixed Media on Paper
Est: $150 - $300
"Madam Octave's Organ Palace", 1975. Surreal image in gouache, watercolor, & graphite; signed lower right. Titled, signed, and dated 75 to reverse of mat. Includes dedication by Wagner: "To Roland Hsu with appreciationfrom Gordon Wagner '77". Excellent condition. Metal frame. 14.24" x 10.75" paper; 24" x 20" mat
District Auction
Nov. 19, 2019
Gordon Wagner, (1915-1987 American), "Chances," 1976, Mixed media shadow box sculpture under glass, 15.5" H x 15.5" W x 7" D
Est: $700 - $900
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987 American) "Chances," 1976 Mixed media shadow box sculpture under glass Signed, titled and dated verso: Wagner 15.5" H x 15.5" W x 7" D Notes: Accompanied by book "Memories of the Future" by Gordon Wagner.
John Moran Auctioneers
Mar. 19, 2017
Gordon Wagner Watercolor
Est: $300 - $500
Abstract watercolor on paper, Gordon Wagner (American 1915-1987) untitled, 15" x 11" (image) in metal frame 21.5" x 17.5" overall, with pamphlet
William Smith Auctions
Nov. 06, 2016
Wagner, "Whatever Is To Remain Sacred," Collage on Paper
Est: $200 - $300
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987), "Whatever Is to Remain Sacred," collage on paper, signed and inscribed along top "To Molly & Jackie with love to 2 Queens, Gordon Wagner 77," inscribed verso. Wagner showed at "Jackie's" Gallery, Jacqueline Anhalt Gallery, in 1977. Provenance: from a Los Angeles, California estate.
Kaminski Auctions
Nov. 01, 2016
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Gordon Wagner (1915-1987) Kwan Yin #4, 1968 44 1/8 x 32 in. (112.1 x 81.3 cm)
Bonhams
Feb. 08, 2010
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) Untitled sight 9 3/4 x 6 3/4in
Est: -
Untitled signed 'Wagner' (lower right) acrylic, ink and collage on paper sight 9 3/4 x 6 3/4in
Bonhams
Feb. 08, 2010
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) Railroad Station, Church, at Fishbone Naves; Untitled (View of a Ship's Stern), 1975 (2) 24 x 20in; sight 13 1/4 x 9 3/8in
Est: -
Railroad Station, Church, at Fishbone Naves; Untitled (View of a Ship's Stern), 1975 (2) first signed 'Wagner' (lower right); second signed and dated 'Wagner 75' (lower right) acrylic, watercolor and graphite on paper 24 x 20in; sight 13 1/4 x 9 3/8in
Bonhams
Feb. 07, 2010
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) Untitled sight 9 3/4 x 6 3/4in
Est: $200 - $300
Untitled signed 'Wagner' (lower right) acrylic, ink and collage on paper sight 9 3/4 x 6 3/4in
Bonhams
Feb. 07, 2010
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) Railroad Station, Church, at Fishbone Naves; Untitled (View of a Ship's Stern), 1975 (2) 24 x 20in; sight 13 1/4 x 9 3/8in
Est: $400 - $600
Railroad Station, Church, at Fishbone Naves; Untitled (View of a Ship's Stern), 1975 (2) first signed 'Wagner' (lower right); second signed and dated 'Wagner 75' (lower right) acrylic, watercolor and graphite on paper 24 x 20in; sight 13 1/4 x 9 3/8in
Bonhams
Jan. 22, 2010
Wagner, Gordon "no 28 Square II"
Est: $400 - $600
textured material on canvas, 10 3/4 x 10 3/4", Lee Nordness Galleries Label Verso, dated ' 68 Verso
Point Pleasant Galleries
Nov. 17, 2009
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) A Very Mild Sweet Cigar, 1984 16 3/4 x 10 x 3in
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
A Very Mild Sweet Cigar, 1984 mixed media assemblage on wood 16 3/4 x 10 x 3in
Bonhams
Nov. 15, 2009
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) Beach with palm trees 36 x 48in
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Beach with palm trees signed 'Wagner' (lower right) oil on canvas 36 x 48in
Bonhams
May. 04, 2009
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) V.R., 1954 56 x 24 1/2 x 5in (142 x 62 x 12cm)
Est: $16,000 - $20,000
V.R., 1954 Wagner '54' (on the reverse) mixed media assemblage 56 x 24 1/2 x 5in (142 x 62 x 12cm)
Bonhams
May. 04, 2009
Gordon Wagner (American, 1915-1987) A Poor Soul Between Two Heels, 1984 21 x 12 x 1 1/2in (53 x 30 x 4cm)
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
A Poor Soul Between Two Heels, 1984 titled, signed and dated 'Wagner 84' (on the reverse) mixed media assemblage on wood 21 x 12 x 1 1/2in (53 x 30 x 4cm)
Bonhams