Charles Seliger Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Water color painter, b. 1926 - d. 2009

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    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Secret Place
      Nov. 21, 2024

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Secret Place

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      Oil and acrylic on canvas, 1969, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right, signed, titled and dated on the reverse. 5 7/8 x 3 7/8 in., 11 3/4 x 10 in. (frame).

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Airy Region
      Nov. 21, 2024

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Airy Region

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      Oil on canvas, 1962, signed 'Seliger' and dated upper right, with label from Willard Gallery, NY. 15 3/4 x 12 in., 17 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (frame).

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Beginning
      Nov. 21, 2024

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Beginning

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      Oil and acrylic on canvasboard, 1969, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left, signed, titled and dated on the reverse. 3 7/8 x 5 5/8 in. (sight), 8 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (frame).

      STAIR
    • CHARLES SELIGER
      Oct. 01, 2024

      CHARLES SELIGER

      Est: CHF400 - CHF700

      (New York 1926–2009 New York) "Monoliths". 1978. Acryl auf Leinwand. Unten rechts signiert und datiert. Verso auf Galerie-Etiketten betitelt. 20,8x15,2 cm . Gerahmt. - Das Bild ist im Rahmen auf dem Kopf montiert.

      Schuler Auktionen
    • CHARLES SELIGER
      Sep. 18, 2024

      CHARLES SELIGER

      Est: CHF400 - CHF700

      (New York 1926–2009 New York) "Monoliths". 1978. Acryl auf Leinwand. Unten rechts signiert und datiert. Verso auf Galerie-Etiketten betitelt. 20,8x15,2 cm . Gerahmt. - Das Bild ist im Rahmen auf dem Kopf montiert.

      Schuler Auktionen
    • CHARLES SELIGER Mountains.
      Jun. 06, 2024

      CHARLES SELIGER Mountains.

      Est: $1,500 - $2,500

      CHARLES SELIGER Mountains. Oil on acrylic on board, 1969. 285x357 mm; 11½x14¼ inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower left recto. Provenance: Gifted by the artist to Gerald E. Lieberman, New York (friend of the artist); thence by descent to the current owner, private collection, Florida. Seliger (1926-2009) was an Abstract Expressionist artist, born and raised in Manhattan. He was one of the original generation of Abstract Expressionist artists connected with the New York School and was one of the youngest artists to exhibit at Peggy Guggenheim's The Art of This Century Gallery, New York (the forerunner to the Betty Parsons Gallery). In 1943, Seliger met and befriended Jimmy Ernst the son of Max Ernst (married to Peggy Guggenheim at the time), and who at the age of 23 years was just a few years older than Seliger. Drawn into the circle of the avant-garde in New York through his friendship with Ernst, Seliger's paintings attracted the attention of Howard Putzel who worked with Peggy Guggenheim. At 19, Seliger was included in Putzel's groundbreaking exhibition "A Problem for Critics" at the 67 Gallery, New York. Also in 1945 he had his first solo show at the Art of This Century Gallery. Seliger showed his paintings there until 1947 when Guggenheim closed the gallery and returned to Europe (the representation of her artists was taken over by Betty Parsons). At the age of only twenty Seliger's oil painting Natural History: Form within Rock, 1946, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the permanent collection. Seliger was known for his small, jewel-like paintings (unlike most artists from the New York School who worked in large-scale formats). He was a veteran of more than 45 solo exhibitions at important contemporary galleries and museums. In 1950 he joined the Willard Gallery, New York, who represented important contemporary artists of the time including David Smith, Morris Graves and others. He formed close friendships with many of the Willard Gallery artists, including Mark Tobey, Lyonel Feininger and Norman Lewis. Seliger had his first museum exhibition, at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, in 1949. In 1986, he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

      Swann Auction Galleries
    • SELIGER, Charles (American, 1926-2009). Untitled Abstractio...
      Dec. 06, 2023

      SELIGER, Charles (American, 1926-2009). Untitled Abstractio...

      Est: $200 - $300

      SELIGER, Charles (American, 1926-2009). Untitled Abstraction. 1969. Acrylic on Masonite. Signed by the artist at the lower left corner. Sight 10 ¼ x 13”. Frame size 14 ½ x 17 ¼”. Some soiling to mat. Excellent. Not examined out of frame. Excellent condition.

      Potter & Potter Auctions Inc.
    • Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), Untitled, 1948, ink on paper, 6 1/2"H x 4 1/2"W (sight), 12"H x 10 1/4"W (frame)
      Jul. 01, 2023

      Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), Untitled, 1948, ink on paper, 6 1/2"H x 4 1/2"W (sight), 12"H x 10 1/4"W (frame)

      Est: $600 - $800

      Charles Seliger New York, (1926-2009) Untitled, 1948 ink on paper Signed lower left, dated lower right. Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Biography from Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: Charles Seliger (American, June 3, 1926-October 1, 2009) passionately pursued an inner world of organic abstraction, celebrating the structural complexities of natural forms. Like many artists of his generation, Seliger was deeply influenced by the surrealists' use of automatism, and throughout his career, he cultivated an eloquent and poetic style of abstraction that explored the dynamics of order and chaos animating the celestial, geographical, and biological realms. Attracted to the internal structures of plants, insects, and other natural objects, and inspired by a wide range of literature in natural history, biology, and physics, Seliger paid homage to nature's infinite variety in his abstractions. His paintings have been described as "microscopic views of the natural world," and although the characterization is appropriate, his abstractions do not directly imitate nature so much as suggest its intrinsic structures. Born in New York City but raised in Jersey City, Seliger spent his teenage years making frequent trips back across the Hudson to Manhattan's many museum and gallery exhibitions. Although he never completed high school or received formal art training, Seliger immersed himself in the history of art and experimented with different painting styles including pointillism, cubism, and surrealism. In 1943, he befriended Jimmy Ernst and was quickly drawn into the circle of avant-garde artists championed by Howard Putzel and Peggy Guggenheim. Two years later, at the age of nineteen, Seliger was included in Putzel's groundbreaking exhibition A Problem for Critics at 67 Gallery, and he also had his first solo show at Guggenheim's legendary gallery, Art of This Century. At the time, Seliger was the youngest artist exhibiting with members of the abstract expressionist movement, and he was only twenty years old when the Museum of Modern Art acquired his painting Natural History: Form within Rock (1946) for their permanent collection. In 1950, Seliger obtained representation from the prestigious Willard Gallery, owned by Marian Willard. He formed close friendships with several of her other artists, including Mark Tobey, Lyonel Feininger, and Norman Lewis. By 1949, Seliger had his first major museum exhibition, at the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. During his lifetime, he exhibited in over forty-five solo shows at prominent galleries in New York and abroad. In 1986, Seliger was given his first retrospective, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which now holds the largest collection of his work. His work is also represented in numerous museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut; and the British Museum in London. In 2003, at age seventy-seven, Seliger received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation's Lee Krasner Award in recognition of his long and illustrious career in the arts. In 2005, the Morgan Library and Museum acquired his journals—148 hand-written volumes produced between 1952 and the present—making his introspective writing, which covers a vast range of topics across the span of six decades, accessible to art historians and scholars. Seliger was best known for his meticulously detailed, small-scale abstractions as well as the techniques he invented and used to cover the surfaces of his Masonite panels—building up layers of acrylic paint, often sanding or scraping each layer to create texture, and then delineating the forms embedded in the layers of pigment with a fine brush or pen. This labor-intensive technique results in ethereal paintings that give expression to aspects of nature hidden from or invisible to the unaided eye. His talent and generous spirit will be missed.

      Ripley Auctions
    • Charles Seliger, Untitled
      Jun. 13, 2023

      Charles Seliger, Untitled

      Est: $700 - $900

      Charles Seliger Untitled graphite and colored pencil on paper laid to board sheet: 7.75 h x 9.625 w in (20 x 24 cm) board: 9 h x 11 w in (23 x 28 cm) Signed to lower left 'Seliger Charles'. This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

      Rago Arts and Auction Center
    • Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), abstract, 1965, lithograph, 8"H x 6"W (sight), 14"H x 11 1/2"W (frame)
      Apr. 29, 2023

      Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), abstract, 1965, lithograph, 8"H x 6"W (sight), 14"H x 11 1/2"W (frame)

      Est: $140 - $250

      Charles Seliger New York, (1926-2009) abstract, 1965 lithograph Signed and dated lower left. Biography from the Archives of askART: The following obituary of the artist is from The New York Times, October 9, 2009 "Charles Seliger, Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 83" by William Grimes Strongly influenced by the Surrealists and the idea of automatism — the belief that the artist's undirected hand could reach deep into the unconscious — he layered skeins of fine, interlaced lines and overlapping luminous forms that suggested microscopic views of human tissue or plant specimens, land masses seen from an airplane or undiscovered worlds exploding into being. Charles Seliger, whose small-scale, jewel-like paintings of imaginary natural forms made him the most idiosyncratic of the first-generation Abstract Expressionists, died in Manhattan on Oct. 1. He was 83 and lived in Westchester County, N.Y. The cause was a stroke, said his son, Robert. While fellow artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning created high drama with drips and bravura brushwork on billboard-size canvases, Mr. Seliger conjured up his own private worlds on canvases, and later Masonite boards, that rarely exceeded the dimensions of a cafeteria tray. These poetic explorations, increasingly complex and refined, carried him through a career that lasted more than 60 years. "He was the last link to the Abstract Expressionist movement," said the art historian Francis V. O'Connor, the author of Charles Seliger: Redefining Abstract Expressionism (2003). "He was the last artist fully committed to the methodology of Surrealism and psychic automatism, which he developed in a carefully thought-out way." Charles Marvin Zekowski was born on June 3, 1926, in Manhattan. His parents divorced when he was 2, and at 14 he adopted his mother's maiden name. His childhood was chaotic, as he and his mother, destitute, hopped from one residence to another in New York, New Jersey and Maryland. He began painting and drawing as a child and, after moving to Jersey City in 1940 and discovering a copy of Amedee Ozenfant's Foundations of Modern Art, experimented with the styles of Aubrey Beardsley, Persian miniatures and Cubism. He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and found work tinting photographs at a studio in Manhattan. In 1943 he met Jimmy Ernst, the son of the Surrealist artist Max Ernst, and through him began meeting and showing with the dominant figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement at the 67 Gallery and later at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery, which gave him his first one-man show in 1945, when he was still in his teens. His painting Cerebral Landscape was included in an influential traveling exhibition of Abstract Expressionists that originated at the David Porter Gallery in Washington in 1945. In an artistic statement for the exhibition, Mr. Seliger wrote: "I want to apostrophize micro-reality. I want to tear the skin from life, and, peering closely, paint what I see. I want my brain to become a magnifying lens for the infinite minutiae forming reality. Growth is the poetry of all art." Mr. Seliger got off to a fast start. In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art bought Natural History: Form Within Rock for its permanent collection, and in 1948 he was given his first important museum exhibition, at the De Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. A year later he joined the prestigious Willard Gallery, where his fellow artists included Mark Tobey and Lyonel Feininger. In 1948 he married Ruth Lewin, who died in 1975. In addition to his son Robert, of Winchester, Mass., he is survived by his wife, the former Lenore Klebanow; another son, Mark, of Auburn, Mass.; and two grandchildren. For the next six decades Mr. Seliger worked steadily and slowly, producing no more than 10 paintings a year but always showing and always represented by major dealers, most recently the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery on 57th Street, where he had a solo show last fall. At the same time he maintained a full-time job at Commercial Decal, a china company in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where he started out as a decal artist and retired in 1993 as executive vice president. Mr. Seliger's earliest paintings, often depicting botanical forms and insects, fused small areas of color in a manner suggestive of stained-glass windows. Later he intensified his focus, concentrating on all-over compositions of intricate tracery and linked patches of color. Often he drew spidery lines and dots with a Leroy pen, normally used for blueprints, which he filled with thinned paint, and applied paint with a single-hair brush. He read voraciously, and it showed. "He was extraordinarily erudite," Mr. O'Connor said. "Apart from Motherwell, the Abstract Expressionists only knew themselves and their own art, but he knew history, literature, art and even science. One of his first works was an homage to Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles." In 1986 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which owns more than 20 works by Mr. Seliger, presented a retrospective exhibition of his work. In 2003 he received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation's Lee Krasner Award. Beginning in 1952 Mr. Seliger recorded, in a minute hand, his observations about the art world, his thoughts on painting and the technical details of his works in progress in slim notebooks. In 2005 he donated all 148 volumes of his journals to the Morgan Library & Museum.

      Ripley Auctions
    • Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), abstract, 11/30/1948, ink on paper, 6 7/8"H x 4 7/8"W (sight), 12"H x 10"W (frame)
      Apr. 29, 2023

      Charles Seliger, New York (1926-2009), abstract, 11/30/1948, ink on paper, 6 7/8"H x 4 7/8"W (sight), 12"H x 10"W (frame)

      Est: $800 - $1,200

      Charles Seliger New York, (1926-2009) abstract, 11/30/1948 ink on paper Signed lower left and dated lower right. Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Biography from the Archives of askART: The following obituary of the artist is from The New York Times, October 9, 2009 "Charles Seliger, Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 83" by William Grimes Strongly influenced by the Surrealists and the idea of automatism — the belief that the artist's undirected hand could reach deep into the unconscious — he layered skeins of fine, interlaced lines and overlapping luminous forms that suggested microscopic views of human tissue or plant specimens, land masses seen from an airplane or undiscovered worlds exploding into being. Charles Seliger, whose small-scale, jewel-like paintings of imaginary natural forms made him the most idiosyncratic of the first-generation Abstract Expressionists, died in Manhattan on Oct. 1. He was 83 and lived in Westchester County, N.Y. The cause was a stroke, said his son, Robert. While fellow artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning created high drama with drips and bravura brushwork on billboard-size canvases, Mr. Seliger conjured up his own private worlds on canvases, and later Masonite boards, that rarely exceeded the dimensions of a cafeteria tray. These poetic explorations, increasingly complex and refined, carried him through a career that lasted more than 60 years. "He was the last link to the Abstract Expressionist movement," said the art historian Francis V. O'Connor, the author of Charles Seliger: Redefining Abstract Expressionism (2003). "He was the last artist fully committed to the methodology of Surrealism and psychic automatism, which he developed in a carefully thought-out way." Charles Marvin Zekowski was born on June 3, 1926, in Manhattan. His parents divorced when he was 2, and at 14 he adopted his mother's maiden name. His childhood was chaotic, as he and his mother, destitute, hopped from one residence to another in New York, New Jersey and Maryland. He began painting and drawing as a child and, after moving to Jersey City in 1940 and discovering a copy of Amedee Ozenfant's Foundations of Modern Art, experimented with the styles of Aubrey Beardsley, Persian miniatures and Cubism. He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and found work tinting photographs at a studio in Manhattan. In 1943 he met Jimmy Ernst, the son of the Surrealist artist Max Ernst, and through him began meeting and showing with the dominant figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement at the 67 Gallery and later at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery, which gave him his first one-man show in 1945, when he was still in his teens. His painting Cerebral Landscape was included in an influential traveling exhibition of Abstract Expressionists that originated at the David Porter Gallery in Washington in 1945. In an artistic statement for the exhibition, Mr. Seliger wrote: "I want to apostrophize micro-reality. I want to tear the skin from life, and, peering closely, paint what I see. I want my brain to become a magnifying lens for the infinite minutiae forming reality. Growth is the poetry of all art." Mr. Seliger got off to a fast start. In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art bought Natural History: Form Within Rock for its permanent collection, and in 1948 he was given his first important museum exhibition, at the De Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. A year later he joined the prestigious Willard Gallery, where his fellow artists included Mark Tobey and Lyonel Feininger. In 1948 he married Ruth Lewin, who died in 1975. In addition to his son Robert, of Winchester, Mass., he is survived by his wife, the former Lenore Klebanow; another son, Mark, of Auburn, Mass.; and two grandchildren. For the next six decades Mr. Seliger worked steadily and slowly, producing no more than 10 paintings a year but always showing and always represented by major dealers, most recently the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery on 57th Street, where he had a solo show last fall. At the same time he maintained a full-time job at Commercial Decal, a china company in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where he started out as a decal artist and retired in 1993 as executive vice president. Mr. Seliger's earliest paintings, often depicting botanical forms and insects, fused small areas of color in a manner suggestive of stained-glass windows. Later he intensified his focus, concentrating on all-over compositions of intricate tracery and linked patches of color. Often he drew spidery lines and dots with a Leroy pen, normally used for blueprints, which he filled with thinned paint, and applied paint with a single-hair brush. He read voraciously, and it showed. "He was extraordinarily erudite," Mr. O'Connor said. "Apart from Motherwell, the Abstract Expressionists only knew themselves and their own art, but he knew history, literature, art and even science. One of his first works was an homage to Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles." In 1986 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which owns more than 20 works by Mr. Seliger, presented a retrospective exhibition of his work. In 2003 he received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation's Lee Krasner Award. Beginning in 1952 Mr. Seliger recorded, in a minute hand, his observations about the art world, his thoughts on painting and the technical details of his works in progress in slim notebooks. In 2005 he donated all 148 volumes of his journals to the Morgan Library & Museum.

      Ripley Auctions
    • Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Enchantment, 1982
      Jul. 28, 2022

      Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Enchantment, 1982

      Est: $500 - $800

      Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Enchantment, 1982 Signed and dated Seliger 82 (lr) Acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Provenance: Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York C 

      DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
    • CHARLES SELIGER Three acrylic paintings.
      May. 12, 2022

      CHARLES SELIGER Three acrylic paintings.

      Est: $1,500 - $2,500

      CHARLES SELIGER Three acrylic paintings. The Letter V That is Occasionally Left Out of Francis V. O'Connor's Name, 1996 * Cryptic Images, 2001 * Winter, 2008. Each on canvasboard. Each signed, titled and dated in ink, verso. Various sizes and conditions. Provenance: Gifted by the artist to Francis V. O'Connor (1937-2017), New York-based art historian, poet, artist and co-editor of the Jackson Pollock catalogue raisonné (published in 1978); gifted by bequest to the current owner. Seliger (1926-2009) was an Abstract Expressionist artist, born and raised in Manhattan. He was one of the original generation of Abstract Expressionist artists connected with the New York School and was one of the youngest artists to exhibit at Peggy Guggenheim's The Art of This Century Gallery, New York (the forerunner to the Betty Parsons Gallery). In 1943, Seliger met and befriended Jimmy Ernst the son of Max Ernst (married to Peggy Guggenheim at the time), and who at the age of 23 years was just a few years older than Seliger. Drawn into the circle of the avant-garde in New York through his friendship with Ernst, Seliger's paintings attracted the attention of Howard Putzel who worked with Peggy Guggenheim. At 19, Seliger was included in Putzel's groundbreaking exhibition "A Problem for Critics" at the 67 Gallery, New York. Also in 1945 he had his first solo show at the Art of This Century Gallery. Seliger showed his paintings there until 1947 when Guggenheim closed the gallery and returned to Europe (the representation of her artists was taken over by Betty Parsons). At the age of only twenty Seliger's oil painting Natural History: Form within Rock, 1946, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the permanent collection. Seliger was known for his small, jewel-like paintings (unlike most artists from the New York School who worked in large-scale formats). He was a veteran of more than 45 solo exhibitions at important contemporary galleries and museums. In 1950 he joined the Willard Gallery, New York, who represented important contemporary artists of the time including David Smith, Morris Graves and others. He formed close friendships with many of the Willard Gallery artists, including Mark Tobey, Lyonel Feininger and Norman Lewis. Seliger had his first museum exhibition, at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, in 1949. In 1986, he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

      Swann Auction Galleries
    • Charles Seliger "Habitat" Etching
      Jan. 27, 2022

      Charles Seliger "Habitat" Etching

      Est: $300 - $600

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009). Hand colored etching on paper titled "Habitat," depicting an abstracted nature scene. Pencil signed, dated 1982, and inscribed #4 along the lower right; titled along the lower center; inscribed "hand colored etching" along the lower left. With a portfolio including a letter from Seliger and his wife Lenore, addressed to Leo and Carrie on their 50th wedding anniversary.

      Revere Auctions
    • Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Untitled, 1983
      Nov. 16, 2021

      Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Untitled, 1983

      Est: $700 - $900

      Charles Seliger American, 1926-2009 Untitled, 1983 Signed Charles Seliger on the reverse, stamped date Jan 20 1983 on the stretcher Oil on canvasboard 15 7/8 x 20 inches (40.3 x 50.8 cm) C Estate of a Prominent Connecticut Collector

      DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
    • Charles Seliger, American (1926-2009), Untitled, 1991, mixed media on paper, 7 1/4" H x 4 3/4" W (image), 13 1/2" H x 11" W (frame)
      Oct. 09, 2021

      Charles Seliger, American (1926-2009), Untitled, 1991, mixed media on paper, 7 1/4" H x 4 3/4" W (image), 13 1/2" H x 11" W (frame)

      Est: $400 - $600

      Charles Seliger American, (1926-2009) Untitled, 1991 mixed media on paper signed lower right. Provenance: From a private collector, Indianapolis. Biography from Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: Charles Seliger (American, June 3, 1926-October 1, 2009) passionately pursued an inner world of organic abstraction, celebrating the structural complexities of natural forms. Like many artists of his generation, Seliger was deeply influenced by the surrealists' use of automatism, and throughout his career, he cultivated an eloquent and poetic style of abstraction that explored the dynamics of order and chaos animating the celestial, geographical, and biological realms. Attracted to the internal structures of plants, insects, and other natural objects, and inspired by a wide range of literature in natural history, biology, and physics, Seliger paid homage to nature's infinite variety in his abstractions. His paintings have been described as "microscopic views of the natural world," and although the characterization is appropriate, his abstractions do not directly imitate nature so much as suggest its intrinsic structures. Born in New York City but raised in Jersey City, Seliger spent his teenage years making frequent trips back across the Hudson to Manhattan's many museum and gallery exhibitions. Although he never completed high school or received formal art training, Seliger immersed himself in the history of art and experimented with different painting styles including pointillism, cubism, and surrealism. In 1943, he befriended Jimmy Ernst and was quickly drawn into the circle of avant-garde artists championed by Howard Putzel and Peggy Guggenheim. Two years later, at the age of nineteen, Seliger was included in Putzel's groundbreaking exhibition A Problem for Critics at 67 Gallery, and he also had his first solo show at Guggenheim's legendary gallery, Art of This Century. At the time, Seliger was the youngest artist exhibiting with members of the abstract expressionist movement, and he was only twenty years old when the Museum of Modern Art acquired his painting Natural History: Form within Rock (1946) for their permanent collection. In 1950, Seliger obtained representation from the prestigious Willard Gallery, owned by Marian Willard. He formed close friendships with several of her other artists, including Mark Tobey, Lyonel Feininger, and Norman Lewis. By 1949, Seliger had his first major museum exhibition, at the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. During his lifetime, he exhibited in over forty-five solo shows at prominent galleries in New York and abroad. In 1986, Seliger was given his first retrospective, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which now holds the largest collection of his work. His work is also represented in numerous museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut; and the British Museum in London. In 2003, at age seventy-seven, Seliger received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation's Lee Krasner Award in recognition of his long and illustrious career in the arts. In 2005, the Morgan Library and Museum acquired his journals—148 hand-written volumes produced between 1952 and the present—making his introspective writing, which covers a vast range of topics across the span of six decades, accessible to art historians and scholars. Seliger was best known for his meticulously detailed, small-scale abstractions as well as the techniques he invented and used to cover the surfaces of his Masonite panels—building up layers of acrylic paint, often sanding or scraping each layer to create texture, and then delineating the forms embedded in the layers of pigment with a fine brush or pen. This labor-intensive technique results in ethereal paintings that give expression to aspects of nature hidden from or invisible to the unaided eye. His talent and generous spirit will be missed.

      Ripley Auctions
    • Charles Seliger, mixed media painting, 1988
      Jul. 22, 2021

      Charles Seliger, mixed media painting, 1988

      Est: $250 - $350

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), "Celebration", acrylic, acrylic gel and oil on artist board, signed and dated lower left, pencil signed, titled and dated verso, loose and unframed 7"h x 9.25"w (total)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • CHARLES SELIGER Abstract Bird.
      Jun. 30, 2021

      CHARLES SELIGER Abstract Bird.

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      CHARLES SELIGER Abstract Bird. Color pencils on paper, 1955. 196x245 mm; 7 3/4x9 5/8 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower left recto. Ex-collection private collection, New Jersey.

      Swann Auction Galleries
    • Charles Seliger, pencil drawing on paper, 1953
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, pencil drawing on paper, 1953

      Est: $500 - $700

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), Plant Field, pen signed and pencil dated lower right, loose and unframed, 13.75"h x 11"w (total)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger, painting
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, painting

      Est: $300 - $500

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), untitled Abstract Expressionist painting, 1957, mixed media on paper mounted on mat board, signed "Seliger" and dated lower left-center, 5.75"h x 8.5"w (sheet), 10.5"h x 12.5"w (mat)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger, (2) small drawings, c. 1956
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, (2) small drawings, c. 1956

      Est: $400 - $600

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), Untitled Abstracts, the larger ink and oil on cardboard signed lower left and dated upper right, the smaller color pencil on paper mounted to cardboard and covered in cellophane, signed and dated lower right, each loose and unframed, approx. 3.75"h x 3.5"w (larger)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger, watercolor on card, 1983
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, watercolor on card, 1983

      Est: $700 - $1,000

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), Botanical, mounted to mat board, pencil signed and dated lower right, unframed, 9"h x 12"w (sheet), 16"h x 20"w (board)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger, oil on canvas, 1970
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, oil on canvas, 1970

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), "Night Flight", signed and dated lower left, pencil signed, titled and dated verso stretcher, in chromed slat frame, 13"h x 17"w (total)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger, mixed media painting, 1988
      May. 20, 2021

      Charles Seliger, mixed media painting, 1988

      Est: $1,000 - $1,500

      Charles Seliger (American, 1926-2009), "Celebration", acrylic, acrylic gel and oil on artist board, signed and dated lower left, pencil signed, titled and dated verso, loose and unframed 7"h x 9.25"w (total)

      Millea Bros Ltd
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $300 - $500

      Acrylic on paper, 1993, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (sight), 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. (frame). The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Ink on paper mounted on card, 1983, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left. 8 x 9 1/4 in. (sheet), unframed.   The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Pencil on paper, 1978, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left, signed 'Charles Seliger' and inscribed 'for dear Hy and Elaine Xmas '78' on the reverse. 6 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (sheet), unframed. Gift of the artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Pencil and ink on paper mounted on card, 1981, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left. 9 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled (Flowers)
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled (Flowers)

      Est: $100 - $300

      Ink and wash on paper, 1988, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 11 1/2 x 7 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled; and Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled; and Untitled

      Est: $200 - $400

      Two ink on paper, 1965, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right or left, one inscribed 'To Elaine love Charles' lower left. 4 x 7 1/2 in. (sheet), and 5 x 5 1/4 in. (sheet), both unframed, hinged together to a backmat. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Windblown
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Windblown

      Est: $100 - $300

      Etching in black on heavy wove paper, 1966, signed, titled, dated and inscribed 'Artist's proof' in pencil. 16 1/4 x 13 1/2 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Mixed media on paper, 1977, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left. 10 1/2 x 5 3/4 in. (sheet), unframed.   The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $300 - $500

      Ink on paper, 1979, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 5 x 3 in. (sheet), 7 x 5 in. (frame). Gift of the artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Pencil and crayon on paper, 1955, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 8 3/4 x 7 in. (sight), 14 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. (frame). The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Rocks: Brighton, Five Studies
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Rocks: Brighton, Five Studies

      Est: $500 - $800

      Five pencil on paper, 1953, all signed 'Seliger', dated and titled. Four 4 x 6 in. (sheet), One 6 x 4 in. (sheet), 18 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (framed together in one frame). Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): King of Diamonds
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): King of Diamonds

      Est: $200 - $400

      Pencil and watercolor on paper, unsigned, with the Commercial Decal inkstamp on the reverse. 11 x 11 1/4 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Green Tomatoes
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Green Tomatoes

      Est: $200 - $400

      Ink and watercolor on paper, 1976, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right, signed 'Charles Seliger' and inscribed 'Dr. Weitzen's green tomatoes on the morning of July 27 1976 Watermill NY' on the reverse. 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Four Studies
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Four Studies

      Est: $100 - $200

      Two ink on paper and two ink on unstretched canvas, unsigned. Various sizes, all unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Geraniums
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Geraniums

      Est: $200 - $400

      Watercolor on paper, 1957, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 14 x 9 1/2 in. (sight), 21 x 16 in. (frame). The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $600 - $900

      Ink and watercolor on paper, 1953, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 3 1/8 x 4 1/2 in. (sight), 6 1/4 x 8 in. (frame). The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled: Two Works
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled: Two Works

      Est: $100 - $200

      Two ink on paper, 1987, both signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. Both 5 x 3 in. (sheet), unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $400

      Ink on found paper, 1964, signed 'Seliger' and dated upper left, signed, dated and inscribed 'waiting for Hy at Neurological Institute' at right. Approximately 3 1/4 x 4 in. (sheet), 6 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (frame).  The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): A Group of Eight Studies and Sketches
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): A Group of Eight Studies and Sketches

      Est: $300 - $500

      Three pencil on paper, three pencil on tracing paper, and two ink on paper, all but two signed and dated. Various sizes, all unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Natural History: Sunseed #7; and Natural History: Sunseed #10
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Natural History: Sunseed #7; and Natural History: Sunseed #10

      Est: $600 - $800

      Two pencil and watercolor on paper, 1965, both signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. Both 22 /2 x 15 3/4 in. (sheet), 25 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (frame). The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Procession
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Procession

      Est: $800 - $1,200

      oil on canvasboard, 1964, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower left, signed 'Seliger', titled and dated on the reverse. 14 x 18 in., unframed. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $200 - $300

      Gouache on wood, 1971, signed 'Seliger' and dated on the side. Overall 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 3 in. The artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled
      Jul. 18, 2019

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009): Untitled

      Est: $600 - $900

      Oil on board, 1968, signed 'Seliger' and dated lower right. 10 3/8 x 6 3/4 in., 14 x 11 in. (frame). Gift of the artist. Works from the Collection of Elaine G. Weitzen, Sold to Benefit the Elaine G. Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts

      STAIR
    • Charles Seliger - 1947 Figure
      Jun. 20, 2019

      Charles Seliger - 1947 Figure

      Est: $500 - $1,000

      Charles Seliger (1926-2009)- 1947 Figure. Oil on panel. panel size 16-1/4" x 4-1/2". Framed size, 17-7/8" x 6-3/8" Signed LL and dated 1947.  Charles Seliger, whose small-scale, jewel-like paintings of imaginary natural forms made him the most idiosyncratic of the first-generation Abstract Expressionists. Strongly influenced by the Surrealists and the idea of automatism — the belief that the artist's undirected hand could reach deep into the unconscious — he layered skeins of fine, interlaced lines and overlapping luminous forms that suggested microscopic views of human tissue or plant specimens, land masses seen from an airplane or undiscovered worlds exploding into being. At 19, Seliger was included in Putzel’s groundbreaking exhibition  A Problem for Critics at the 67 Gallery, (which was located at 67 E.57th Street in Manhattan). Also in 1945 he had his first solo show at the Art of This Century Gallery. Seliger showed his paintings there until 1947 when Guggenheim closed the gallery and returned to Europe.  

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