Swann Announces New Specialists for Illustration Art & LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History Departments
- by Announcement, Rare Book Hub staff
New York—The start of the fall 2023 season at Swann Galleries brings two new specialists for the house: Corey Serrant joins Swann as the associate director of LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History, as well as serving as a specialist for the African American Art department; and Skye Lacerte has stepped into the role of specialist for the Illustration Art department.
Swann continues to be an industry leader in both fields, with a recent offering of illustration art in June achieving record results: a group of designs by Charles Schultz for his Peanuts bridge sold for $50,000, and a harvest-themed cover image for the Saturday Evening Post by John Carleton Atherton brought $68,750, an auction record for the artist. The hiring of Corey Serrant into a leadership position for LGBTQ+ material signals the house’s dedication to the category. The house is holding its fifth annual LGTBQ+ auction on Thursday, August 17, with iconic works by Hugh Steers, Keith Haring, Tom of Finland and more.
Serrant has worked for Salon 94 and Eric Firestone Gallery, most recently as Associate Director, where he focused on gallery sales and liaising with artist estates. He has participated in lectures at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, the Appraisers Association of America, and the LGBT Historic Sites Project.
As the Associate Director of the LGBTQ+ department, Serrant works with consignors, institutions, and collectors throughout the auction process to develop the burgeoning market for fine art and material culture of Queer Diasporas. He previously worked at Swann as an administrator and cataloguer in the African American Art department.
Skye Lacerte served as Curator of the Dowd Illustration Research Archive (DIRA) at Washington University in St. Louis where she worked with original materials by some of the nineteenth and twentieth century’s most well-known illustrators and graphic artists. She was instrumental in growing the holdings in size, reputation, and impact, leading the acquisition of high-profile collections including Seymour Chwast, Archie Comics, and the Walt Reed Illustration Archive.
Lacerte also served as core faculty in Washington University’s Illustration and Visual Culture MFA program, a unique degree that incorporates special collections practice and materials into the curriculum. She also has curated and developed many successful exhibitions exploring the history, significance, and influence of illustration.
The complete auction schedule, as well as catalogue and bidding information can be found at www.swanngalleries.com.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
