It isn’t Sothebys or Christies, but the upcoming (Friday August 6) estate sale of Dr. Marlies Kronegger in East Lansing will be an “extravaganza” according to Bill Triola who is conducting the sale.
Kronegger was a long-time MSU professor and an avid art collector, in addition to being a renowned expert on phenomenology-the study of describing the individual’s experience in the now without outside influences. And believe me that’s the simplest definition. It is not to be confused with the study of bumps.
Holding an estate sale for Kronegger is almost prophetic when considering her life work: this way anyone can “see” and sort of appraise her life by the objects she owned.
While preparing the sale, Triola pointed to a large suitcase as an example of phenomena that could be described in its most simple terms. To me it looked like it could hold a couple hundred Hemingway manuscripts.
In addition to a large collection of oriental porcelain and pottery, Triola said there are 20 paintings and prints by listed artists including Victor Cancino, Leroy Baldwin, Jack Trust, Casas and Elizabeth Van Liere. There also is a collection of more than 40 20th century oriental rugs and numerous paintings and prints with American Indian themes.
Triiola said he has an agreement with the trust administering the estate to price and make reductions on every item and that art, pottery, porcelains are being sold at Lansing prices.
But don’t expect the real wheeling and dealing to begin until the second day of the sale.
You can expect some beautiful small prints by Charles Rauche (1857) alongside books and materials from “Analecta Husserliana”, an international journal edited by Kronegger. The journal was named for Edmund Husserl who originated the philosophy in the first part of the last century. His movement could be called “living in the now”.
Triola said that Kronegger, who was a noted art critic and wrote about topics as varied as classical formal gardens and the aesthetics of secret diaries, “needed to own art in order to interpret it”.
At one time Kronegger was the president of the International Society for Phenomenology Aesthetics and Fine Arts. She was also author and editor of numerous books on the topic.
Of all the sales he has conducted, Triola said this one “ranks with the top five or six”.
“This is a lifetime of serious collecting.”
In many ways it is too bad that most of those at the sale will be getting to know Kronegger long after her death. She was obviously one interesting woman.
The sale begins promptly at 9 a.m. Friday August and continues on Saturday August 7 (9-5), but expect buyers to be in line early in the morning to get a coveted number holding their place in line. Numbers are distributed at 8 a.m. and since it is likely that a limited number of individuals will be allowed entry at one time there is additional incentive to being there before dawn. The estate sale is located at 1324 Chartwell Carriage Way North, East Lansing MI.
Photographs of some of the major items at the sale have been posted at Estatesales.net. A map to the site is also on line.
