Lot 10, "Fresh Flowers," by Winslow Homer, watercolor, 14 1/2 by 21 inches, 1885

By Carter B. Horsley

Like many of the other major sales this auction has few masterpieces but several important watercolors and a nice selection of good paintings across the broad range of this category.

It is highlighted by two large watercolors by Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Lots 10 and 14, both consigned from "a distinguished Southern collection."

Lot 10, "Fresh Flowers," shown at the top of this article, is a 1885 watercolor by Homer that measures 14 1/2 by 21 inches and was sold at Sotheby's December 1, 1988. It is a fine example of Homer's luminous work in the Bahamas and an excellent composition that is notably for its angled building line, the marvelous treatment of the pink color of the building's base, the strong punctuation of the vertical and horizontal lines of the balcony railing and shutters, and the very fine handling of the young man trying to sell a few flowers in his raised hand. It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. It failed to sell. The first session of this auction was fairly successful with almost 80 percent of the 88 offered lots selling for a total of $14,785,450. Fine Hudson River School paintings and good still lifes did exceptionally well.

The catalogue notes that "an engraving of Fresh Flowers appeared in 1887 as an illustration for a comprehensive article on Nassau in Century Magazine.

Lot 14, "Sponge Fishermen, Bahamas," shown above, is a 11-by-20 1/8-inch watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper by Homer, circa 1884-5. A freer and looser work than Lot 10, this watercolor shows Homer's great affinity for the sea. It has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $996,000 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

"The subject of sponge fishing provided Homer with an ideal means to depict the extraordinary landscape of Nassau while providing factual information about the island., As such, they have become some of his most celebrated works," the catalogue remarking, adding the following quotation from H. Hooper's 1986 book, "Winslow Homer Watercolors":

"In both subject and technique, Homer's scenes of the local sponge fishing industry define his Bahamas work. The palette of Sponge Fishing, Nassau.[is] brighter, the washes more and more transparent. One also sees a greater exploitation of accidental effects, and an increased suggestiveness, fluidity and freedom of brushwork."

Homer is America's greatest artist.

Lot 32, "Green and silver - The Bright Sea, Dieppe," shown above, is a fine watercolor and gouache on paper, 10 by 7 1/8 inches by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), circa 1883. The catalogue notes that the work was "possibly re-worked and signed again in 1885. It bears two of the artist's famous "butterfly devices" with which he used to "sign" his works for much of his career. "Margaret MacDonald notes that the right side, with the original butterfly, was concealed when the picture was first framed for exhibition in 1886, adding that "The narrow format emphasized the striking diagonal of the beach and gave the composition more impact.The brushwork is wild and full of life." This lot has a very conservative estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $600,000.

Lot 36, "Palazzo Labbia, Venice," by John Singer Sargent, watercolor on paper, 10 by 14 inches, is a nice example of the artist's work in Venice and has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. While not as colorful and dramatic as some of his other Venetian watercolors, it is a full composition. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $75,000.

Another Sargent watercolor, Lot 31, "A Palace and Gardens, Spain," shown above, is considerably more dashing than Lot 36. This watercolor measures 18 1/8 by 12 1/8 inches and has the same $100,000 to $150,000 estimate as Lot 36. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $85,000.

Sargent is also represented in the auction by a very nice "Portrait of Caspar Goodrich," Lot 25, an oil on canvas, 26 1/8 by 19 1/8 inches. It has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 and is a fine example of the artist's bravura painterliness. It sold for $1,546,000. It was the back cover illustration of the catalogue.

Lot 4, "A Pair of Boat-Tailed Grackles," by John James Audubon, watercolor, ink, pencil and pastel on paper, 10 5/8 by 14 inches

The auction has two fine watercolors by John James Audubon (1785-1851), Lots 4 and 19, both consigned by "an important private collection." The former, "A Pair of Boat-Tailed Grackles," shown above, is a watercolor, ink, pencil and pastel on paper, 10 5/8 by 14 inches. These birds are among the largest in North America and the males can grow to almost a foot and a half in length. He drew a similar pair in 1821 on a trip on the Mississippi River and that watercolor, a vertical composition, is in the collection of the New York Historical Society and about 10 years later did another composition that was engraved by Robert Havell for "The Birds of America," Audubon's masterwork. "Audubon frequently made multiple watercolors of the same species of birds, often re-working poses and subjects before selecting the most characteristic composition for the final, engraved image. Of the known extant watercolors of the Boat-Tailed Grackle, the example in the New York Historical Society relates closely to this image, with the pose of the birds altered here to create a dramatic, horizontal composition.Here, however, the artist also places the male in front of the brown-feathered female, and overlaps the tails of the birds, and depicts both with crisp, precise details, finished with exceptionally refined pencil lines to create a vivid iridescence on the feathers of the grackles. And, with a naturalist's touch, Audubon includes the species' egg in a corner of the composition," the catalogue notes.

This lot has a conservative estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $226,000.

Lot 19, "A Chaffinch, Bullfinch and Greenfinch on a Branch of Budding Chestnuts," by John James Audubon is a watercolor, ink, pencil and pastel on paper, that measures 14 3/4 by 10 3/4 inches and is dated 1827. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $248,000.

Lovers of Audubon's birds might also find considerable interest in Lot 17, "Partridges in a Landscape," by Rubens Peale (1784-1864), a 20 1/4-by-27-inch oil on canvas. The artist was one of Charles Willson Peale's 17 children and unlike his brothers, James, Raphaelle and Titian, took up painting late in his life. He did a series of game pictures, such as this in the 1860s. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It failed to sell.

The auction has several good Hudson River School landscapes. Lot 3, "Landscape with Waterfall," is a very nice oil on canvas, 9 7/8 by 8 inches, by John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872. The painting which is reminiscent of some of his depictions of Bash-Bish Falls has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $110,000.

Lot 6, "Mount Merino On The Hudson," is a very fine oil on canvas, 7 1/2 by 15 1/2 inches, by Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880). A classic Gifford, it has an estimate of $70,000 to $100,000. It sold for $187,500.

Thomas Doughty (1793-1856) is believed to have been the first American artist, according to the catalogue, "to devote himself exclusively to landscaping painting, and his romantic depictions of the Northeast reflect a unique bond between man and nature." Lot 18, "Autumn Landscape," is a very large painting by Doughty, an oil on canvas that measures 56 1/2 by 70 1/2 inches, shown above. It is signed and dated "Boston 1835." Doughty's work are quite poetic and have a soft, almost pastel-like palette. This work, which was consigned by "a European collection," has a somewhat ambitious estimate, probably reflecting its large size, of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $292,000.

William Trost Richards (1833-1905) was a very prolific painter, mostly of coastal scenes, whose best work are exquisite small watercolors. Lot 22, "Harbor Entrance on Bull Point, Newport, Rhode Island," is a dramatic oil on canvas, 32 by 55 7/8 inches that was executed in 1898.

This painting was commissioned by Isaac Hallowell Clothier, a founder of the famous Strawbridge & Clothier Department Store in Philadelphia for their home, "Ballytore," in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. It shows their Newport "cottage" that the catalogue notes was probably designed by C. L. Bevins who had designed the nearby "cottage," "Marbella," for Joseph Wharton, Clothier's close friend and "fellow Philadelphia Quaker." The catalogue provides the following interesting quotation from Jamestown Affairs: A Miscellany of Historical Flashbacks by S. Maden and P. Hodgkin, published in 1996:

"Any voyager sailing into Narragansett Bay for the first time during the last years of the 19th Century or the first 66 years of this might have thought he was seeing double - two almost identical mansions, each graced by a domed tower, and each standing prominently on a headland on the Conanicut shore. A closer look would have shown that they were not quite as much alike as it might at first have seemed and of course they were not really mansions, only large summer 'cottages,' and very modest by Newport standards. 'Marbella,' now called 'Horsehead,' stood and still stands on Southwest point; and 'Harbor Entrance,' later named 'Ragged Edge,' but more commonly known simply as the Clothier House, stood on Bull Point."

This painting has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $170,000.

One of the auction's highlights is Lot 28, "Flora de Stephano, The Artist's Model," a superb pastel on paper, 20 1/2 by 18 1/4 inches, by Robert Frederick Blum (1857-1903). Blum was a master of pastel and was a founder, along with William Merritt Chase and J. Carroll Beckwith in 1882 of the Society of Painters in Pastel. "Pastels such as Flora de Stephano depict startlingly beautiful images by the artist that capture an almost jewel-like quality of light. His subject here is his close companion and romantic love of many years, Flora de Stephano. She appears in numerous works. In this dramatically drawn pastel, Blum's use of brilliant vermilion highlights on her dress offers a tour de force of his control and handling of color. The reddish-orange tint dances across the surface of the pastel, creating a sumptuous effect.With characteristic wit and truthfulness, Oscar Wilde is reported to have remarked to this friend, 'Blum, your exquisite pastels give me the sensation of eating yellow satin,'" the catalogue noted.

This lot has a conservative estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $303,000.

The cover illustration of the catalogue is Lot 35, "Orchid and Hummingbird, After a Storm," a very fine and luscious oil on canvas, 15 by 20 inches, by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904). This painting was once in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Arden of New York and has an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold for $1,326,000. Heade is known for his fine marsh landscapes of New England, his sultry landscapes of Florida and South America, his lush floral still lifes, particularly magnolias, and his magnificent hummingbirds and orchid studies, such as this.

William Michael Harnett (1848-1892) is the most famous American trompe l'oeil painter and Lot 7, "Still Life with Lobster, Fruit, Champagne and Newspaper," is a fine small work by him. An oil on canvas that measures 10 by 8 1/4 inches, it was painted in Munich in 1882 and has a modest estimate of $120,000 to $180,000. This work is quite impressive given its small size. It sold for $182,000.

Fruit wrapped in tissue paper were a favorite subject of William McCloskey but Lot 9, "Still Life with Oranges and Raisins" demonstrates that such subjects were also treated with great skill by some other artists. This very nice oil on canvas measures 9 1/8 by 13 1/8 inches and was painted in 1890 by Lemuel Everett Wilmarth (1835-1918) and has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $154,500.

American Impressionists are represented with good works by Childe Hassam (1859-1935), John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902) and Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919).

Lot 62, "Dock Scene, Gloucester," by Childe Hassam, oil on canvas, 24 by 20 inches, 1896

The Hassam, Lot 62, "Dock Scene, Gloucester," shown above, is a 24-by-20-inch oil on canvas that is dated 1896. It has a slightly ambitious estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $1,051,000. "Through Hassam's Impressionist gaze," the catalogue entry observed, "the timeless beauty and tranquility of the quiet fishing village of Gloucester is poignantly recorded in Dock Scene, Gloucester. Gloucester, like Appledore and Cos Cob, Connecticut, offered Hassam the ability to escape from the oppressive and mundane life in the city and allowed his mind to wander and retreat into the depths of his own imagination."

Lot 68, "Autumn Mists," shown above, is an excellent and poetic landscape by John Henry Twachtman. An oil on canvas that measures 25 by 30 inches and has a modest estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $248,000.

Lot 70, "The Lace Maker," by Julian Alden Weir, is a lovely oil on canvas, 30 1/4 by 25 3/8 inches, that was once in the collection of Mrs. Percy Uris. It has a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.

Oscar Bluemer (1867-1938) is consistently impressive for his very bold palette and strong compositions and Lot 83, "Evening Tones," shown above, is an excellent example of his style. An oil on canvas, it measures 14 1/8 by 20 inches and was executed 1911-1917 and, according to the catalogue, was also titled "Bronx River at Mt. Vernon." It has a modest estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $380,000.

Another good modernist work is Lot 88, "Synchromist Nude," by Morgan Russell (1886-1953), an oil on canvas, 25 1/8 by 19 3/4 inches. Executed in 1913, this very strong and colorful work has a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $204,000.

Among the Western works is a very fine oil on canvas, 12 by 18 1/4 inches, by Cornelius Krieghoff (1812-1872) entitled "Indian Campfire at Big Rock," Lot 49, shown above. It has a conservative estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $41,125.

There are also several good works by Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926).

Lot 51, "The Battle Between the Blackfeet and the Piegans," is a strong watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper by Russell that measures 14 3/4 by 21 1/4 inches and is dated 1897. It has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $190,000.

Another excellent Russell watercolor is Lot 39, "Indian Scouting Party," an 1897 watercolor on paper that measures 20 3/4 by 29 1/4 inches and has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. It sold for $380,000.

Lot 42, "The Attack," is a 18 1/2-by-24 3/8-inch oil on board by Russell that is dated 1900 and was once in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art in Fort Worth, Texas. It has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $611,000.

One of the highlights of the 65 American works from The Forbes Collection that are being auctioned immediately after the above sale, and which are included in a separate catalogue, is Lot 121, "Buffalo Hunt," a major oil on canvas, dated 1897, by Charles Marion Russell. The 23 7/8-by-36-inch painting, shown above, has an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It failed to sell.

The catalogue provides the following commentary on this lot:

"Buffalo hunt epitomizes Russell's mission of glorifying and preserving the spirit of the West. Russell's dramatic use of composition and color further accentuates the heroic imagery of the buffalo hunt. Staged against the sweeping plains of Montana, Russell charges the foreground with intense energy and movement captured in the escaping buffalo and charging horses."

Russell moved from St. Louis to Helena, Montana in 1880 at the age of 16 and worked as a ranch hand and cowboy and in 1893 decided to become an artist. His work is much more authentic and colorful and energetic than that of Frederick Remington.

This auction was not as successful as the earlier session at Christie's the same day and less than 79 percent of the lots sold for a total of $4,587,075, and many of the better lots sold below their low estimates.

The Forbes Collection has a good selection of Western Art and one of the other highlights is Lot 114, a set of eight drawings, each 14 by 10 1/2 inches, by George Catlin (1796-1872) of "North American Indians from the Duke of Portland Album. The lot has a modest estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $41,125.

Lot 111, "Moose at Waterhole," is a quaintly primitive oil on canvas, not as finely drawn as the drawings, by Catlin that measures 19 by 26 3/4 inches and is dated 1854. It has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000.

Lot 115, "Putting on the War Shoes," is a good oil on canvas, 24 1/8 by 29 1/4 inches, by Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936). It has a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $82,250.

Lot 120, "Beginning of a Lonely Night," is a good oil on canvas, 40 3/4 by 50 inches, by Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939). It has a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 107, "Grand Canyon," is a 10 1/4-by-12 3/8-inch oil on canvas by Thomas Moran (1837-1926) that is one of the artist's more muted scenes of the canyon, which was one of his favorite subjects. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $198,500.

Lot 106, "Western Trail, The Rockies," is a good oil on paper, 14 by 19 1/8 inches, by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) that shows a covered wagon ascending a trail high up in the mountains with a stunning vista of a snow-capped peak nearby. It has a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $94,000.

Lot 105, "Mount Moran," shown above, is a 22 1/2-by-31-inch watercolor on paper by Edward Hopper (1882-1967) that was once in the collection of Stephen C. Clark. The mountain is named after Thomas Moran, the artist, see above, and is located in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. This lot has an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $501,000.

Lot 125, "Piñons with Cedar," is a very stunning oil on canvas, 30 by 26 inches, by Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986). Painted in 1956, it has a modest estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $314,000.

The catalogue provides the following commentary on this lot:

"As is true with all of Georgia O'Keefe's finest works, the strength of Piñons with Cedar lies in its careful balance o realism and abstraction, its intricate layering of objective and subjective meaning, its wonderful synthesis of form and color. Painted in 1956, after the artists had settled in New Mexico, the work reflects the intense spirituality and wonder that she associated with the landscape. It was during the spring of 1956 that O'Keefe spent two months in Peru. She was fascinated by the mountainous landscape, and her sketchbooks from the trip were filled with pencil drawings that captured the striking silhouettes of her favorite peaks. In this fully realized painting, O'Keefe juxtaposes the majesty of a tall cedar tree and the lush compactness of the piñon pine against a similar mountain landscape.The tree became an important element of O'Keefe's imagery in 1943 when she began to paint the cottonwood trees that spread outside her bedroom and studio windows at her home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. She continued to develop this theme throughout her career - the earliest sharp and angular versions gave way, overtime to more attenuated and ethereal representations. In Piñons with Cedar, O'Keefe imbues the trees, particularly the dead cedar, with this same ethereal quality, creating an almost otherworldly effect. A neutral palette with characteristically warm earth tones, broken only the lush green of the pinion pine, contribute to the overall sense of softness and silence. It is this layering of visual and spiritual interpretations of the landscape that makes Piñons with Cedar a characteristically remarkable work."

The catalogue's cover illustration is a detail from Lot 102, "Moorish Courtyard," by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). This 28-by-36-inch oil on canvas was executed in 1913. The catalogue notes that in this work, "the artist examines the juxtaposition of the intricately carved ornamental details of the building's architecture, with the rustic function that it serves and with the two donkeys that inhabit the space.The painting is an intricate, delicate web of textures.Moorish Courtyard was probably conceived in Granada in the autumn of 1912 when Sargent visited Spain with his sister, Emily, and close friends and frequent traveling companions, Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn. One of the most striking aspects of the picture is its unusual perspective. Here, Sargent is clearly interested in the formal aspects of painting, and by skewing the perspective he has made the composition as important as the subject that he depicts.As one of Sargent's finest realizations of his abstracted architectural subject pictures, Moorish Courtyard ranks as a monument to his achievement outside of his brilliant oeuvre of portraiture and establishes his work at the end of his career as among the most innovative of his day."

It has a modest estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It failed to sell.

Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958) was one of the most stylish and ironic painters of the 1920s and 1930s and Lot 137, "Filibuster," is a superb example of his work. An oil on canvas, 20 by 16 inches, it has a modest estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $88,125.

Lot 136, "Children - Washington Square Park," shown above, by William James Glackens is a very charming and fine oil on canvas, 25 by 30 1/4 inches by this colorful Ash-Can School artist. This painting was one of the highlights of the recent exhibition, "Homage to the Square: Picturing Washington Square," that was held at the Berry-Hill Galleries in New York, May-July, 2001 (see The City Review article). It has a modest estimate of $250,000 to $300,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 147, "Seeing the New Year In," by Paul Cadmus (1904-1999), certainly must have been a very popular painting for Mr. Forbes who was a legendary party-giver. An oil and tempera on linen mounted on panel, it measures 30 by 38 inches and has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $314,000.

"There is a decidedly personal reason behind every painting I've ever bought, which is as it should be, because, frankly, I haven't the knowledge or yen to concentrate on any one period or artist," Malcolm Forbes, the founder of Forbes Magazine, is quoted in the preface to the catalogue for this auction. "These things make you think," the exuberant and zestful publisher, added.