Lot
9, "Rainy Day, New York," by Childe Hassam, watercolor on paper, 16 3/4
by 12 1/2 inches, 1892
Childe Hassam
(1859-1935) is one of the rare American painters with a very wide
variety of styles. Along with William Merritt Chase and John
Twachtman, artists of essentially singular styles, Hassam is widely
considered one of the great American Impressionists and Lot 9, "Rainy
Day, New York," gives considerable weight to such a thought as it is
not only a stunning and very tight composition but completely aflutter
with impressionistic bursts of brilliance.
Detail of Lot
9, "Rainy Day, New York," by Hassam
The lot was
painted in 1892 and measures 16 3/4 by 12 1/2 inches. It has
an estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It sold for $1,538,500.
Lot
96, "Mrs. Reubell Seated in Front of a Screen," by John Singer Sargent,
watercolor and gouache on paper, 14 by 10 inches, circa 1884-5
Lot
96 is a dazzling watercolor and gouache on paper by John Singer Sargent
(1856-1925). Entitled "Mrs. Reubell Seated in Front of a
Screen," it
measures 14 by 10 inches and was executed circa 1884-5.
Henrietta
Reubell held a salon in Paris and her visitors included Whistler, Oscar
Wilde, Edith Wharton and Henry James. The lot has a modest
estimate of
$250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $242,500.
Lot 14, "In The Sun," by Theodore Robinson, oil on canvas, 17 1/4 by 36 inches, 1891
Lot
14 is a very impressive painting of a woman lying "In The Sun" by
Theodore Robinson (1852-1896). An oil on canvas, it measures 17
1/4 by 36 inches and was painted in 1891. It has an estimate of
$1,200,000 to $1,800,000. It sold for $1,052,500.
Lot 28, "The Arms Brokers," by
Jack Levine, oil on canvas, 72 by 63 inches, 1982-5
Jack Levine
(b. 1915) has long been of the America's masterful painters and Lot 28,
"The Arms Brokers," is surely one of his masterpieces. An oil
on canvas that was created between 1982 and 1985, it measures 72 by 63
inches. The catalogue provides the following quotation from
the artist: "The satirical direction I have chosen is an indication of
my disappointment in man, which is the opposite way of saying that I
have high expectations for the human race." This painting,
the catalogue notes, is "populated" with Ronald Reagan, David
Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, the Ayatollah Khomeni, King Saud and
Leonid Brezhnev. It has a modest estimate of $250,000
to $350,000. It sold for $266,500.
Lot 32, study
for "The Problem We All Live With," by Norman Rockwell, oil on
photographic paper, 12 3/4 by 19 1/2 inches, 1964
Lot 32 is a
oil study on photographic paper of "The Problem We All Live With" by
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978). It measures 12 3/4 by 19 1/2
inches and was painted in 1964. The work for which this is a
study measures 36 by 58 inches and is in the Norman Rockwell Art
Collection Trust-Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts,
a work that the catalogue notes "is one of the most widely reproduced
and cited paintings of social consciousness in American art.
It has become an iconic representation of a watershed moment
in twentieth century American history, its impact as much a result of
the event itself as of Rockwell's uniquely simple, direct style.
In 1963, Norman Rockwell ended his 47-year association with
the Saturday Evening
Post and shifted his artistic focus away fromnostalgic
vignette sof American life during the first half of the 20th Century to
more socially conscious, politicalized view of the changing
scene in America during the1960s. The Problem We All Live With
was Rockewell's first work commissioned and published by Look Magazine.
The work depicts Ruby Bridges escorted by four federal
marshals entering the William Frantz public school in New Orleans in
the fall of 1960. This study has a very modest estimate of
$150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $854,500.
Lot 120,
"Pastoral Landscape," by Albert Pinkham Ryder, oil on canvas mounted on
board, 8 by 14 1/2 inches, circa 1880
Lot
120, "Pastoral Landscape," is said in the catalogue to be by Albert
Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917). An oil on canvas mounted on board,
it
measures 8 by 14 1/2 inches and was executed circa 1880. It
shows
two cattle and a house. The cattle are unusually well-defined
for
Ryder and they are next to a very large and ungraceful tree.
The
canvas shows some craquelure in the lower third and considerable
impasto is evident in some parts. Ryder did several similara
scenes but they tended to be clumsier and more poetic. This
work
was illustrated in Elisabeth Broun's 1989 book on the artist.
The
lot has an estimate of 30,000 to $50,000. It sold for $40,000. Many critics
consider
Ryder to be one of the five most important American artists of all time.
Lot 117, "The Money Diggers" by
John Quidor, oil on canvas, 27 by 34 inches, 1856