By Carter B. Horsley This auction has several excellent paintings by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) including Lot 23, "Girl Fishing at San Vigilio," a dazzling work.
The auction also is highlighted by superb floral paintings by John La Farge (1835-1910) and Maria Oakley Dewing (1845-1927) and good landscapes by Abbot Fuller Graves (1859-1936), Charles Harold Davis (1856-1933), Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910), John W. Casilear (1811-1893), David Johnson (1827-1908), Thomas Addison Richards (1820-1900), Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908), an interesting and rare work by William Rimmer (1816-1879) and a sumptuous still life by William J. McCloskey (1859-1941).
The Sargent painting, shown above, is an oil on canvas, 19 1/2 by 28 inches. It is dated 1913 and has an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It failed to sell.
Sargent would become increasingly less interested in executing the society portraits for which he was famous and would take refuge in trips to the Alps, Venice and the Mediterranean with members of his family. San Vigilio is a small fishing village on a point at the southern end of Lake Garda in Italy and this painting was executed in 1913 on his last European sojourn before the outbreak of World War I. Sargent would travel with a variety of veils and shawls and the like to dress his "models" on such trips. "The woman in the present painting, possibly Jane de Glehn," the catalogue noted, "wears a beige cashmere shawl with a paisley border that is seen repeatedly in Sargent's paintings from his travels in the Alps and around Italy. According to Carol Troyen, the shawl was probably made in Kashmir around 1800-1820. She writes, 'Interestingly, the cashmere shawl which had been immensely popular in the mid-nineteenth century, was no longer fashionable in the Edwardian Era, except among those who favored antique clothing and other modes of aesthetic dress. However, such high-style designers as Jacques Doucet and Paul Poiret appropriated oriental motifs for the borders of their garments, and Sargent's interest in exotic and Near-Eastern garb may well have been reinforced by contemporary costume design. (Sue Walsh Reed and Carol Troyen, Awash in Color: Homer, Sargent, and the Great American Watercolor, Boston, Massachusetts, 1993, p. 169)."
The painting, the catalogue's entry continued, "perfectly captures the carefree nature of Sargent's Mediterranean holidays, when the artist was unencumbered by the strictures of urban society and completely at ease."
While the brilliant color of this painting is memorable, collectors of Sargent will be hard-pressed to choose between it and another Sargent painting, Lot 15, which has a wonderfully dramatic composition but a far more restrained palette. Lot 15 is an oil on canvas, 19 3/4 by 25 1/2 inches, entitled "Rosina - Capri." It was painted in 1878 and is the cover illustration for the catalogue. It has an ambitious estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $5,395,750 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.
The catalogue provides the following commentary on this lot:
"At the invitation of Frank Hyde, an English painter working in Capri, Sargent established a studio in the abandoned monastery of Santa Theresa. It was there that Hyde introduced him to a famous local model, Rosina Ferrara, who appears in the present painting. Sargent described her as 'an Ana Capri girl, a magnificent type, about seventeen years of age, her complexion a rich nut-brown, with a mass of blue-black hair, very beautiful, and of an Arab type' Rosina became the artist's favorite model during his sojourn on the island, appearing in a number of other paintings.The present painting is one of two very similar versions of the same subject, showing the young Rosina dancing the tarantella on the rooftop of the Marina Hotel, accompanied by a female musician playing a tambourine." The other version, which is a bit more detailed and less atmospheric, is owned by the Warner Collection of Gulf States Paper Corporation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
This auction has four other more conventional Sargents including a 35-by-45-oil on canvas landscape study of San Vigilio, Lot 25, which has an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000, which failed to sell and was "bought in" for $260,000, and Lots 5 and 6, watercolor studies of Simplon in the Alps, the former with a $40,000 to $60,000 estimate and the latter with a $20,000 to $30,000 estimate. Lot 33 is a 74 1/4-by-35 3/4-inch oil on canvas portrait of Mrs. Harry Vane Milbank that has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000.
Great watercolors by John La Farge appear infrequently on the auction market. Lot 8, "Water-Lilies with Red and Green Pads," is a stunning watercolor and gouache on paper, 9 3/4 by 12 inches, by La Farge. It was executed circa 1883 and has a conservative estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $291,750. It was formerly in the collections of Mrs. James Montgomery Sears of Boston and Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth of New York.
A bit more subdued in its palette but extremely sumptuous is Lot 10, "Poppies and Italian Mignonette," a fine 23-by-17-inch oil on canvas by Maria Oakley Dewing. The work, which was once in the collection of Charles Lang Freer, is dated 1891 and has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $1,105,750. This artist was married to Thomas Wilmer Dewing, who is best known for his exquisitely poetic and romantic and wispy paintings of women. The Dewings spent their summer months in Cornish, New Hampshire, and she executed one other painting of poppies, which is the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art.
Lovers of flowers will also be tempted by Lot 7, "Flower Garden, Kennebunkport, Maine," a 21-by-38-inch oil on canvas by Abbott Fuller Graves. This very lovely work has a conservative estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $330,750.
Lot 36, "Summer Clouds," by Charles Harold Davis is a very good oil on canvas, 51 1/2 by 77 1/4 inches. Executed circa 1900, it has an estimate of $75,000 to $100,000. It sold for $92,750.
Lot 106, is a good, dramatic depiction of "Cascade Falls, Yosemite," by Thomas Moran. The 29 1/4-by-19 1/4-inch oil on canvas was executed in 1905 and has an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000. It sold for $858,250. It is an unusually tall work by Moran.
Lot 121, "Afternoon on the Beach," shown above, is a very fine beach scene by Worthington Whittredge. The 9 1/4-by-15 1/4-inch oil on canvas has a conservative estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It was passed at $32,500! Whittredge is best known for his lovely paintings of forest brooks and his Western pictures of the plains, but his few beach scenes are magnificent.
John W. Casilear is an important Hudson River School painter best known for his finely detailed and well painted bucolic compositions. Lot 120, "New England Beach Scene," is an extremely nice beach scene that is rare in his oeuvre. The 10-by-15 1/2-inch oil on canvas has an estimate of $15,000 to $25,000. It sold for $24,900.
Casilear's style is somewhat similar to that of David Johnson, whose work is even more detailed. Lot 133, "Natural Bridge, Virginia," is an excellent example of Johnson's style. The oval painting on panel measures 6 1/2 by 5 1/4 inches and has a conservative estimate of $7,000 to $10,000. It sold for $49,625, an exceptionally high price considering that some nice paintings by Johnson have not fared very well in recent sales.
Less well known than either Casilear or Johnson, Thomas Addison Richards produced some fine works and "Meditation in the Catskill Mountains" is one of his very best. The 50-by-40-inch oil on canvas, Lot 125, shown above, has an arched top and was executed in 1851 and is a classic Hudson River School work with a modest estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. This sold at the low end of its estimate.
Alfred Thompson Bricher is best known for his rocky coastal scenes with ships in the distance under great panoplies of clouds. He produced many such formulaic works, but his nicest paintings have figures in them and this auction has three such paintings, Lots 103, 136 and 137. Lot 103 has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. This sold for $98,500. Lot 136 has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $49,625. Lot 137 has an estimate of $50,000 to $75,000. It was "passed" at 37,500.
One of the rarest American artists on the auction market is William Rimmer. Lot 126, shown above, is a marvelously dynamic and energetic oil on canvas by the artist, 14 by 18 inches, that was executed circa 1875. Entitled "Battle of the Amazons," it has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000 and has been widely exhibited. It was "passed" at $130,000.
William J. McCloskey specialized in table-top still lifes of wrapped fruit and Lot 135 is a fine and colorful example. The 10-by17-inch oil on canvas has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for a "hammer" price of $120,000, which does not include the buyer's premium.
Lot 100 is a fine study of "Cherokee Roses in a Glass," by Martin J. Heade (1819-1904). The 20 1/2-by-12 1/2-inch oil on canvas was executed circa 1883-1895 and has an estimate of $200,000 to $250,000. It sold for $313,750 including the buyer's premium.
Lot 153 is a fine and delicate watercolor of "The Palisades on the Hudson" by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900). It measures 13 1/4 by 21 1/4 inches and has an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. It was "passed" for $19,000.
Lot 16, "Simone in a White Bonnet Seated with Clasped Hands (No. 1)," is a fine pastel on paper, 24 1/2 by 18 1/2 inches, by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). It was executed circa 1903 and has a conservative estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $203,750. It was once in the collection of Justin K. Thannhauser of New York.
Lot 3, "Spring Landscape," by John H. Twachtman (1853-1902), a very poetic and nice 17 1/4-by-12 1/4-inch pastel on paper that was once in the collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. of Los Angeles was estimated at $20,000 to $30,000 and sold for $38,125.
Lot 17, "Paris Scene - School Girls with a Nun," by Maurice Prendergast, a 10 1//4-by-13 1/4-inch watercolor and pencil on paper, sold within its estimate for $203,750. It is one of his loveliest.
Lot 55, "Roberto," by Walt Kuhn (1880-1949), a 40-by-30-inch oil on canvas, dated 1946, soared above its high estimate of $400,000 to sell for $1,105,750.
An exquisite still life by John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926), Lot 94, entitled "Roses in a Porcelain Bowl," also fared extremely well, selling for $64,000. The 16 -by-12 3/4-inch oil on canvas had a high estimate of $35,000.
Lot 111, "The Tables Turned," an amusing painting of bears aiming a rifle at hunters by William H. Beard (1823-1900) sold for $58,250. The 16-by-30-inch oil on canvas had a high estimate of $30,000.