By Carter B. Horsley
Although this Christie's auction of American Paintings May 25, 2006 does not have as many good works as in the previous day auction at Sotheby's it does have several gems including spectacular works by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) and Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865), and fine examples by Marsden Hartley (1877-1943), David Johnson (1827-1908), James Peale (1749-1831), Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910) and Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939).
Lot 93, "An Orchid with an Amethyst Woodstar," is a magnificent orchid and hummingbird painting by Martin Johnson Heade, who is also famous for his landscapes and his paintings of magnolias. It is an oil on canvas that measures 15 1/2 by 23 1/2 inches and was executed in 1874. The catalogue observes that it is "a previously un-recorded example of the artist's famed" orchid and hummingbird series and "is a re-discovered masterpiece that serves as a testament to Heade's significant and enduring contribution to American art."
The lot has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $1,360,000 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. The sale was very successful with 86 percent of the offered lots selling for a total of $35,894,000 and many lots selling considerably over their high estimates.
"Today's auction," remarked Eric Widing, the head of Christie's American Painting Department, "marked a return to a level of salesroom exuberance we have not seen for several yers, with extraordinary prices and energy throughout."
Without question, the most dramatic and glorious work in the auction is Lot 98, "Rafe's Chasm, Gloucester, Massachusetts," by Fitz Hugh Lane, the celebrated Luminist. An oil on canvas, it measures 34 1/4 by 48 1/4 inches and is dated 1853.
Lane is most famous for his exquisite depictions of sailing ships in still harbor waters. This painting, however, is atypically very dramatic. The son of a sailmaker, Lane spent most of his career painting the New England coast. The catalogue notes that he "established a reputation as the foremost professional marine painter in America" and in 1848 returned to his birthplace in Gloucester and "embarked on a series of luminous marine paintings that still rank today as some of the most important contributons to American painting in the nineteenth century."
"Rafe's Chasm," the catalogue entry continued, "is located between Gloucester and Magnolia Harbors on the north shore of Boston. It is famous to this day for the dramatic surf that has pounded its rocks for centuries....[the painting] is a bold departure from Lane's previous works; paintings that were characterized by pristine harbor views and thoughtfully composed ship portraits...'These provocative images, so eloquent in their prophetic silence, depict a moment in time as if frozen, and evoke a mood of transcendental silence that is an important reflection of the American imagination at mid-century,' (E. A. Powell III, "The Boston Harbor Pictures," Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1988, p. 47)."
The lot has a very conservative estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $1,136,000.
Lot 82 is a large and very good forest scene by Worthington Whittredge, entitled "The Pine Cone Gatherers." An oil on canvas, it measures 54 1/2 by 40 inches and it is dated 1866. It was once in the collection of the Chrsyler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
"Upon Whittredge's return to New York City in August 1859 after studying in Europe,he took a space at the Tenth Street studio building [see The City Review article] along with artists Frederic Church, John Casilear and Jervis McEntee. Whittredge formed a close relationship with these artists as well as with Asher B. Durand and Sanford Robinstoon Gifford who were the two greatest influences on him and became lifelong friends. Whittredge preferred quiet scenes such as the forest in The Pine Cone Gatherers to the majestic vistas of his contemporaries....The palette and light in The Pine Cone Gatherers imbues the scene with a poetic beauty....With Whittredge's use of light pouring through the canopy of the trees to the children below, he suggests a transcendental notion of the passage from God to Nature to Man."
The lot has an estimate of $700,000 to $1,000,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 101, "A View on Lake George (Paradise Bay)" is a fine and large oil on canvas by David Johnson, one of the most precise second-generation Hudson River School artists. It measures 26 1/2 by 40 1/2 inches and is dated 1876. Most of Johnson's oeuvre consists of small and medium-size paintings. The catalogue correctly notes that his compositions are "assiduously detailed." The painting is somewhat dark perhaps because he was depicting a somewhat overcast scene. It has a modest estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $284,800.
Sanford Robinson Gifford is an important Hudson River School painter who was also one of the finest Luminists. Lot 109, "Fire Island Beach" is a rather haunting beach scene with two faint figures on a beach that almost merges into the sky. An oil on canvas, it measures 8 1/2 by 16 inches. It is dated 1875 and has a very conservative estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $45,600.
Lot 92 is an excellent "Still Life with Watermelon" by James Peale, one of the several artist sons of Charles Willson Peale. An oil on canvas that measures 16 by 21 3/4 inches, it was painted circa 1820. The lot has a conservative estimate of $120,000 to $180,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 56, "The Garden Pool," is a very fine oil on canvas by Frederick Carl Frieseke. It measures 25 1/2 by 32 inches and is one of four works in the auction consigned by the estate of Joan B. Kroc, the widow of Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's. Mrs. Kroc was a noted philanthropist who gave $200 million to National Public Radio and $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army.
"Executed at the height of his career, Garden Pool, exemplifies Frederick Cal Frieseke's most beautiful works. Friseke's garden in Giverny, the setting for a number of his finest pictures, is depicted with dazzling color and vitality. The vibrant colors and patterns of Garden Pool makes this a masterpiece of Frieseke's oeuvre. In the summer of 1906, Frieseke settled in Giverney where the landscape, sunshine and freedom to paint as he wanted inspired him to remain for almost two decades. Giverney was an artist colony led by French Impressionist Claude Monet that had been favored by Amereican artists including Theordore Butler, Willard Metcalf, Richard Miller, Theodore Robinson and Guy Rose. ...After arriveing in Giverny, Fieseke lived in Theodore Robinson's former house, next door to Monet....As in Frieseke's best works, the artist has used the garden of his house as a setting for his beautiful model wearing a flowered kimono. Conveying a romantic parallel between the woman and flowers, he blends her into the bakground essentially placing a 'flower' within the flowers.....Friseke's high-keyed palette and the thick impasto of his short brushstrokes are masterfully executed in this work.. In Garden Pool as in his other works from this period, the artists's dappled use of sunlight, the direction and texture of his brushstrokes and contrasts of light and shadow cretae a patterned harmony reminiscent ofthe Post-Impressionists."
This painting is to be included in the forthcoming caalogue raisonée on Frieseke being complied by Nicolas Kilmer, the artist's grandson, and sponsored by hollis taggart Galleries in New York.
The lot has an estimate of $700,000 to $1,000,000. It sold for $2,368,000, a world auction record for the artist.
Another good painting from the Kroc estate is Lot 59, "The Orangerie," by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916). An oil on paper laid down on canvas laid down on panel, it measures 23 1/2 by 33 1/4 inches and was executed circa 1909. It is a fine and bright Impressionist-style painting. It has a modest estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $520,000.
Lot 49, "Mountains, No. 19," is a very strong and vibrant oil on board by Marsden Hartley. It measures 36 by 33 inches and was executed in 1930. In 1927, Hartley did a series of paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire in Provence, France, a mountain often painted by Cézanne. Subsequently on his return to the United States, he decided to paint the mountains of Franconia Valley in New Hampshire.
he catalogue provides the following commentary about this work:
"As he did years before when he transformed Picasso's Synthetic cubism into his epic German Officer series, with Mountains, No. 19 Hartley tranforms the inovations of Cézanne to create a highly original painting that reflected the new direction of his art. Large in scale, the painting conveys a profond sense of the mountain's enormity, which is further emphasized by Hartley's decision to nearly fill the canvas with his depiction of the mountain. Mountains, No. 19 reveals the artist's innovative painting technique that he rediscovered during his time in Provence. Short, vertical brushstrokes cover the composition and infuse the entire work with vitality and energy. Likewise the brilliant autumn palette of bold vermilions, tawny hues, and rich greens set against the pastel blues and pinks of the sky is unequalled by other modern painters of the era. Hartley's enchantment with New Hampshire did not last, and by the time he returned to New York later in the fall of 1930 he was filled with anxiety about how works such as Mountains No. 19 would be received by the community of artists, collectors and critics. Yet his fears proved to be unfounded, as the exhibition of the summer's work at Steiglitz's newly formed gallery, An American Place, would produce sufficient income for another year."
The lot has a conservative estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $520,000.
The auction also has two good works by Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966). Lot 27, "Daybreak," is a 26 1/2-by-45-inch oil on board that is dated 1922. It has an ambitious estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $7,632,000, a world auction record for the artist. Lot 32, "The Lantern Bearers," is a 1908 oil on canvas laid down on board that measures 40 by 32 inches. It is a fine image but the painting has considerable craquelure. It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. It sold for $4,272,000.
Some lots consigned by the Art Institute of Chicago did very well: Lot 5, a still life of a kettle and jug by Emil Carlsen (1853-1932) had an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 and sold for $102,000; Lot 6, a study of a woman in a chair by Childe Hassam (1859-1935) had an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 and sold for $408,000.
Lot 34, an early study of three nudes in a forest by Max Weber (1881-1961) had a estimate of $80,000 to $120,000 and sold for $374,400; Lot 38, a fine study for a mural for WNYC by Stuart Davis (1894-1964) had an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000 and sold for $352,000; Lot 60, a lovely painting of two women in a landscape by Charles Caryl Coleman (1840-1928) had an estimate of $300,000 to 4500,000 and sold for $688,000; Lot 62, a sketch of a beach in Capri by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) had an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 and sold for $688,000; Lot 100, a Harper's Ferry scene by Thomas Doughty (1793-1856) had an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and sold for $102,000; and Lot 112, a large still life of Theodore Roosevelt's cabin door by Richard LaBarre Goodwin (1840-1910) had an estimate of $70,000 to $100,000 and sold for $486,400.