This
May 23, 2017 auction of
American Paintings at Sotheby's New York includes several good
sculptures and paintings from the collection of Richard J. Schwartz,
and fine works by John Singer Sargent, Robert Henri, Oscar Bluemner,
Marsden Hartley, Worthington
Whittredge and Norman Rockwell.
Lot
42 is a 1951 painting of "Two Plumbers" by Norman Rockwell
(1894-1978). It is an oil on canvas that measures 39 1/4 by 37
inches. It has been widely published and it appeared on the cover
of the June 2, 1951 issue of The
Saturday Evening Post. It has an ambitious estimate of
$5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It
sold for an astounding $14,975,000 including the buyer's premium as do
all results mentioned in this article.
The sale total was $33,109,125 with 70 percent of the 123 offered lots
selling.
Lot 32, "John
Alfred Parsons Millet," by John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas, 36 1/4
by 24 1/8 inches, 1892
Lot
32 is a very striking and painterly portrait of a chid, "John Alfred
Parsons Millet," by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). It is an oil
on canvas that measures 36 1/4 by 24 1/8 inches and was painted in
1892. It was exhbited in 1989 and 1990 in the American Paintings
from the Manoogian Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the National Gallery of Art in
Washington and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It has an
estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000.
It was withdrawn.
Lot
115, "Portrait of Carll Tucker Jr.," by Robert Henri, oil on canvas, 32
by 26 inches, 1925
Lot 115
is a fabulous "Portrait of Carll Tucker Jr." by Robert Henri
(1865-1929). The oil on canvas measures 32 by 26 inches and was
painted in 1925.
The catalogue entry notes that when he painted this work Henri "was
widely recognized as a pre-eminent portrait painter in the United
States: "In his portraits, it was important for Henri to establish a
relationship with his sitters in an effort to empathize with their
point of view. Henri once wrote about this in depth: 'The people
I
like to paint are 'my people,' whoever they may be, wherever they may
exist, the prople through whom dignity of li9fe is manifest, that is,
who are in some way expressing themselves naturally along the lines
nature intended for them. My people my be old, or young, rich or
poor...but wherever I find them, the Indian at work in the white man's
way, the Spanish gypsy moving back to the freedom of the hills, the
little boy quiet and reticent before the stranger, my interest is
awakened and my impulse immediately is to tell about them through my
own language - drawing and painting in color."
Carl Tucker Jr., the entry continued, "would grow up to have a career
in publishing, owning a collection of smaller newspapers in the New
York area before going on to form the Patent Trader which covered news
in Westchester County communities."
Henri was not just a portrait painter and his pastel landscapes in
Maine are among his finest achievements and he is best remembered as
the founding father and inspiration for the Ashcan School in which
George Luks, Everett Shinn, John Sloan and others flourished.
The lot has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $215,000.
Lot
34, "The Libreria," by John Singer Sargent, watercolor and pencil on
paper, 20 1/8 by 14 inches, circa 1904
Lot 34 is a very fine
watercolor and pencil on paper of "The Libreria" in Venice by Sargent
that is marred by two vertical brownish streaks on the right
side, It was painted circa 1904 and mesures 20 1/8 by 14
inches. It was included in the Sargent memorial exhibition at the
Royal Academy of Art in 1926 and in the Sargent retrospective at the
National Gallery in Washington and the Tate Gallery in 1999. It
has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It failed to sell.
Lot
77, "Study for William Rush and His Model," by Thomas Eakins, oil on
canvas, 20 by 14 inches, circa 1908
Lot
77 is an excellent oil on canvas study for Thomas Eakins' "William Rush
and His Model" painting that is in the collection of the Honolulu
Museum of Art. This study was included in the Eakins show at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in
1982. It measures 20 by 14 inches and was painted circa
1908. It has a modest estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It failed to sell!
Lot
33, "Orange Pink No. 8," by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, pastel on paper, 10
1/4 by 6 3/4 inches, 1910
Lot 33
is an exquisite but faint pastel on paper by Thomas Wilmer Dewing
(1851-1938), the most poetic and lyrical of the many popular painters
in Boston who adored women. Entitled "Orange Pink No. 8," it
measures 10 1/4 by 6 3/4 inches and was painted in 1910. It has
an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $35,000.
Lot
19, "Violet Tones," by Oscar Bluemner (signed Florianus), tempera on
paper, 28 1/2 by 38 1/2 inches, 1934
Lot
19 is a large and powerful tempera on paper by Oscar Bluemner
(1867-1938) entitled "Violet Tones." It measures 28 1/2 by 38 1/2
inches and was painted in 1934. It was exhibited in shows on the
artist in 1988 and 1989 at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, the New
Jersey State Museum in Trenton and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth
aind in 2005-2006 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The
catalogue entry notes that it depicts "a darkened street - either Bank
of Smith - in Elizabeth, New Jersey."
"Indeed, like most American modernists, Bluemner drew his primary
inspiration from the forms and figures of the rapidly changing world
around him. In Violet Tones,
Bluemner alludes to the encroaching industrialization of the country
with his inclusion of a telephone pole and factory smokestack yet
ultimaely it is the organic forms and arabesque lines of the billowy
clouds and twisted branches of the trees in the foreground that command
the viewer's attention," it continued.
It has an estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 and is the cover
illustration of the auction's catalogue. It failed to sell.
Lot
14, "Church by the Barrens, Indian Harbor, Maine," by Marsden Hartley,
oil on board, 22 by 28 inches, 1940
Lot
14 is a good Maine oil on board by Harsden Hartley (1877-1943) entitled
"Church by the Barrens, Indian Harbor, Maine." It measures 22 by
28 inches and was painted in 1940. An exhibition of the artist's Maine
pictures is currently on view at The Met Breuer from March 15, through
June 18, 2017. This lot has an estimate of
$800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold
for $852,500.
Lot
26, "Highlands on the Hudson, Looking South from Newburgh, N.Y.," by
Francis Augustus Silva, oil on board, 6 1/2 by 12 1/4 inches
Lot 26 is a lovely and very good oil on board landscape by Francis
Augustus Silva (1835-1886), one of the country's best Luminists.
It measures only 6 1/2 by 12 1/4 inches and is entitled "Highlands on
the Hudson, Looking South from Newburgh, N.Y." It has a rather
ambitious estimate of $70,000 to $90,000. It failed to sell.
Lot
37, "Untitled (Wrapped Oranges," by William J. McCloskey, oil on
canvas, 12 by 15 inchyes, 1890
Lot
37 is a fine still life of oranges some of which have been wrapped in
tissue by William J. McCloskey (1859-1941). The oil on canvas
measures 12 by 15 inches and was painted in 1890. It has an
estimate of $150,000 to $250,000.
It sold for $342,500.
Lot
13," Study of the Brooklyn Bridge (Study for New York Interpreted: the
Bridge)," by Joseph Stella, watercolor on paper, 20 3/4 by 16 7/8
inches, 1922
Lot
13 is a very fine watercolor on paper study by Joseph Stella 1877-1946)
of his very famous painting of the Brooklyn Bridge. The
watercolor measuresw 20 3/4 by 16 7/8 inches and was painted in
1922. It was exhibited three times since 2010 at the
Babcock Galleries in New York. It has an estimate of $80,000 to
$120,000.
Lot
107, "In the Park," by Childe Hassam, oil on panel, 9 1/4 by 13 inches,
circa 1899-1900
Lot 107
is a lovely small oil on panel by Childe Hassam (1859-1935) that is
entitled "In the Park." It measures 9 1/4 by 13 inches and was
painted circa 1899-1900. It has a modest estimate of $250,000 to
$350,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 104, "Indian Summer
on the Susquehanna," by Jasper Francis Cropsey, oil on canvas, 24 by 41
inches, 1861
Lot
104 55 is a very fine oil on canvas by Jasper Francis Cropsey
(1823-1900) of "Indian Summer on the Susquehanna." It measures 24
by 41 inches and was painted in 1861. It was once in the
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Lugano. The catalogue entry notes that
Cropsey painted about 30 Susquehanna scenes. It has an estimate of
$300,000 to $500,000. It sold
for $432,500.
