Clara Caffery Pancoast, 1872-1959. "Blue Bonnets of Texas". Circa 1930. Oil on canvas. Depicting a verdant landscape with trees and a path in the foreground. Pancoast was born in Lafayette, Louisiana and grew up on a plantation. She moved to San Antonio and married William Test Pancoast in 1891. She was active in many art groups including the Pallette and Chigel club and San Antonio Art League. She studied art from Jose Arpa and Wilson K. Nixon. She also spent time in Alpine, Texas at the Art Colony and taught at the Sul Ross Summer School of Art in Alpine. She painted in Mexico and West Texas along the San Antonio river. Her works are included in the Witte Museum and Daughters of the Republic of Mexico, San Anonio. Provenance: From Consignor to follow. Sight size: 11-5/8" x 15-3/4". Overall size: 14-1/8" x 18-1/4". Fine original condition. Reframed circa 1990.

This oil painting was bought in 1942 by my paternal grandmother and has been in my family ever since.

My father met my mother on New Year’s Eve,1941 in their hometown - New York City. Just 8 months later on August 8, 1942, following a whirlwind romance (this was wartime, after all!), they married in San Antonio, Texas. Dad was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base as a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps (the predecessor to the Air Force). He was able to get a weekend pass and his wife-to-be took the train from New York to Texas, travelling with his mother, Marguerite.

During the weekend, Marguerite bought this painting. No doubt this native New Yorker was mesmerized by the legendary bluebonnets of Texas that grace the fields of northern Texas every spring. As one Texas historian observed: "The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland." No doubt Marguerite believed she was bringing home a tangible and beautiful piece of Texas that was now an important part of her family's history.

The painting travelled back to New York City with the two women and was in my grandmother's home until it came to my parents and ultimately to me.

For additional and high-resolution images of this lot, please copy & paste the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8uz27cozq7jew51/AADpkjlLWASF9R_NcR2Iqb-ya?dl=0