Jo Hiffernan is the woman in Courbet’s ‘La belle Irlandaise’ (Portrait of Jo), 1866. Could she be the model for the artist’s notorious nude in ‘The Origin of the World’? Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
PARIS (AFP) – A French art expert believes he has solved the mystery of the model in a celebrated 19th century painting as a result of an art lover’s 1,400 euro antique shop purchase that could turn out to be worth 40 million euros ($53.6 million), weekly Paris Match reported on Thursday.
The Origin of the World (1866) by French painter Gustave Courbet depicts female genitalia but does not show the woman’s face.
Courbet expert Jean-Jacques Fernier said the discovery came after he was contacted by an art collector who in January 2010 purchased an unsigned oil painting in a Paris antique shop showing the face of a woman.
After doing some research, the man, identified only as John, became convinced it showed the woman in Courbet’s work and turned to Fernier who sent the painting for laboratory analysis.
Fernier initially had reservations but now says he believes that it is indeed the face of the woman in the work who he identifies as Jo Hiffernan, Irish mistress of artist James Whistler.
Paris Match claimed the painting of her face could now be worth up to 40 million euros.
Experts contacted by AFP expressed skepticism about the matching of the face and the body, declining to be named.
Paris’s Orsay Museum, which has Courbet’s painting, declined to comment.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Jo Hiffernan is the woman in Courbet’s ‘La belle Irlandaise’ (Portrait of Jo), 1866. Could she be the model for the artist’s notorious nude in ‘The Origin of the World’? Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
This oil on panel depiction of Fort Macomb near New Orleans attracted multiple phone and Internet bidders who bid it to $29,250. The artist was Louisiana painter George David Coulon (1823-1904). Case Antiques image. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A painting of a now-abandoned Louisiana fort rallied to $29,250 at the Winter Case Antiques Auction, held Jan. 26 (all prices include the buyer’s premium). The oil on panel by George David Coulon (1823-1904) was dated 1886 and depicted Fort Macomb, originally built after the War of 1812 to defend New Orleans from a potential water attack via the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Pontchartrain. Fort Macomb was briefly occupied by Confederate forces during the Civil War but retaken by Union troops after the capture of New Orleans. Decommissioned in 1871, it is now owned by the state. The painting, discovered in a Nashville estate, was modestly estimated at $2,000-$3,000. The buyer was a private Southern collector, one of nearly 2,000 bidders participating in the 750-lot auction in the gallery, by phone and online via LiveAuctioneers.com
The Coulon painting was one of several of the day’s fine art highlights. A Paris street scene by Edouard Cortes (French, 1882-1969), deaccessioned by the Knoxville Museum to benefit its acquisitions fund, earned $26,400. Another ex-KMA painting, a panoramic early 20th century oil on canvas by Eugene Buccini titled Aurora, after the original by Guido Reni, brought $1,989 (est. $800-$1,200).
The museum was also buying at the sale; it paid $4,800 for a tonalist-style oil on canvas landscape with sheep by Knoxville painter J.W. Wallace, whose contribution to the region’s art scene often goes unrecognized because so little of his work has come on the market. A portrait of a woman, attributed to the circle of Charles Hawthorne, being sold by Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville, realized $1,872 (est. $1,000-$1,500). A small watercolor of the Smoky Mountains by Charles Krutch set an auction record for the artist at $5,520, while a self-portrait by Joseph Delaney, the only one known in oil, sold to the C.M. McClung Collection for $6,240. A cemetery image by surrealist Nashville painter Werner Wildner brought a lively $2,400 (est. $500-$800), while an abstract by Philip Perkins hammered down for $1,755. An autumn landscape with haystacks by Louis E. Jones raked in $1,200, and a rare landscape with figure by Nicola Marschall (1829-1917), an artist more often represented by his Kentucky and Alabama portraits, realized $2,280 (est. $700-$900). A bidder in the room claimed an oil on canvas of a bear invading a campsite by American illustrator Hy Hintermeister for $3,600, its top estimate. An oil on board of a fox hunting a family of rabbits, by John Alfred Wheeler (1821-1903) led a collection of turn-of-the-century British sporting paintings at $2,400, and a 19th century British school painting of a prize bull won $2,400 (est. $1,000-1,500).
Three unsigned paintings turned out to be sleepers: an 18th century Dutch still life surged to $6,786 against a $1,000-$1,500 estimate, a 19th century American folk art portrait of a boy holding a black cat hit $2,880 (est. $400-$500); and a small 20th century Scottish oil on canvas fly fishing scene reeled in $2,040 (est. $200-$300). Works on paper included a lithograph by George Bellows titled Dance in a Madhouse, which reached $2,925 despite some condition issues, and a lot of four woodcuts by Provincetown, Mass., artist Beulah Tomlinson, $3,600. An abstract bronze sculpture by Leonardo Nierman (Mexican-American, b. 1932) sold for $2,691. A 1960s Campbell’s Soup Label paper dress after Andy Warhol realized $2,457, and a rare landscape theorem on velvet, made circa 1820 at the Moravian Salem Academy in Winston Salem, N.C., by a young West Virginia girl, Minerva French Boyd, sold to a private buyer for $10,800, underbid by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
The auction’s top lot was a 4.90-carat diamond and platinum ring that attracted multiple internet and phone bidders but hammered down to the floor for $61,200. The jewelry and precious metals category continued to shine with an 18K white gold girandole-style diamond brooch/pendant selling for $3,120 and an Art Deco diamond/sapphire pendant in 18K gold bringing $2,040, the same price paid for a Victorian 14K gold tassel bracelet. A large coin silver water pitcher by Grosjean and Woodward, retailed in Charleston, S.C., served up $3,480 and a coin silver octagonal mug made by Garner and Winchester of Lexington, Ky., circa 1850 brought its top estimate, $1,440. A set of 12 silver knives made in 1837 by English female silversmith Mary Chawner for Queen Adelaide of England, bearing her royal engraved crest, competed to $2,106. Other sterling and gold items with less heady provenances sold consistently within or above estimates, buoyed by strong commodity prices and the number of jewelry and silver buyers in the room and online.
A cache of 270 ballots from 1864 presidential election, in which Abraham Lincoln was re-elected handily, led the historical category, tallying $9,600. Most were graphically interesting with patriotic decorations and even some pencil inscriptions from the voters who cast them: all Union soldiers, voting in the field from Ohio.
Other Civil War era items were in high demand. A partial letter and pair of ambrotypes of Alabama soldier F.M. Sconyers earned $4,212, the same price as a Harper’s Ferry model 1855 rifle with Maynard priming device. An Ames M1850 staff and field officer’s sword brought $2,400, and a bull’s eye canteen and .58 bayonet with scabbard that descended in the family of Capt. William Geary of Pennsylvania, $1,200. An early 20th century painting of the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, which formerly hung in an Alabama museum, brought $1,872, while an 1870s engraved portrait of Robert E. Lee, sold to raise money for his memorial monument in Virginia, made $1,287. A 1904 reward poster for outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rounded up $3,510.
The auction opened with a nice surprise when lot number 7, a 90-inch-long long framed silk painted scroll in the style of 13th century Chinese court painter Chen Juzhong, blew past its $1,000-$1,200 estimate to hit $16,380. A 30-inch-high polychrome gilt carved Buddha figure brought $1,170. Demand for jade and ivory seemed to have cooled from a year ago, but a small hardstone box in the form of a quail soared to $1,872 (est. $150-$250). There was steady demand for a collection of circa 1800 Chinese export Fitzhugh porcelain and 19th century Rose Medallion, but it was outperformed by some of the 20th century porcelain including a Meiping form vase with decoration of a woman having her hair arranged, $1,287 (est. $200-$300).
The ceramics category included Southern pottery, a staple at Case, as well as Southewestern pottery, and estate collections of Staffordshire, Meissen, mochaware and yellowware. A North Carolina salt glazed jug, stamped W.W. Ballard, Dockery, N.C., (1852-1894) earned $3,120 (est. $1,400-$1,600), while an East Tennessee stoneware jug with cobalt floral decoration, attributed to Charles Decker, brought $900 despite a glued handle. A Rutherford County, Tenn., whiskey jug with Albany glaze finished at $1,080 (est. $200-$300), and a Michael and Melvin Crocker closed-mouth rattlesnake figural jug brought $660. A 19th century Zia redware pottery olla with geometric, bird and floral decoration sold for $2,880, and a San Ildefonso blackware bowl by Maria Martinez earned $1,020. A pair of Meissen blue and white candelabra with figural decoration of children hammered down for $1,638.
Mochaware, spatterware and yellowware from an estate collection met with stronger than expected interest, including a salt cellar with earthworm design and caster with sine wave design which sold as a single lot for $900, and a yellowware mocha earthworm design pitcher and biscuit jar which sold together for $840 despite a hairline and chips to the biscuit jar. Leading the collection of Staffordshire figures was The Pugilists, depicting John Heenan and Tom Sayers in the most famous boxing match of the 19th century; it competed to $468, affected by some restoration to Sayer’s left arm and chin.
Attracting a lot of attention was a collection of glass, Christmas items and dolls from the estate of King E. and Julia R. Stockton of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kugels and other early Christmas ornaments and belsnickles brought within-estimate prices, but a group of ten Victorian Christmas candle lanterns (or illumination lamps) in various colors with figural designs lit up at $3,240, while a group of 14 colored lanterns with quilted designs brought $1,440. Other glass lots from the estate included a group of four colored blown mold eagle glass flasks, $1,080, five colored 18th and 19th century wine and gin bottles, $720, and three amethyst and amber glass target balls, $840. The top-selling doll was a petite Jumeau Bebe numbered E4J with blonde wig and red velvet coat, $3,744.
A cast-iron garden ornament in the form of a life-size reclining whippet dog, possibly made by Fiske, fetched $3,000, while a cast-iron Uncle Sam mechanical bank grabbed $1,170, a William Tell themed bank hit $510, and a cast-iron Humpty Dumpty doorstop sat at $600 despite considerable wear. A pair of early 19th century figural iron andirons attributed to the Luray furnace of Virginia were hot items at $1,920 (est. $250-$350), and a 44-piece group of stone fruit proved a unexpectedly heavy hitter at $2,457 (est. $500-800).
Brown furniture continued to be a soft, with a few exceptions. A Southwest Virginia walnut corner cupboard with decorative ivory inlay hammered down for $4,200, while a Tennessee wardrobe from the collection of Nathan Harsh, co-author of The Art and Mystery of Tennessee Furniture, sold for $1,287. Two Southern Sheraton-style sugar chests, both refinished with restorations, brought above-estimate prices at $2,400 and $1,800. A set of 12 Chippendale-style oak dining chairs, early 20th century, rested at $1,440, while a Limbert Arts and Crafts armchair rocker brought $720.
Case is currently accepting consignments for its upcoming auctions, to be held May 18 and Sept. 28. For more information, call the gallery in Knoxville at 865-558-3033 or the company’s Nashville office at 615-812-6096 or email info@caseantiques.com.
This oil on panel depiction of Fort Macomb near New Orleans attracted multiple phone and Internet bidders who bid it to $29,250. The artist was Louisiana painter George David Coulon (1823-1904). Case Antiques image.
Deaccessioned by the Knoxville Museum of Art, this Paris Street scene by Edouard Cortes (French, 1882-1969), hammered down for $26,400. Case Antiques image.
A silk scroll in the style of 13th century Chinese court painter Chen Juzhong surged to $16,380 against a $1,000-$1,200 estimate. Case Antiques image.
Top lot of the sale was this 4.90-carat diamond and platinum hand wrought ring, which sold for $61,200 (est. $35,000-$45,000). Case Antiques image.
This schoolgirl theorem, depicting an unidentified landscape, is one of the few theorems with an identified maker known to have been made at the Salem Academy in North Carolina. Dating from about 1820, sold for $10,800 (est. $3,500-$4,500). Case Antiques image.
Leading a collection of cast-iron was this life-size whippet garden ornament, possibly by Fiske. It fetched $3,000 (est. $700-$900). Case Antiques image.
A North Carolina salt glazed jug stamped W.W. Ballard, Dockery, N.C. (1852-1894) earned $3,120 (est. $1400-$1,600). Case Antiques image.
A pair of figural cast-iron andirons attributed to the Luray Furnace of Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, brought $1,920 (est. $250-$350). Case Antiques image.
A set of 12 sterling handled dinner knives, made by female silversmith Mary Chawner for Queen Adelaide of England, circa 1837, and bearing her royal crest, served up $2,106 against a $500-$800 estimate. Case Antiques image.
Paul Feiler (German/English, b. 1918). Price realized: $31,000. Cordier Auctions. HARRISBURG, Pa. – A newly discovered painting by artist Paul Feiler (German/English, b. 1918) sold for $35,650 in Cordier Auctions’ Antique & Fine Art Auction on Nov. 10-11. The winning bidder purchased the painting through LiveAuctioneers.com, which provided Internet live bidding for the 881-lot auction.
The Feiler painting was discovered by a young couple at a local retirement home rummage sale and brought in to Cordier’s open appraisal day where they were pleasantly surprised to learn its potential value. Titled Cornish Landscape, the painting was subsequently consigned to Cordier’s Fall catalog auction, where it generated international interest and bidding opened online at $15,000. Bidding was strong between the Internet and a bidder in the room with the LiveAuctioneer.com bidder coming away the winner.
The remaining prices in this report are hammer prices and do not include a buyer’s premium.
Other highlights of the sale included a 48-light Baccarat chandelier at $26,000, an 1891 English sterling nef at $12,000 and an 18th century Chinese Hu cloisonné vase at $9,000.
The sale featured items from over 150 consignors including estates and collectors. Over 400 people were in attendance during the two days in addition to phone and absentee bidders while more than 1,700 bidders were preregistered to bid via the Internet. Prices quoted are hammer prices.
Saturday’s sale included books and paper, collectibles, toys silver, jewelry, porcelain and glass. The highlight of the books and paper category was a collection of Pennsylvania governors’ signatures. The single-owner collection comprised 60 documents signed by governors provincial to modern, all professionally framed in identical frames, and included such notables as William Markham and Thomas and John Penn. The collection sold to a local collector just above high estimate at $5,500.
Collectibles and toys offered a wide range of items that did well overall. A Regina disc music box that included 59 discs and its original stand sold to the Internet just above low estimate at $2,750, while an antique full-size floor model Jumbo Dice Wheel by H.C. Evans of Chicago sold under low estimate at $1,300. A highlight among toys was a Hubley Harley-Davison cast-iron motorcycle. Estimated at $200 to $400, the toy saw strong bidding on the Internet and floor before selling for $1,000.
A 1925 Ford Model T “C” cab pickup truck was one of two vehicles offered in Saturday’s session. The truck had undergone a restoration/modification in 2003 and was estimated at $5,000 to $10,000. It sold to a collector in the room within estimate at $8,500. The second vehicle was an Arrow Development amusement park ride car styled after a Model T-type touring sedan that had been decommissioned from Hersheypark in 1974. It sold within estimate at $3,500.
Over 50 lots of sterling were offered including flatware sets, tea sets, French serving pieces and more and prices were strong. The highlight of this category, and the top lot of Saturday’s session, was a large 24-inch English sterling nef. Hallmarked for Edwin Thomson Bryant of London circa 1891, the piece sailed past its $5,000 to $7,000 estimate to hammer down at $12,000 to a phone bidder from Massachusetts.
Saturday’s session continued with over 100 lots of fine jewelry and watches. Of note was a figural diamond sword pin set with 4.74 total carats of clear, yellow and brown natural diamonds set in 18K gold and platinum which sold for $5,600 (estimate $3,000 to $6,000) as did a 2.03 carat-weight diamond filigree ring (estimate $2,200 to $3,200). Among watches, a man’s 18K Omega Constellation wristwatch realized its high estimate of $4,000, going to an online bidder.
Saturday’s sale concluded with porcelain and glass including dinner sets, stemware and more. Of note was a pair of Sevres covered urns signed “A. Daret” that realized $1,800 (estimate $1,000 to $2,000).
Sunday’s session included furniture and rugs, lighting, clocks and fine Asian and ethnographic art. Furniture saw strong prices on many pieces, especially contemporary pieces. A set of 12 Henkel Harris dining chairs realized $5,000 (estimate $1,500 to $3,000) while a pair of Henkel Harris sideboards sold for $1,700 each (estimates $1,000 to $2,000 each). Two Kindel Winterthur Reproduction lowboys went well past their estimates of $500 to $1,000 with one selling for $2,400 and the other for $2,900, while a Kindel Winterthur Reproduction bombe chest realized $5,000 on an estimate of $1,500 to $3,000. A surprise of the furniture category came in the form of six Middle Eastern high chests. Carrying estimates of $350 to $700 each, each sold to an Internet bidder for $1,000 to $2,750 each.
Asian arts continued to show strong results with over 140 lots offered. An 18th century Chinese Hu cloisonné vase became the top lot of this category, opening at $3,250 and closing at $9,000, well past its $150 to $300 estimate. A Chinese underglazed red footed vase also soared well past its $200 to $400 estimate to sell at $1,900. Other highlights included a Chinese carved ivory figural group at $2,250 (estimate $800 to $1,000), a Ming Dynasty soapstone foo dog at $1,000 (estimate $150 to $300) and a Chinese carved jadeite covered vase at $2,000 (estimate $800 to $1,000).
Over 120 lots of fine art produced several strong results in addition to the Feiler painting. A surprise in this category was a sculpture of a hunter marked for the Roman Bronze Works in New York. Estimated at $500 to $700, the piece saw bidding entirely online, hammering down at $6,000.
Clocks and lighting concluded Sunday’s session. A Hershede No. 122 nine-tube tall-case clock did well, realizing $7,000 on an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000, while a Victorian banquet lamp with a base in the form of a dragon sold for $1,600 on an estimate of $250 to $500. The highlights of lighting were three Baccarat Zenith chandeliers, two 12-light and one 48-light, all selling to the same Internet bidder. The 48 light realized $26,000 while the two 12-lights saw $8,500 and $9,500.
Consignments for Cordier’s Spring catalog auction are currently being accepted. Questions can be directed to Cordier Auctions & Appraisals at auctions@cordierantiques.com or by calling 717-731-8662.
View the fully illustrated catalog for Cordier Auctions’ Nov. 10-11 sale, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The black dot indicates the location of the grave of Richard III in Leicester. The king, killed on the battlefield, was hastily buried at the former Greyfriars Church, which was demolished during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. The University of Leicester dig last year fixed the church, chapter house, cloisters and monastic buildings as the pink area. This file is licensed under the Ordnance Survey OpenData License.
LONDON (AP) – The discovery of King Richard III under a parking lot in the English city of Leicester thrilled history buffs around the world. But the news meant a winter of discontent for the rival city of York, and now the two are doing battle over the royal bones.
Officials in Leicester say the monarch, who was unceremoniously buried without a coffin 528 years ago, will be re-interred with kingly dignity in the city’s cathedral.
“The decision has already been made,” said Leicester mayor Peter Soulsby. “All the permissions have been granted and the various authorities involved have agreed that the interment will take place in Leicester.”
Not so fast, says York, a city 100 miles to the north that claims the late monarch as its own.
“Every taxi driver I talk to, every shopkeeper I talk to, they are very excited about it – they want Richard back in York,” said Michael Ormrod, professor of medieval history at the University of York. “There is a view that he is a king for York.”
York City Council said Wednesday it is petitioning the government and Queen Elizabeth II, arguing that “one of the city’s most famous and cherished sons” – who grew up in the region and was once known as Richard of York – should be buried in the northern city.
The two cities have launched rival petitions to the government. As of Wednesday, York had the edge, with more than 5,700 signatures on a petition calling for Richard to be re-interred there. Leicester’s petition had more than 2,000 names.
Yorkists hope the queen will intervene on behalf of her 15th-century predecessor, though Buckingham Palace says it is not getting involved.
Richard had few links to Leicester, apart from dying in battle nearby in 1485. Historians agree he had strong ties to York.
He belonged to the House of York, one of two branches of the ruling Plantagenet dynasty. William Shakespeare’s play Richard III opens with the lines: “Now is the winter of our discontent/ made glorious summer by this son of York” – a punning reference to Richard’s brother, King Edward IV.
Richard spent much of his childhood in the county of Yorkshire. As an adult, he ran northern England during his brother’s reign, and he is sometimes called the country’s last northern king.
Ormrod says there is evidence Richard wanted to be buried in York Minster, the city’s medieval cathedral.
York has not always made a noise about its ties to a king who for centuries was Britain’s most reviled monarch. Richard was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field by the forces of Henry Tudor, who took the throne as King Henry VII, ending a bloody tussle over the crown known as the Wars of the Roses.
Tudor historians painted Richard as a villainous usurper and accused him of multiple crimes – most famously, the murder of his two nephews, the “Princes in the Tower.”
Richard’s supporters hope the discovery of the king’s remains will lead to a reappraisal of his reputation.
For those in York who have been keeping Richard’s flame alive, this is a bittersweet time.
Mike Bennett, who runs York’s small Richard III Museum, said he had been circulating a petition for months – since the reports of the skeleton’s identity emerged – “but it’s only since the bones have been declared to be him that others have jumped on the bandwagon.”
Still, Bennett will be delighted if Richard comes home to York. It would give a boost to his small museum tucked into a gatehouse in the city walls, where visitors are invited to act as jury in an imaginary trial of Richard for the murder of the Princes in the Tower.
For now, the battle over the royal bones remains civilized. There’s no new outbreak of the Wars of the Roses – yet.
“I have many good friends in Leicester,” Ormrod stressed.
The professor would not go so far as to call burial in Leicester an insult – but he said it would, at least, be an irony.
“Leicester was a very big stronghold of the house of Lancaster, Richard’s rivals for the throne,” he said. “He was buried almost in enemy territory in Leicester.”
Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP-WF-02-06-13 1526GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The black dot indicates the location of the grave of Richard III in Leicester. The king, killed on the battlefield, was hastily buried at the former Greyfriars Church, which was demolished during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. The University of Leicester dig last year fixed the church, chapter house, cloisters and monastic buildings as the pink area. This file is licensed under the Ordnance Survey OpenData License.
The local newspaper received a picture of someone dressed like Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster and a letter demanding cookies be delivered to children in a hospital. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Clars Auction Gallery.
BERLIN (AP) – German police have recovered a cookie sculpture that may have been stolen by someone impersonating the Cookie Monster.
Spokeswoman Jacobe Heers says the 20-kilogram (44 pound) gilded sculpture was found Tuesday morning outside a university. It was hanging from the neck of a horse sculpture with a red ribbon.
The century-old cookie was reported stolen last month from the office of a bakery company in Hannover.
A local newspaper later received a letter demanding cookies be delivered to children at a hospital. The paper also received a picture of someone dressed like Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster holding what appeared to be the stolen cookie.
The Bahlsen company promised a reward of 52,000 packets of cookies for a charitable cause if their emblem turned up.
No suspect has been apprehended.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP-WF-02-05-13 1725GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The local newspaper received a picture of someone dressed like Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster and a letter demanding cookies be delivered to children in a hospital. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Clars Auction Gallery.
NEW YORK – “Blues for Smoke,” an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores a wide range of contemporary art through the lens of the blues and blues aesthetics, opens today at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Turning to the blues not simply as a musical category but as a field of artistic sensibilities and cultural idioms, the exhibition features works by over 40 artists from the 1950s to the present, as well as materials culled from music and popular entertainment.
The exhibition’s title is drawn from a 1960 solo album by virtuoso jazz pianist Jaki Byard in which improvisation on blues form becomes a basis for avant-garde exploration. The title suggests that the expanded poetics of the blues is pervasive – but also diffuse and difficult to pin down. By presenting an uncommon heterogeneity of subject matter, art historical contexts, formal and conceptual inclinations, genres and disciplines, “Blues for Smoke” holds artists and art worlds together that are often kept apart, within and across lines of race, generation and canon.
A series of performances, events, screenings and readings will accompany the exhibition.
“Blues for Smoke” is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
For more information about the exhibition log on to Whitney.org .
These two rare bronzes by Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1824-1887), titled ‘Oliver Cromwell’ and ‘King Charles I,’ carry an estimate of $12,000 to $16,000 each. Clars Auction Gallery image. OAKLAND, Calif. – On Sunday, Feb. 17, Clars Auction Gallery’s Fine Art Sale will offer a number of important European and American paintings, prints, sculpture and photography. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
At the top of the impressive European offerings will be an oil on canvas by British artist Edward Seago (1910-1974) titled Cottage by the Sea followed by The Return of the Calvary, an oil on canvas by Dutch artist George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923).
Both of these works are being offered at $20,000 to $40,000. Autumn in Drome, an oil on canvas by Bernard Cathelin (French, 1919-2004), is being offered for $8,000 to $12,000.
And an oil on canvas by Jaroslav Setelik (Czechoslovakian, 1881-1955) titled Prague, is being offered for $6,000 to $8,000.
For those interested in Old Masters, A Capriccio View with Ruins, Figures in the Foreground and the Sea Beyond by Leonardo Coccarante (Italian, 1680-1750) will headline this category and is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
In European prints, a spectacular color woodcut print titled Modderplas (Puddle), 1952, by Dutch artist Mauritus Cornelius “MC” Escher (1898-1972) will be offered with an estimate of $20,000 to $40,000. Salvador Dali will also be represented in this category with his ink on paper from his 1945-46 film Destino for Walt Disney Studios. This offering, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000, comes from the collection of Dali’s personal secretary while storyboarding the film.
Coming from a Dallas, Texas, collection will be two rare bronzes by Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1824-1887). Each of the bronzes, titled respectively, Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I, come to the sale with an estimate of $12,000 to $16,000.
California artist Arthur Frank Mathews (1860-1945) will headline the offerings in this category with his oil on board titled Afterglow at the Seashore, which is being offered for $20,000 to $40,000.
A spectacular etching by Wayne Thiebaud (California b. 1920) titled Black Suckers (1971), will further headline the American offerings (estimate: $25,000 to $35,000) as will Summit Lake by Jack Wilkinson Smith (1873-1949) which is estimated to achieve $15,000 to $20,000.
And in the American category, a striking work by the artist regarded as the “father of the Taos Colony,” Joseph Henry Sharp (American, 1859-1953), will be represented by his oil on canvas portrait titled Does Everything, Cow Chief, 1905. This important painting will be offered with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
Clars will also sell art deaccessioned from the Art, Design & Architecture Museum – University of California, Santa Barbara. Among these offerings will be an impressive, gilded bronze titled Immortalite by French sculptor Mathurin Moreau (1822-1912), which is estimated at $8,000 to $12,000. In addition, an impressive California art collection from the Estate of the late David C. Hershkopf. Hershkopf (or ‘Hersh’ as he was called by his students) will also be offered. Hershkopf was a beloved art teacher at the prominent Bentley School in Oakland. His collection features works by many well-known 19th and 20th century California painters such as Charles Dormon Robinson, Gottardo Piazzoni, Karl Neuhaus, William Posey Silva, William Keith, Lorenzo Lattimer, Colin Campbell Cooper, Carl Jonnevold and Bertha Stringer Lee.
Important contemporary and modern prints will be highlighted by the 1896s Sutro Bath Poster that is estimated to achieve $7,000 to $9,000. The Sutro Baths was an extravagant public bathhouse developed by the eccentric one-time mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro, for the price tag of $1 million and opened March 14, 1896.
And for collectors and lovers of a true American gem, Clars will be offering two original Peanuts Sunday comic strips (United Features Syndicate) by Charles Schulz (1922-2000). Clars has offered several of Schulz’s original works, and these will have estimates of $10,000 to $15,000 each.
Clars’ February 2013 Fine Art sale will be held Sunday, Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. Pacific in conjunction with their two-day Fine Antiques and Estate Sale. A complete catalog of all lots to be offered will be available online one week prior to the sale.
For details call 510-428-0100 or email: info@clars.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
These two rare bronzes by Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1824-1887), titled ‘Oliver Cromwell’ and ‘King Charles I,’ carry an estimate of $12,000 to $16,000 each. Clars Auction Gallery image.
This oil on canvas by British artist Edward Seago (1910-1974) titled ‘Cottage by the Sea has a $20,000 to $40,000 estimate. Clars Auction Gallery image.
‘The Return of the Calvary,’ this oil on canvas by Dutch artist George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) is being offered at $20,000 to $40,000. Clars Auction Gallery image.
This spectacular color woodcut print titled ‘Modderplas’ (Puddle), 1952, by Dutch artist Mauritus Cornelius “MC” Escher (1898-1972) will be offered with an estimate of $20,000 to $40,000. Clars Auction Gallery image.
From Salvador Dali will be his ink on paper from his 1945-46 film ‘Destino’ for Walt Disney Studios. This offering, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000, comes from the collection of Dali’s personal secretary. Clars Auction Gallery image.
From California artist Arthur Frank Mathews (1860-1945) will be his oil on board titled ‘Afterglow at the Seashore,’ which is being offered for $20,000 to $40,000. Clars Auction Gallery image.
‘Summit Lake’ by Jack Wilkinson Smith (1873-1949) will further the prominent California offerings and is estimated to achieve $15,000 to $20,000. Clars Auction Gallery image.
This 1896 Sutro Bath poster is estimated to achieve $7,000 to $9,000. Clars Auction Gallery image.
