Gallery Report: October 2014

 

Pomo burden basket, $23,000, Allard Auctions

 

A large Pomo burden basket sold for $23,000 at the “Best of Santa Fe” Indian art auction held Aug. 16-17 by Allard Auctions in Santa Fe, N.M. Also, a beautiful Yokuts basket by Florence Jacobs Harrie and an historic Yokuts basket by Waysheemlet each went for $5,750; a Charles Loloma buckle changed hands for $6,325; a unique Yei figured rug fetched $5,175; a Fannie Nampeyo olla garnered $4,885; and a figured Wasco sally bag filled with traditional figures such as condors, deer and sturgeon made $4,313. Prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Edouard Cortes work, $24,400, Crescent City

 

An original oil on canvas painting by the French artist Edouard Leon Cortes (1882-1969), titled Winter Place de la Madeleine (1942), sold for $24,400 at an estates auction held Sept. 20-21 by Crescent City Auction Gallery in New Orleans. Also, a 14K white gold diamond link necklace, with each of the 102 links having a graduated round diamond, realized $13,035; and a watercolor work by Blanche Nettie Lazzell (W.Va., 1878-1956), titled Abstraction (1936), went for $7,380. Prices include a sliding scale buyer’s premium.

 

Fernando Amorsolo oil, $100,725, James D. Julia

 

An original oil painting of laborers working the rice fields in the shadow of a distant volcano by Philippine artist Fernando Amorsolo sold for $100,725 at an antiques and fine art auction held Aug. 19-22 by James D. Julia Inc., in Fairfield, Me. Also, Montague Dawson’s marine portrait of a tall ship in full sail on white-tipped green waves realized $74,062; a rendering of Ernest Hemingway by Waldo Peirce breezed to $53,325; and a late 19th century copper weather vane from a large collection reached $47,400. Prices include an 18.5 percent buyer’s premium.

 

19th century carved eagle, $1,989, Copake Auction

 

A 19th century carved and gilded pilot house eagle sold for $1,989 at an unreserved estate auction held Aug. 23 by Copake Auction in Copake, N.Y. Also, a Cubist abstract painting signed “LRC” for the Hungarian artist Gyarmathy Tihamer (1915-2005) hammered for $1,638; a 19th century New England farm table in original red paint realized $1,755; and an adjustable hickory Adirondack glider fetched $1,404. Prices include a 17 percent buyer’s premium.

 

14K white gold bracelet, $32,400, Morphy Auctions

 

A 14K white gold tennis bracelet with 46 emerald-cut diamonds sold for $32,400 at a fine and decorative arts auction held Aug. 30-31 by Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pa. Also, a ladies’ ring with cabochon-cut jadeite center stone surrounded by 46 tapered baguette diamonds totaling 5.08 carats went for $31,200; an R.W. Martin & Brothers Wally Bird tobacco jar, signed, 6 1/2 inches tall, changed hands for $25,200; and a Swiss-made Ami Rivenc six-cylinder orchestral music box (circa 1885-1890), also turned $25,200. Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Birger Sandzen painting, $43,125, Manitou Auctions

 

An original oil on board painting by Birger Sandzen (1871-1954), titled Kansas Landscape, sold for $43,125 at an annual auction held Aug. 17-18 by Manitou Auctions in Santa Fe, N.M. Also, a C.C. Starr sterling silver parade saddle made circa 1930s, with engraved initials “MTM,” brought $7,375; a circa-1890 Zuni storage jar, 11 inches tall, changed hands for $10,285; a circa-1930s Panamint basketry bowl with zigzag geometric designs made $3,933; and a circa-1920 Navajo sand painting weaving rose to $5,143. All prices quoted include the buyers premium.

 

Brian Coole oil on board, $19,800, Kaminski Auctions

 

An original oil on board painting by the English-born American artist Brian Coole (b. 1939), titled Boston From Chelsea Shore, sold for $19,800 at an auction held Aug. 24 by Kaminski Auctions in Beverly, Mass. Also, a circa-1920 Provincetown, Mass., seascape by Albro T. Hibbard hit $10,800; James Fulton Pringle’s Ship Under Sail shoved off for $7,800; an oil on canvas depiction of waves crashing on rocks by Charles H. Woodbury brought $3,900; and a Ming dynasty Buddha, 35 inches tall, made $8,400. Prices include a 17 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Pair of Chinese porcelain vases, $1.2 million, Doyle New York

 

A pair of 19th century Chinese famille rose glazed porcelain covered vases, measuring 16 inches in height and bearing the Qianlong seal mark, sold for $1.2 million at an Asian works of art auction held Sept. 15 by Doyle New York in Manhattan. Also, a pair of 19th century white jade chrysanthemum-shaped bowls, 6 7/8 inches in diameter, realized $100,000; a large zitan table fetched $93,750; and a Qing Dynasty agarwood scepter, 17 1/2 inches long, elaborately carved as a fruiting gourd vine, finished at $81,250. Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Nazi paratrooper rifle, $299,000, Rock Island

 

A World War II fully automatic Class III Nazi Krieghoff FG42 paratrooper sniper rifle with highly desirable accessories, such as a ZF4 sniper scope, the original mount, a grenade launcher and spike bayonet, sold for $299,000 at a premiere firearms auction held Sept. 12-14 by Rock Island Auction Co. in Rock Island, Ill. Also, a Walker’s C Company marked U.S. contract Colt Walker model 1847 revolver went for $161,000; and a Winchester third model 1866 lever action carbine hit $92,000. Prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Myochin School iron snake, $37,500, Rago Arts & Auction

 

A Myochin School iron articulated snake sold for $37,500 at an auction held Sept. 12-14 by Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J. Also, a bronze sculpture after Evgeny Alexandrovich Lanceray, titled Falconer, rose to $20,000; a French champleve clock and barometer garniture breezed to $15,000; a Japanese Meiji sterling tea and coffee service brought $13,750; a Paul Jouve etching on paper titled Walking Panther made $13,750; and a Christofle silver-plated centerpiece hit $13,750. Prices include a 25 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Konrad Cramer oil, $9,000, Hudson Valley

 

An oil on panel surreal landscape painting by Konrad Cramer sold for $9,000 at an auction held Sept. 8 by Hudson Valley Auctioneers in Beacon, N.Y. Also, a Vargueno desk changed hands for $6,000; a lovely swan planter found a new owner for $2,700; a Longwy Aesthetic plant stand garnered $5,400; a Linke cabinet realized $5,700; an oil on canvas painting by Carl Holty titled The White Vase (1948) attained $5,400; a 1947 Holty work titled Unicorn fetched $2,400; and a Buccellati silver bear made $2,400. Prices include a sliding scale buyer’s premium.

 

Arts and Crafts chandelier, $26,910, Stair Auctioneers

 

A W.A.S. Benson English Arts and Crafts copper and brass three-light chandelier sold for $26,910 at a Decorative Arts Auction held Sept. 5 by Stair Auctioneers & Appraisers in Hudson, N.Y. Also, an Aesthetic Movement ebonized hall chair attributed to Gustave and Christian Herter coasted to $11,700; a glazed stoneware faceted cauldron by Paul Chaleff (b. 1947) finished at $5,560; a pair of Pompeian-style bronze tripod floor lamps with alabaster shades went for $9,945; and a Minton porcelain garden seat hit $1,755. Prices include a 17 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Qing Dynasty vase, $24.7 million, Skinner

 

A monumental Fencai Chinese Imperial Qing dynasty vase sold for $24.7 million at an Asian Works of Art Auction held Sept. 17 by Skinner Inc. in Boston. It was the most ever paid at auction for a Qing dynasty vase in the U.S. It is believed the Chinese Emperor ordered the vase made. It was fired at the Jingdezhen kilns under the direction of the superintendent Tang Ying (1682-1750). The National Museum in Beijing is home to the only other known example in the same size and decoration. The price includes a 23 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Marklin three-piece train set, $6,000, Pook & Pook

 

A Marklin three-piece tin windup train set consisting of an engine, a tender and a Speisewagen dining car sold for $6,000 at a Christmas in July Toy Auction held July 15 by Pook & Pook Auction in Downingtown, Pa. Also, a 19-inch-tall French Tete Jumeau bisque head doll, beautifully dressed and with a jointed composition body, realized $3,120; a set of 12 carved and painted wooden soldiers, each one 6 1/2 inches tall, brought $2,880; and a Majestic Mfg. Co. steel iron and tin salesman’s sample stove made $4,320. Prices include a 20 or 23 percent buyer’s premium.

 

JFK wartime letters, $200,000, RR Auction

 

A collection of letters from John F. Kennedy to the family of a lost PT-109 crewmate sold for $200,000 at an auction held Sept. 17-18 by RR Auction in Boston. The letters were sent by JFK to the family of Harold W. Marney, who was killed when the PT-109 was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. Also, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s World War II bomber jacket hammered for $93,000; and a famous photo of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, signed by the renowned genius, hit $125,000. Prices include a 25 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Ty Cobb cigar tin, $18,720, Manifest

 

A Ty Cobb cigar tin, one of fewer than 20 known, sold for $18,720 at a premiere sale held July 12-13 by Manifest Auctions in Greenville, S.C. Also, a Santa Fe Railroad “The Scout” single-sided sign, 20 inches by 40 inches, realized $11,700; a round H.P. Hood & Sons milk sign with cow graphic and original grommets, 30 inches in diameter, rose to $9,360; a Buffalo Brewing Co. Bohemian Beer charger, 24 inches in diameter, fetched $8,190; and a Five Brothers’ pipe tobacco store display bin went for $3,900. Prices include a sliding scale buyer’s premium.

 

British School landscape, $30,000, Carlsen Gallery

 

A 19th century British School landscape rendering with a waterfall sold for $30,000 at an auction held Sept. 14 by Carlsen Gallery Inc., in Freehold, N.Y. Also, an oil on canvas by Samuel Coleman, titled Coast of North Africa, chalked up $17,000; a signed oil on canvas by Paul Weber, titled Cathedral Rocks Yosemite, climbed to $15,000; an early 19th century classical marble bust and pedestal brought $14,000; and a tangerine and red 1969 Porsche 912 sports car roared off for $9,000. All prices quoted are exclusive of a sliding scale buyer’s premium.

 

Tiffany Studios lamp, $56,500, Clars Auction

 

A Tiffany Studios (N.Y.) “Venetian” desk lamp, made circa 1910, sold for $56,500 at a fine art, decoratives & jewelry auction held Sept. 13-15 by Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, Calif. Also, an original painting by Leonor Fini (French, 1908-1996), titled Dialogue Impossible, also rose to $56,500; a pair of French urns in the Neo-Classical style, attributed to Henry Dasson (Paris, 19th century), gaveled for $32,000; and a large patinated in metal abstract tree trunk table by Silas Seandel (b. 1937) achieved $26,000. Prices include a 19 percent buyer’s premium.

 

Howard Terpning painting, $1.5 million, Jackson Hole

 

An original painting by Howard Terpning, titled Major North and the Pawnee Battalion, sold for $1.49 million at Jackson Hole Art Auction’s eighth annual live auction held Sept. 13 in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Also, a rendering by Carl Rungius, titled Moose, got snapped up for $546,250; Bob Kuhn’s Red Fox on Patrol changed hands for $263,250; Martin Grelle’s painting titled Strategies (2014) realized $263,250; and Richard Schmid’s Yellow Roses went to a determined bidder for $187,200. Prices include a sliding buyer’s premium.

'La Carmencita' by John Singer Sargent © Musée d’Orsay, Paris (R.F. 746).

John Singer Sargent portraits slated for London, NY in 2015

'La Carmencita' by John Singer Sargent © Musée d’Orsay, Paris (R.F. 746).

‘La Carmencita’ by John Singer Sargent © Musée d’Orsay, Paris (R.F. 746).

LONDON – The National Portrait Gallery announced today that it will stage a major exhibition in 2015 of works by one of the world’s most celebrated portrait painters, John Singer Sargent. Organized in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the exhibition will bring together, for the first time, a collection of the artist’s intimate and informal portraits of his impressive circle of friends, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin.

Curated by Richard Ormond CBE, co-author of the John Singer Sargent catalog raisonné, the exhibition “Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends” (Feb. 12 – May 25) will explore the artist as a painter at the forefront of contemporary movements in the arts, music, literature and theater, revealing the depth of his appreciation of culture and his close friendships with many of the leading artists, actors and writers of the time.

Bringing together remarkable loans, some rarely exhibited, from galleries and private collections in Europe and America, the exhibition will follow Sargent’s time in Paris, London and Boston as well as his travels in the Italian and English countryside. Musée Rodin, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Musée d’Orsay, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts are amongst the institutions that are lending works.

Sargent’s portraits of his friends and contemporaries were rarely commissioned and allowed him to create more experimental works than was possible in his formal portraiture. His sitters are depicted in informal poses, sometimes in the act of painting or singing, resulting in a collection of highly charged, original portraits. These paintings form a distinctive strand in Sargent’s work, which is noticeably more intimate, witty and radical, and, when brought together in the exhibition, will challenge the conventional view of the artist.

Key exhibits include the only two surviving portraits Sargent painted of his friend and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, which will be displayed together for the first time since they were painted in the 1880s. Also reunited in the exhibition will be Sargent’s portraits of the Pailleron family, drawn from collections in Paris, Washington, D.C., and Iowa. The bohemian writer Édouard Pailleron and his wife were among Sargent’s earliest French patrons, and to whom the young artist owed much of his early success. Their individual portraits will be displayed alongside Sargent’s portrait of their children, Édouard and Marie-Louise, for the first time in over a century.

Other exhibition highlights include Sargent’s important portrait of his master Carolus-Duran (1879), which played a pivotal role in the development of his career after it was praised in the 1879 Paris Salon; his charcoal drawing of the celebrated poet William Butler Yeats (1908); and three of his greatest theatrical portraits painted between 1889 and 1890: Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, Edwin Booth and La Carmencita, the wild Spanish dancer.

Two sections in the exhibition will focus on the portraits and plein-air figure scenes he painted during time spent in the artistic community in the village of Broadway in rural Worcestershire, and those he painted after 1900 on his travels to the Alps and southern Europe. Sitters include Sargent’s familiars such as the artists Jane and Wilfred de Glehn who accompanied him on his sketching expeditions to the Continent and often feature as a pair in his work. In these paintings Sargent explored the making of art (his own included) and the relationship of the artist to the natural world.

John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925) was the son of an American doctor and was born in Florence. He studied painting in Italy and France, and in 1884 caused a sensation at the Paris Salon with his painting of Madame Gautreau. The scandal caused Sargent to move to England, where he subsequently established himself as the country’s leading portrait painter. He made several visits to the United States where, as well as portraits, he worked on a series of decorative paintings for public buildings such as the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts.

“Sargent’s enthusiasms were all for things new and exciting. He was a fearless advocate of the work of younger artists, and in music his influence on behalf of modern composers and musicians ranged far and wide,” said curator Richard Ormond CBE. “The aim of this exhibition is to challenge the conventional view of Sargent. As a painter he is well known; but Sargent the intellectual, the connoisseur of music, the literary polymath, is something new.”

“Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends” is organized in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it will be exhibited June 29 – Oct. 4, 2015.


ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


'La Carmencita' by John Singer Sargent © Musée d’Orsay, Paris (R.F. 746).

‘La Carmencita’ by John Singer Sargent © Musée d’Orsay, Paris (R.F. 746).

'Édouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron' by John Singer Sargent, 1881 © Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa.

‘Édouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron’ by John Singer Sargent, 1881 © Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa.

'The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy' by John Singer Sargent, 1907. Friends of American Art Collection, 1914.57 © Art Institute of Chicago.

‘The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy’ by John Singer Sargent, 1907. Friends of American Art Collection, 1914.57 © Art Institute of Chicago.

Imelda Marcos in a 2006 photo. Image courtesy of Wikemedia Commons.

Philippine authorities seize paintings from Marcos home

Imelda Marcos in a 2006 photo. Image courtesy of Wikemedia Commons.

Imelda Marcos in a 2006 photo. Image courtesy of Wikemedia Commons.

MANILA (AFP) – Philippine authorities said they seized paintings Tuesday from a Manila property of former first lady Imelda Marcos as part of efforts to recover works by Picasso, Gauguin, Miro, Michelangelo and others.

The raid came a day after a special court ruled that eight paintings owned by the widow of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos had been acquired with embezzled state funds and must be turned over to the government.

Police and state lawyers raided the Marcos home in Manila’s San Juan district on Tuesday to enforce the court ruling, said Nick Suarez, spokesman for a state body pursuing the Marcoses’ allegedly ill-gotten wealth.

“Paintings were seized, but we have yet to determine which ones or how many,” he said.

The court also ordered authorities to search the other homes and offices of Marcos, 85, an elected member of the House of Representatives.

The court ruling covered Pablo Picasso’s Femme Couchee VI (Reclining Woman VI), Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, and a still life by Paul Gauguin.

The others are a Francisco de Goya portrait of the Marquesa de Santa Cruz, Pierre Bonnard’s La Baignade Au Grand Temps, Bernard Buffet’s Vase of Red Chrysanthemums, Joan Miro’s L’Aube, and one of Camille Pissarro’s Jardin de Kew series.

Suarez said he did not have estimates of the current value of the artworks.

Imelda Marcos, a keen art collector, will appeal the court ruling on the eight paintings, said her lawyer Robert Sison.

“The order is highly questionable. We will question that order,” he told AFP.

Sison described the ruling as illegal since the paintings were not included in a forfeiture case that the government had earlier filed against the Marcoses.

The Philippine Supreme Court ruled in the government’s favor on the forfeiture in 2003, a case that included $658 million in Swiss bank deposits.

The government alleges the Marcos family plundered an estimated $10 billion from the nation’s coffers before a military-backed “People’s Power” revolt in 1986 forced them into exile in Hawaii, where the dictator died three years later.

The flamboyant former first lady symbolized the excesses of the Marcos years with her collection of 3,000 shoes and jewelry fit for European royalty.

In all, the government is searching for 150 paintings including works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet and Michelangelo that the Marcos family allegedly amassed during their 20-year rule, according to the wealth recovery body’s chief Andres Bautista.


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Imelda Marcos in a 2006 photo. Image courtesy of Wikemedia Commons.

Imelda Marcos in a 2006 photo. Image courtesy of Wikemedia Commons.

Marlene Dumas, 'Helena's Dream' 2008, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, © Marlene Dumas, Photo: Peter Cox.

Marlene Dumas solo exhibition coming to Tate Modern

Marlene Dumas, 'Helena's Dream' 2008, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, © Marlene Dumas, Photo: Peter Cox.

Marlene Dumas, ‘Helena’s Dream’ 2008, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, © Marlene Dumas, Photo: Peter Cox.

LONDON – Marlene Dumas is one of the most prominent painters of her generation. Tate Modern’s large-scale survey, “Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden,” will be the most significant exhibition of her work ever to be held in Europe, charting her career from the early 1970s to the present. Opening in February 2015, it will offer a compelling overview of her work, exploring the physical and psychological reality of human existence and the importance of the painted image.

The exhibition will bring together over 100 of her most important and iconic paintings and drawings, her experimental collaged works and her most recent canvases.

Dumas’s intense, psychologically charged imagery often references art history, popular culture and current affairs. Her approach to making art combines the personal with the public, painting those closest to her – such as her daughter in Helena’s Dream 2008 – alongside images of such famous and infamous faces as Amy Winehouse, Princess Diana, Osama bin Laden and Phil Spector. She is unafraid to address controversial subjects, from a colonial war for independence in The Woman of Algiers 2001 to a political assassination in The Widow 2013, as well as themes derived from newspaper articles, religious imagery, the adult entertainment industry and the artist’s imagination. Simultaneously drawing upon the world around her and her own experiences, Dumas reflects on contemporary anxieties about love and death, gender and sexuality, and mass media and celebrity.

Dumas came to prominence in the mid-1980s for her series of paintings and drawings primarily based on the human form. Many of her portraits are drawn from her own photographs and media images, such as Evil is Banal 1984 and Martha – Sigmund’s Wife 1984. The exhibition will show how her nuanced approach to subject matter, photography and paint itself can first be found in the early works Dumas made in her home nation of South Africa. Visitors will be able to trace her extraordinary mix of immediacy and intimacy from these rarely exhibited works, through to her seminal paintings and across four decades of her career. In an era dominated by the proliferation of images, Dumas’s work can be seen as a testament to the meaning and potency of painting.

The exhibition’s title is derived from Dumas’s The Image as Burden 1993, a small painting depicting one figure carrying another. The composition was inspired by a film still of Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor, but also brings to mind art historical images of Mary contemplating the dead body of Jesus. Dumas draws a connection between the subject of the painting, and the painter who carries the weight of her subject. Her interest lies in the impact that the act of painting has on the image, rather than that of the image on the painting.

Marlene Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa. She moved to the Netherlands in 1976 to study at Ateliers ’63 in Haarlem, before settling in Amsterdam, where she continues to live and work today. She is represented in major private and public collections around the world, and has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Haus der Kunst, Munich; MoCA, Los Angeles and MoMA, New York.


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Marlene Dumas, 'Helena's Dream' 2008, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, © Marlene Dumas, Photo: Peter Cox.

Marlene Dumas, ‘Helena’s Dream’ 2008, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, © Marlene Dumas, Photo: Peter Cox.

Rsre Cretors Model 401 popcorn machine, circa 1920, in restored condition. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Mosby & Co. Auctions.

‘Popcorn Capital’ aims to keep legacy despite plant closing

Rsre Cretors Model 401 popcorn machine, circa 1920, in restored condition. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Mosby & Co. Auctions.

Rsre Cretors Model 401 popcorn machine, circa 1920, in restored condition. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Mosby & Co. Auctions.

MARION, Ohio (AP) – From the back seat of the 1965 Mercedes-Benz convertible, Charlie Evers smiled and waved, celebrating all things popcorn as grand marshal of this month’s Marion Popcorn Festival parade.

He also wrestled with the irony of a celebration—and city—linked to popcorn when ConAgra had announced just weeks before that it was eliminating all 170 of its popcorn jobs in Marion County.

“We shipped more popcorn out of here than anywhere in the country,” said Evers, a local radio personality. “It’s rather puzzling right now. Since we’re losing our popcorn production, what are we going to do now for the popcorn festival?”

Some people think that Marion, hobbled by manufacturing losses in the 1980s, can’t afford any more hits to its economy or its image. The connection to popcorn, they say, might be tangential to daily life but is important to the city of 37,000 that calls itself the “Popcorn Capital of the World.”

“It’s a real tragedy, not only economically, but in the spirit and the image for the people,” said Elaine Peterson of Wooster, who was visiting the Wyandot Popcorn Museum in the center of town.

ConAgra is closing its Marion plant on Oct. 10, eliminating 146 jobs, and a second plant in Morral in Marion County, where 24 people work, next year. Both make Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn. Kenneth Lengieza, planning director for the Marion City/County Regional Planning Commission, dismisses the impact on the region’s identity.

“It was great to have them here … but that would be like, if one car manufacturer left, it would blow the whole legacy of Detroit,” he said.

Marion’s popcorn image gained traction in 1981 with its first festival. But popcorn production existed long before that.

The Wyandot Popcorn Co. was founded in southern Wyandot County in 1936 and moved to Marion in the 1940s.

“For just a few cents, you could get a bag of popcorn and with butter; you felt like you got something really good. It was just a treat in a very down time in American history,” said Karen Herr, publicity chairwoman for the popcorn festival and the director of Marion Downtown, which promotes the city.

Wyandot became the world’s leading exporter of popcorn, shipping to 75 countries. World War II soldiers passing through town on troop trains were handed popcorn balls.

Focusing on other snack foods, Wyandot sold its raw-popcorn-processing operation in 1989, about the time ConAgra came to town. Wyandot still sends out two semi-truckloads of kettle corn daily, about 10 percent of its snack-food production, said Don Mount, vice president of sales.

But Marion’s manufacturing legacy is more than popcorn.

It included the Marion Steam Shovel Co. (later Marion Power Shovel), which closed in the 1970s. The company produced as much as 80 percent of the nation’s steam shovels and earth-moving equipment. The digging of the Panama Canal and transport of NASA’s Saturn V rockets were notable projects.

Today, the town is still home to Whirlpool Corp., one of the world’s largest makers of clothes dryers, as well as other industries. And it is the place Warren G. Harding, the nation’s 29th president, called home.

But city leaders wanted something palatable to build their festival around, Herr said. “They looked at all the things about their history. When they got to popcorn, they decided it was a festival food.”

At least for a weekend, the event is something to brag about, said Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, author of the recently published The Marion Popcorn Festival, a Fun-Filled History.

“I think it’s an important event because Marion has struggled and gives itself a bad reputation. If I hear negative stuff about Marion, it’s usually coming from residents,” Rotuno-Johnson said.

“I think a lot of people do wonder where the popcorn is. Around the festival, there aren’t a whole lot of vendors selling it,” she said. “It will be interesting to see, without popcorn manufacturing, where in the community we’re going to see that popcorn image.”

“I don’t think we’ll lose our identity just because popcorn left,” said Gale Martin, curator of the Wyandot Popcorn Museum, which houses popping machines and other artifacts. “The festival is more about our history of popcorn than the actual production of popcorn today. It started with the history.”

___

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Copyright 2014. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

AP-WF-09-28-14 2102GMT


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Rsre Cretors Model 401 popcorn machine, circa 1920, in restored condition. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Mosby & Co. Auctions.

Rsre Cretors Model 401 popcorn machine, circa 1920, in restored condition. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Mosby & Co. Auctions.

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) 'City Activities with Dancehall' from 'America Today,' 1930–31. Mural cycle consisting of 10 panels. Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012.

Met museum displays epic mural by Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) 'City Activities with Dancehall' from 'America Today,' 1930–31. Mural cycle consisting of 10 panels. Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012.

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) ‘City Activities with Dancehall’ from ‘America Today,’ 1930–31. Mural cycle consisting of 10 panels. Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012.

NEW YORK (AP) – A 10-panel mural by realist painter Thomas Hart Benton depicting American life before the Depression is going on view at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

America Today was commissioned in 1930 for the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.

The panoramic artwork features imagery of industrial American life throughout the 1920s. There are figures of farmers, coal miners, steelworkers and tycoons of modern industry and transportation.

It established Benton as a leading American muralist.

The exhibit recreates the school’s original boardroom, where the work once hung. Benton’s studies for the mural are part of the exhibition.

The exhibition opens Tuesday and runs through April 19.

The work was donated to the Met in 2012 by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co., which purchased it in 1984.

Copyright 2014. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-09-29-14 1519GMT


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) 'City Activities with Dancehall' from 'America Today,' 1930–31. Mural cycle consisting of 10 panels. Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012.

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) ‘City Activities with Dancehall’ from ‘America Today,’ 1930–31. Mural cycle consisting of 10 panels. Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012.

Veterans Memorial Building window designed by Grant Wood. Veterans Memorial Commission, photo courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  

Grant Wood sketchbook returns to museum after 48 years

Veterans Memorial Building window designed by Grant Wood. Veterans Memorial Commission, photo courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  

Veterans Memorial Building window designed by Grant Wood. Veterans Memorial Commission, photo courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A rare Grant Wood sketchbook from 1929 is back in Davenport after it went missing from a museum about 50 years ago, the museum said.

The 100-page sketchbook signed by Wood, the painter of American Gothic, is again in the Figge Art Museum’s possession, said collections and exhibitions manager Andrew Wallace.

The small book of drawings for the 24-foot (7.3-meter), stained-glass window in Cedar Rapid’s Veterans Memorial Building was likely stolen during an open house in 1966 at what was then the Davenport Museum of Art, Wallace told the Rock Island Argus on Thursday.

The Figge Art Museum houses more than 240 pieces of Wood’s art and belongings. It didn’t discover the book was missing until 1979.

Wallace declined to say whether Figge paid to get the book back. The museum had the item withdrawn from a Chicago auction in 2013, where it was expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000.

The Kennedy Galleries in New York City bought the book in 1966 from a person from Maquoketa, Iowa, before selling it in 1975 for $500 to its last owner. Wallace declined to identify the person.

The book’s pages will be digitized and posted on the museum website.

Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-09-26-14 1156GMT


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Veterans Memorial Building window designed by Grant Wood. Veterans Memorial Commission, photo courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  

Veterans Memorial Building window designed by Grant Wood. Veterans Memorial Commission, photo courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  

Edgar Degas exhibited a fascination with the ballet in many of his paintings. This 1879 work titled 'Two Ballet Dancers' is in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Image courtesy of Wikiart.

Degas painting worth $7.6M stolen from home in Cyprus

Edgar Degas exhibited a fascination with the ballet in many of his paintings. This 1879 work titled 'Two Ballet Dancers' is in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Image courtesy of Wikiart.

Edgar Degas exhibited a fascination with the ballet in many of his paintings. This 1879 work titled ‘Two Ballet Dancers’ is in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Image courtesy of Wikiart.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AFP) – Thieves have stolen a painting by French master Edgar Degas valued at 6 million euros ($7.6 million) from the home of a 70-year-old Greek Cypriot, Cyprus police said on Tuesday.

The painting, entitled Ballerina adjusting her slipper, was taken on Monday from the home in the island’s second largest city, Limassol, and was not insured, a police spokeswoman told AFP.

Art theft is rare in Cyprus and it is believed to be one of the most valuable paintings ever stolen on the Mediterranean island.

The thieves also made off with other items—seven gold watches and three gold opera glasses—worth a total of 157,000 euros ($200,000).

Police said they had arrested a 44-year-old Greek Cypriot in connection with the case and were seeking two other suspects—a South African and a Russian. It is believed the trio knew the victim.

Degas (1834-1917) is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism.

The French artist is famous for his paintings, sculptures and drawings, more than half of which depict dancers.

The painting is 61 x 47 centimeters (24 x 18.5 inches).

It is one of a number of studies that Degas made between 1873 and 1874 of dancers adjusting their shoes, shown in different poses and from different angles.


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Edgar Degas exhibited a fascination with the ballet in many of his paintings. This 1879 work titled 'Two Ballet Dancers' is in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Image courtesy of Wikiart.

Edgar Degas exhibited a fascination with the ballet in many of his paintings. This 1879 work titled ‘Two Ballet Dancers’ is in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Image courtesy of Wikiart.

Painting on tile of garden scene, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Coker to auction estates of four Tenn. antique dealers, Oct. 11 & 18

Painting on tile of garden scene, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Painting on tile of garden scene, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

NEW MARKET, Tenn. – There wasn’t so much as a hint of Hatfields vs. McCoys in the case of two prominent antiquing couples from Tennessee whose estates will be auctioned on consecutive Saturdays, October 11 and 18. Shop owners for decades in the picturesque mountain community of Pigeon Forge, Roy and Carolyn McCarter were the friendliest of rivals with fellow antique dealers Elizabeth and Donald Bates. Purely by coincidence, the personal collections and estate contents of both couples were entrusted simultaneously to John W. Coker, who will conduct the on-site sales, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers. Everything will be sold without reserve.

“It was a fluke that these estates came to us the way they did,” Coker said. “I was working on the McCarter estate last spring, and while attempting to obtain some background information about a key piece of American furniture in that estate, I contacted Mrs. Bates, who was very helpful. But sadly, she later passed away, and her children called us to ask about selling their mother’s things. It was only later on, while looking through the ledgers for both couples, that we realized the trust the two couples had in each other. We would see notations where one couple had bid for the other if, for instance, there were two auctions going on during the same weekend.”

The October 11 auction of Carolyn McCarter and her late husband Roy will take place on the grounds of the modern log cabin they built at 2008 Thompson Rd., Knoxville, TN 37932. Its lofty ceilings were designed to accommodate monumental furniture, like their 1830s Alabama 9ft canopy bed, American triple-cylinder secretary and Margolis-style block-front chest on chest.

“The McCarters had a passion for early furniture and accessories, and Mr. McCarter had a fascination for old clocks. He owned many 1830s-1840s mantel clocks and turn of the century miniature wall clocks, which collectors are going to love,” said Coker. A circa 1880-1910 9-tube tall-case grandfather clock is another prized timekeeper from the McCarter private collection.

Artworks are led by an Anne H. Bradford street scene of Seville, which retains several exhibition labels, including one from an 1890 show at New York’s National Academy of Design. Dozens of other collecting categories are represented, including Smoky Mountains quilts, Cherokee baskets, porcelain and early Staffordshire pieces, spotless antique linens, regional pottery, mechanical music boxes, a Jacot “Mira” music box that plays harp and zither; Edison Morning Glory record player/recorders, and Civil War-era primitives, including a handmade “mammy’s bench” with enclosures for two babies. Additional items of note include a small, early #1 Enterprise coffee grinder, a late 19th/early 20th-century Klein decorative sword, and a British barometer marked “Cardiff” and (indistinctly) “Titanic.”

One of the most unusual pieces in the collection is a handcrafted coffee table created from a thick trapezoidal slab of wood, once used for meat cutting and curing, on four wood legs. “This is a very much a 19th-century Smoky Mountains piece. Everyone in that region had a smokehouse at some point,” Coker explained.

The estate contents and collections of the late Elizabeth and Donald Bates will cross the auction block on October 18, at 241 Ledwell Dr., Seymour, TN 37865. “Lib and Don were probably the best known couple in the antiques business in Sevier County. Their eclectic tastes ranged from ornate antiques and miniature portraits to American glass, jewelry and a 104-piece razor collection,” Coker said, “but the centerpiece of their estate is probably their 19 reverse-painted and scenic glass lamps, some by Pairpoint and Handel.” The colorful lamp motifs include floral, moonlight, campfire, exotic-landscape and water scenes.

“Mr. and Mrs. Bates owned many decorative antiques that tended toward the ornate and fancy side,” Coker said, “including Meissen, Dresden, Nippon, and Capodimonte lamps. They also liked cranberry glass, lusterware and figurines, some of which go beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. They’re really something special.” The Bates estate also contains a wealth of heavily inlaid furniture, including marble-topped Victorian pieces.

Historical highlights include an 1831 handwritten will in which a man bequeaths his plantation residence to his widow in Virginia, and leaves his slaves “and their children” to his brothers.

A multi-page hand-written letter from a Civil War soldier discusses doing KP for 1,500 men in his regiment. “His specific mention of cooking ham, beans, cornmeal and bacon suggests he was a Confederate soldier. Those foods were staples for Southern troops,” Coker noted. Within the poignant letter, the soldier writes that if he ever returns home he will “never leave again.”

A remarkable 1863 New Iberia muster roll handwritten by one “William Hancock” lists the names, salaries and personal details of African Americans who enlisted in the Union army presumably after the fall of Louisiana. “This is a completely unique historical document,” said Coker. “A Civil War or black Americana historian could have a field day investigating the names shown on it.

Donald Bates was especially fond of World War I and II militaria. “He was a real history buff and collected very interesting pieces pertaining to the two World Wars, including Nazi memorabilia. He also liked timepieces, and included in the Bates’ large selection of both men’s and women’s jewelry is a mystery watch with floating diamonds that tell the time. We’re still finding surprises, and quite a bit more will be added to the sale as we go along,” Coker said.

Both auctions will start at 10 a.m. EDT, and all items will be offered without reserve and sold to the highest bidder, regardless of the amount of the winning bid. For additional information on any item in either auction, call 865-475-5163 or email john@antiquesonline.com.

View the fully illustrated auction catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at LiveAuctioneers.com.

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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.


ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE


Painting on tile of garden scene, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Painting on tile of garden scene, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Anne H. Bradford, ‘A Street Scene in Seville,’ exhibited in 1890 at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Anne H. Bradford, ‘A Street Scene in Seville,’ exhibited in 1890 at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Pairpoint reverse-painted lamp, one of 19 art-glass lamps to be auctioned from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Pairpoint reverse-painted lamp, one of 19 art-glass lamps to be auctioned from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Jacot ‘Mira’ mechanical music box, oak case, comes with 12 discs. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Jacot ‘Mira’ mechanical music box, oak case, comes with 12 discs. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Mid-1850s to early 1860s daguerreotype in gutta percha case depicting teenage boy in military school uniform with bayonet gun and knife sheath at waist. Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Mid-1850s to early 1860s daguerreotype in gutta percha case depicting teenage boy in military school uniform with bayonet gun and knife sheath at waist. Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Art-glass bowl with ruffled cranberry glass edge, on silver-plated figural stand. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Art-glass bowl with ruffled cranberry glass edge, on silver-plated figural stand. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Early 20th century reverse-painted-on-glass lamp with scene of castle on a lake. Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Early 20th century reverse-painted-on-glass lamp with scene of castle on a lake. Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

19th century Smoky Mountains table handcrafted from a slab of wood formerly used for meat cutting and curing. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

19th century Smoky Mountains table handcrafted from a slab of wood formerly used for meat cutting and curing. Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Staffordshire figurines from the Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Staffordshire figurines from the Estate of Carolyn McCarter and the late Roy McCarter. John W. Coker image

Left: Marked Pairpoint 1907 lamp with butterfly and floral motif. Right: Scenic art-glass lamp depicting junks on the water, possibly by Handel. From the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Left: Marked Pairpoint 1907 lamp with butterfly and floral motif. Right: Scenic art-glass lamp depicting junks on the water, possibly by Handel. From the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Two Pairpoint art-glass lamps, both having stylized bird themes, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Two Pairpoint art-glass lamps, both having stylized bird themes, from the Estate of Elizabeth and Donald Bates. John W. Coker image

Gilf, 'To Tehran With Love,' New York City. Photo by Ilana Novick

Reading the Streets: Hearts rain down from Gilf’s copters

Gilf, 'To Tehran With Love,' New York City. Photo by Ilana Novick

Gilf, ‘To Tehran With Love,’ New York City. Photo by Ilana Novick

NEW YORK – Neon pink hearts are the attention-grabbing part of Gilf’s Mott Street mural, To Tehran With Love, but look closely and you’ll see they’re falling from a helicopter, as if bombing the black backdrop and the sidewalk below. The helicopter is painted olive green, eerily like a real military aircraft under cover of the night.

Helicopters with anything raining down from them conjures thoughts of war and bombs in my mind, even if the copter is on a wall next to a cupcake shop. When my anxiety meter calmed down for a minute, I saw what was obvious to most viewers, that the neon pink items raining down from the helicopter are hearts, not bombs. Countless Little Cupcake Bake Shop customers pose in front of it, frosting covered pastries in hand. I wonder if they notice the helicopter too.

But that’s the best part of To Tehran With Love; the hearts and the helicopter are paired to make the viewer consider what else a helicopter could deliver, besides violence. Gilf reimagines a military helicopter as not an agent of destruction, but one of love.


ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


Gilf, 'To Tehran With Love,' New York City. Photo by Ilana Novick

Gilf, ‘To Tehran With Love,’ New York City. Photo by Ilana Novick

Gilf, 'To Tehran With Love,' New York City, photo via folioleaf.com, http://folioleaf.com/art/gilf

Gilf, ‘To Tehran With Love,’ New York City, photo via folioleaf.com, http://folioleaf.com/art/gilf

Gilf, 'To Tehran With Love,' New York City, photo via http://ronniespirit.com/eye/are-your-eyes-closed-the-interview-with-street-artist-gilf

Gilf, ‘To Tehran With Love,’ New York City, photo via http://ronniespirit.com/eye/are-your-eyes-closed-the-interview-with-street-artist-gilf