PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Vallot Auctioneers‘ Winter Fine Art sale, scheduled for Thursday, January 18, is a veritable feast of classic works, trompe l’oeil and outsider art from America and around the world. The complete catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
Many of the sale’s standout lots come from the Gertrude Grace Sill (1920–2020) collection. She was an American art historian, curator, professor, and author of John Haberle, Master of Illusion, a retrospective on a largely forgotten American trompe l’oeil artist from the 19th century.
Naturally, her collection includes examples of trompe l’oeil, including four works from Jean B. Guelpa, a 19th-century Italian American artist who specialized in reverse-on-glass painting. Trompe l’oeil means ‘deceive the eye’ in French; the form of three-dimensional painting originated with Louis-Leopold Boilly, who debuted his master work in 1800 and in doing so, created an entirely new genre of painting.
Guelpa’s reverse-on-glass works focus on the classic still life motif, topped in the sale by Still Life, Potatoes with Fly. In this piece, the fly provides the visual trick to the viewer, seemingly resting upon a three-dimensional stack of potatoes on a plate. The work is estimated at $1,000-$1,500.
The sale’s top lot falls into the classics category: Mt. Vernon from the Potomac, an 1869 oil on canvas by Thomas Hill (1809-1908), an English-born but New England-raised artist who was the eventual grandfather to Norman Rockwell. Hill was known for his handsome landscapes, and this example lives up to the acclaim. It carries an estimate of $10,000-$15,000.
Another New England favorite son is Anthony Thieme (1888-1954), whose works focused on local and maritime subjects. Thieme was a member of the Rockport School of American regional art and apparently suffered from bouts of depression, eventually taking his own life as a result. This unframed maritime oil on canvas is entitled Rockport and measures an impressive 30in high by 36in in width. It has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate.
Active during the postwar period, Thomas (no surname known) was an outsider artist working in the naive style. Vallot has three of his paintings in the sale, and its notes mention Slotin Folk Art as a source for more information on the artist. Thomas certainly gave his buyers value for their money, as all three lots on offer are double-sided paintings with images that have no apparent thematic connection. Yankee Atom Energy and Surveying of the World Business Art are signed and dated 1960 and are together estimated at $2,000-$3,000.
Boston’s Combat Zone was the city’s original red light district, lasting from the 1960s until the rise of videocassettes in the 1980s. It derived its name from a combination of high crime, lurid businesses and the soldiers and sailors who would frequent the area while on leave. A strip-club hand-painted sign touting Live Nudes survived the Combat Zone’s demise and ended up in a collection of outsider art. It is estimated at $1,000-$1,500.
