NEW ORLEANS – Neal Auction Co.’s Louisiana Purchase Auction™ Nov. 21-22 produced excellent results for fine art, furniture and decorative arts. The sale achieved several record breaking prices for works by artists at auction, including Theora Hamblett ($67,375), Enrique Alferez ($55,125) and François Fleischbein ($28,175).
Topping the list was an important oil on canvas by Richard Clague (French/Louisiana, 1816-1878) depicting Streetcar Tracks in circa 1870 New Orleans (above). The painting represents a transitional period in the country’s history when technological innovations began to transform the post-antebellum South. After competitive bidding from the telephone bank and salesroom floor, Clague’s work sold for an impressive $177,625 to a local collector.
The second-highest lot was William Henry Buck’s Cattle Grazing beside a Cabin among Live Oak Trees (below), an accomplished depiction of a rural Louisiana landscape, which sold for $118,750. It also sold to local collector.
Between My Mentor, a monumental work featuring two iconic Blue Dogs by Louisiana artist George Rodrigue (1944-2013), sold for $75,000. Blending an unusual combination of oil and acrylic paints, the 1998 painting (below) represents the height of Rodrigue’s Blue Dog series.
Neal Auction Co. continues to maintain the record auction price for the artist with Chairman of the Board, which sold on April 18 for $173,275.
Lot 180, a rare Louisiana Creole inlaid cherrywood and cypress armoire achieved an impressive $73,500. Boasting a provenance chain that dates back to its circa 1810 creation date, this important piece of Southern furniture from the Kleinpeter Collection in Baton Rouge sold to a local museum competing against bidders on the salesroom floor.
Path and Pasture, a significant early work by celebrated Mississippi artist Theora Hamblett (1893-1977), more than tripled its low estimate of $18,000, selling for the record-breaking auction price of $67,375. The former record price of $35,850 for a work by Hamblett was achieved by Neal Auction Co. in June with School Children Getting Drinking Water.
Bringing in the Dory, a well-documented Florida scene by preeminent South Carolina artist William Aiken Walker (1838-1921) sold for $61,250to a Florida collector. In this masterful 1895 composition (below), Walker depicts a fisherman and the architecture of the coast within the background of the Pacetti House and the Halifax River.
With a presale estimate of $15,000- $25,000, lot 288, a carved wood sculpture of Moses by New Orleans artist Enrique Alferez (1901-1995) greatly exceeded expectation, selling for $55,125 and setting a record auction price for the artist. A cast stone bas relief of Fisherman Hauling Nets by Alferez sold for $12,250.
Lots 293, 310 and 311, three iconic abstract compositions titled Circus Series 22A, Square D80 and Horizontal Rectangles #8 by Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer (American/New Orleans, 1912-1997), each sold for $44,100.00 to art collectors from Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina, respectively. The works attracted widespread attention from bidders across all bidding platforms.
Neal Auction Co. continues to maintain the world record price for the artist’s work at auction with the sale of Cluster #1, which sold for $110,250 in September.
Lot 193, a rare New Orleans coin silver and silver gilt exhibition model of a mule-drawn streetcar, generated intense interest from Southern regional collectors. The mid-19th century replica of a “bobtail” streetcar manufactured by Zimmerman’s silversmith sold to a local museum for $43,325 – over 14 times its presale low estimate of $3,000.
Lot 251, a Newcomb College high-glaze vase decorated by Harriet Coulter Joor, achieved $33,687.
Lot 24, an important circa 1844 American Gothic carved rosewood center table labeled Crawford Riddell, Philadelphia, sold to a Southern collector for $28,175. The table was among the many highlights offered from the Turnbull/Bowman/Fort Families of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, La.
Portrait of a Creole Woman by François Fleischbein (Bavarian/New Orleans, c. 1801-1868), one of Louisiana’s leading painters of free women of color, more than quintupled its low estimate of $5,000, selling to an American museum for the record-setting sum of $28,175.
Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.