Skip to content
The teeth in this face jug made by Lanier Meaders (1917-1998) are pieces of a china plate. Made in 1968, the jug has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

Slotin to auction Lynne Ingram folk art collection Nov. 7

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

The teeth in this face jug made by Lanier Meaders (1917-1998) are pieces of a china plate. Made in 1968, the jug has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
The teeth in this face jug made by Lanier Meaders (1917-1998) are pieces of a china plate. Made in 1968, the jug has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
BUFORD, Ga. – Slotin Auction will conduct a Fall Masterpiece Auction, featuring the lifetime collection of folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram, on Nov. 7. About two-thirds of the auction will consist of Ingram’s collection, most of which has been stored for 30 years. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The sale will feature around 800 lots of self-taught art, Southern folk pottery, outsider art, African-American decorative arts, quilts, circus art, new discoveries, major collections and more.

“Our Fall Masterpiece Auction is always a special event on our calendar, but this year we feel particularly fortunate to have as the centerpiece the collection of Lynne Ingram,” said Steve Slotin of Slotin Auction.

Ingram lives in New Jersey but is originally from North Carolina. In the 1980s she started collecting folk art when the genre was still in its relative infancy. But she didn’t just passively acquire pieces. She actually traveled around the Southeast and visited the artists who became her friends. All the while she was amassing an outstanding collection, said Slotin.

“Lynne Ingram saw the best that these artists had to offer, and she acquired much of it along the way,” said Slotin. “She later expanded her collection to include earlier masters who had already passed on, like Bill Traylor, but she had a keen eye for emerging second-tier artists of the day, too – talents like Mose Tolliver and Jimmy Lee Sudduth. Hers is an unbelievable, top-shelf collection.”

Slotin added the collection is made more desirable by the fact that it’s been in a New Jersey storage facility, untouched and in pristine condition, for the better part of the last 30 years. “So what you have are impressive examples of the best names in folk art, offered to the market for the very first time,” he said.

Some expected top lots of the auction follow, along with their low and high sale estimates.

A paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, signed on the front and titled Mexican Woman, is expected to bring $25,000-$35,000. Ingram acquired the framed piece in the mid-’80s from Marcia Weber, an expert on Traylor and an early promoter of his work. This painting is considered significant because it is 100 percent original, with no re-touches or restoration.

A colored pencil on paper creation by Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930) was the top lot at Slotin Auctions’ last sale, held in March. It realized $40,480. This sale features another example by the Swiss self-taught artist: a graphite, pastel and colored pencil on paper work titled The Lion and the Masked Man. It is a strong piece in excellent condition, and carries a conservative estimate of $30,000-$35,000.

The name Howard Finster (1916-2001) is sure to get paddles waving, and this sale features a beauty by the late iconic folk artist. It is a paint on board work housed in an artist signature wood burned frame, titled Vision of Cartoon Howard Finster, #3,169 (December 1983). The painting measures 32 1/2 inches wide by 16 inches high. This piece was originally in the prestigious collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak. It has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.

A carved and painted wood creation by S.L. Jones (1901-1997), titled Man’s Bust, should fetch $8,000-$15,000.

“It’s one of the nest examples of Jones’ work I’ve ever seen,” Slotin said of the 10- by 7- by 13 1/2-inch work, in excellent condition. Also, a 1976 oil on canvas painting by Vestie Davis (1903-1978), Hasidic Street Scene, 51 by 27 inches, should bring $4,000-$6,000.

Lanier Meaders is another name familiar to veterans of the folk art scene. His hand-turned face jugs are renowned, and this sale will feature a china plate teeth face jug with a beautiful tobacco-split glaze, which he made in 1968. The piece boasts great veining all around and measures 9 inches in height. The face has three teeth and the jug is in mint condition. It should sell for $3,000-$5,000.

Bidding should be brisk for a painting on board by Teofilo Magliocchi, titled Madonna and Child. The signed work features a frame decorated with costume jewelry adornments. It is a very large piece – 47 by 75 inches, including the frame. This one has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate.

The aforementioned Mose Tolliver will be represented in the form of a latex on plywood panel work done circa 1989 and titled Saturday Night Dance Hall. The 36- by 40-inch piece is estimated to bring $2,000-$3,000.

A paint, glitter, lettering, mixed media on Masonite work by African American sign maker, John Edward Welch, titled Abraham Lincoln, It Would Help to Save the Union (1999), should realize $1,000-$1,500.

Slotin Auction has been in business for about 17 years. The firm conducts its sales in Buford Hall, 6,000-square-foot converted grocery store in downtown Buford, located just north of Atlanta.

For details call 770-532-1115 or 404 403-4244, or you can send an e-mail to auction@slotinfolkart.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.

 

 

Click here to view Slotin Folk Art’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Swiss-born Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930), who was institutionalized for schizophrenia for the last 35 years of his life, created ‘The Lion and the Masked Man.' The work of in graphite, pastel and colored pencils on paper has a $30,000-$50,000. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Swiss-born Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930), who was institutionalized for schizophrenia for the last 35 years of his life, created ‘The Lion and the Masked Man.’ The work of in graphite, pastel and colored pencils on paper has a $30,000-$50,000. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Slotin considers this carved and painted bust one of the best examples of S.L. Jones' work. The 10-inch-tall bust is from the collection of Lynne Ingram. It has an $8,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Slotin considers this carved and painted bust one of the best examples of S.L. Jones’ work. The 10-inch-tall bust is from the collection of Lynne Ingram. It has an $8,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Teofilo Magliocchi (1904-1985) was burn in Italy and moved to Pittsburgh in 1948. His 1940s ‘Madonna and Child' is paint on board, which measures 47 by 75 inches. It has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Teofilo Magliocchi (1904-1985) was burn in Italy and moved to Pittsburgh in 1948. His 1940s ‘Madonna and Child’ is paint on board, which measures 47 by 75 inches. It has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Mose Tolliver's ‘Face With Animals & Watermelons' is from the collection of Lynne Ingram. The latex on plywood painting has a $1,000-$3,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.
Mose Tolliver’s ‘Face With Animals & Watermelons’ is from the collection of Lynne Ingram. The latex on plywood painting has a $1,000-$3,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.