Final sales of Ann and Gordon Getty’s collection scheduled for Jan. 23-25 at Stair

Ernest Lawson, 'Moret-sur-Loing,' estimated at $15,000-$20,000 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

HUDSON, N.Y. – Stair Galleries will present the remainder of the remarkable Ann and Gordon Getty collection in two forthcoming sales. A three-day auction on Tuesday, January 23, Wednesday, January 24 and Thursday, January 25 titled A Lifetime of Connoisseurship, Curiosity and Collecting will be followed on Thursday, February 29 by a sale called A Confluence of 19th and 20th Century Design.

The January event, now available for live bidding via LiveAuctioneers, brings together property from three California properties that were furnished in her favored ‘layered maximalism’ style by Ann Getty: an Italianate manse in Pacific Heights; Ann Getty’s childhood home outside of Sacramento, known as Wheatland; and Temple of Wings, the Greco-Roman-style estate in Berkeley Hills. Many items include provenances to auctions and dealerships in London and New York.

Essentially, the Stair sales ensure that bidders will be offered more of the English and European furniture and decorative arts – blending academic rigor with a love of the wow factor – that made the first Getty collection sales at Christie’s such memorable events. However, on this occasion, the estimates are in the distinctly affordable range, starting at $50 for a Staffordshire flatback figure of a zebra and peaking at $20,000 for an oil of Moret-sur-Loing by the Canadian American Impressionist Ernest Lawson (1873-1939).

Most of the 726 lots offered in the January 23-25 sale have estimates that are under $2,000. As before, the proceeds of the sales will go to various charities.

Colin Stair, a fourth-generation furniture specialist, knew Ann and Gordon Getty personally. “I was honored to work with the Getty family during my time at both Sotheby’s and Stair Restoration. Everything in the Getty home was done ‘just so,’ and it absolutely rang true in every interior. Ann Getty was patience and taste personified. She was, without a doubt, one of America’s greatest self-taught decorators,” he recalled.

Staffordshire model of a zebra, estimated at $50-$100 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Staffordshire model of a zebra, estimated at $50-$100 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Ernest Lawson, 'Moret-sur-Loing,' estimated at $15,000-$20,000 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Ernest Lawson, 'Moret-sur-Loing,' estimated at $15,000-$20,000 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Last sold at Sotheby's in London in July 1996, this pair of George III porcelain-mounted and inlaid mahogany writing cabinets carry an estimate of $10,000-$15,000 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Last sold at Sotheby's in London in July 1996, this pair of George III porcelain-mounted and inlaid mahogany writing cabinets carry an estimate of $10,000-$15,000 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Acquired from the antiques firm Mallet, this French Charles X period geometric inlaid rosewood tilt-top table is estimated at $2,500-$4,500 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Acquired from the antiques firm Mallet, this French Charles X period geometric inlaid rosewood tilt-top table is estimated at $2,500-$4,500 as part of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection at Stair Galleries.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Ashcan School: a radical departure from the perfect world

A John Sloan oil painting of a New York City street scene made $77,500 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2015 at Eros Auctions, Inc.
A John Sloan New York City street scene made $77,500 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2015 at Eros Auctions, Inc.

NEW YORK — When it first appeared around 1900, the Ashcan School was a radical departure from the prevailing style of American Impressionist scenes of pretty girls and idealized landscapes. The Ashcan School wasn’t a school per se, but a loose art movement that embraced a journalistic, documentary approach and social realism, forsaking art for art’s sake.

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