OAKLAND, Calif. – Paintings demonstrating the regional variation of American Impressionism lead the January series at Clars Auction Gallery. The group of sales span Sunday, January 18 through Tuesday, January 20, and also Thursday, January 22. The Monday, January 19 session includes works by leading Impressionist artists from Kentucky, Utah, and Pennsylvania.
While the majority of the American Impressionists were based in the New England area, the style spread westward in the early years of the 20th century. Kentucky’s best-known exponent is Paul Sawyier (1865-1917).
After studying under William Merritt Chase in New York City, he spent much of his career painting in watercolor close to the Kentucky River. The two oils offered here were probably painted in the last years of his life when, although changing medium and, first in Brooklyn and then in the Catskills, he continued to paint Kentucky park scenes based on photographs. Both garden scenes showing classical-style sculptures amid pastel flowers in full bloom, they have been consigned from the New York estate of Philip F. Schaefer and are estimated at $10,000-$20,000 each.
Offered at $6,000-$9,000 is a watercolor by James Taylor Harwood (1860-1940), the first artist from the territory of Utah to exhibit at the Paris Salon. Dated 1909, Birch by a Stream (Utah) was painted after Harwood’s return to the United States, during a period in which his style changed from tightly controlled Academic Realism paintings to tonalism and Impressionism.
Among the best-known names of the New Hope school is Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951). Her 8 by 12in oil on canvas board of a cottage in the Bucks County spring comes with an estimate of $5,000-$7,000.
As stated above, these lots are part of a four-day series in Oakland that begins with Fine European Furniture & Decorative Arts on January 18 and ends with a selection of Winter Fine and Rare Wines on January 22. Bidding is available through Liveauctioneers.com.
Among the primary consignors are Stephen and Lynette Schwartz of Steven’s Antiques of Tiburon, California. This selection of revivalist French furniture, 19th-century bronzes, ormolu mounted marble clocks and KPM porcelain plaques is led by a Louis XVI-style gilt bronze three-piece mirrored plateau or surtout-de-table, estimated at $18,000-$25,000.
