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Lot 2172
Abstract Work on Paper, Dan Welden Dan Welden (American, Contemporary), Abstraction, 1988, mixed media on paper, signed and dated lower right, sheet (unframed overall): 20.5``h x 27.75``w. Note: Welden has been making prints and works on paper for over 40 years. His work is exhbited internationally in the U.S., Europe, China, Australia, New Zealand and Peru. His work is in many public and private collections throughout the country, including the Amity Art Foundation, Darien, Connecticut; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; and Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, amongst others Starting Price: $150
Lot 2185
Painting, Blanche Brody, "Neon Lights Blanche Brody (American, Contemporary), "Neon Light", oil on board, signed and titled verso, sight: 29.5"h x 26.5"w, overall (with frame): 31"h x 28.5"w. Note: Brody was a Bay Area Figurative painter, who attended Hunter College, CCAC and SFAI and was largely influenced by fellow artist Joan Brown. Literature: Thomas Albright, ``Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980: An Illustrated History,`` University of California Press, 1985, p. 265 Starting Price: $200
Lot 2243
Print, Lawrence Colación, Veterano Lawrence Colación (Californian, Contemporary), "Veterano," 1995, serigraph, pencil signed lower right, edition 5/48, published by Self Help Graphics and Art, Los Angeles, CA, sight: 39"h x 27"w, overall (with frame): 47"h x 35.5"w. Provenance: From the private collection of Jose Ramon Lerma (American, b.1930). Note: Colación`s prints are in the permanent collections of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA; Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Starting Price: $300
Lot 102
Neal Benezra, Staci Boris, Dan Cameron etc William Kentridge 160 pages; paperback; 249 color illustrations. Contributions include: William Kentridge: Drawings for Projection by Neal Benezra, The Process of Change: Landscape, Memory, Animation, and Felix in Exile by Staci Boris, Mundus Inversus, Mundus Perversus by Lynne Cooke, Processions and Public Rituals by Ari Sitas. Interview with artist by Dan Cameron. Director`s Foreword by Robert Fitzpatrick, Museum of Contemporary Art and Lisa Phillips, New museum of Contemporary Art. Curator`s acknowledgments by Staci Boris, Dan Cameron and Neal Benezra. Publisher Place: Chicago Publisher: Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Publication Date: 2001 Condition: Fine Category: Art & Art Reference Reserve: $50 Click here to view further details and images
Lot 193
Renoir, Pierre Auguste RENOIR - ORIGINAL ETCHING OF BERTHE MORISON Berthe Morisot (Stella 4). Original drypoint, c. 1892 of Ms. Morisot, a contemporary impressionist artist. Signed in the plate. This drypoint was first published in Duret`s Renoir in 1924. It was the only original etching in this work. This copy is framed and has not been examined out of the frame, but appears in good state. Image size: 108x91mm. Framed size: 290x240mm. Publication Date: 1924 Condition: Good Size: 290X24mm. Framed. Category: Art & Art Reference Reserve: $600 Click here to view further details and images
Lot 847
Jack Millar ARCA, RBA (1921-2006) Interior scene with a girl standing under a yellow lamp shade Signed and indistinctly dated, possibly (19)65, oil on canvas, 76cm by 51cm On the reverse of the picture there is a study of a vase of flowers Provenance: The Fosse Gallery (John Lindsey Fine Art Ltd), The Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire In good original, untouched, unlined and undamaged condition. Good thick impasto. In a plain outer contemporary gilt plaster and wooden frame with inner painted cream and grey wooden slip. 230513
Lot 555
Alfred Cohen, American 1920-2001- Village scene with hilltop church; watercolour with gouache, signed in pencil, 12.5x20cm Note: public collections that include Cohen`s work include The Contemporary Art Society, Bradford City Art Gallery, Trinity College, Oxford, the St Paul Art Gallery, Minnesota, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Lot 460
Alfred Cohen (1920-2001), Flowers in a vase, signed, oil on board, 44.5 x 25.5cm.; 17.5 x 10in. * Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1929 was awarded a foreign travel scholarship which took him to Europe. He continued studying in Paris at L`Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, showing his work in France and Germany. In 1960 Cohen settled in England and had a long series of shows with Roland, Browse & Delbanco. Cohen`s work is in many public collections including Contemporary Art Society, Nuffield Foundation, Pembroke College in Oxford and galleries in Rye and Hull, as well as widely abroad.
Lot 686
The Apple ( of Beauty and Discord ). 1920s. Four editions of this Art Journal with attractive woodcut illustrated covers. Illustrated with contemporary and art work reproductions. Together with 8 editions of 'The Studio' English Water-Colour reproductions and a collection of individual annotated folders mainly featuring monochrome reproductions of items in the 'Wallace' collection. All folio. CONDITION REPORT: Generally vg.
Lot 1101
Robert Edge Pine (1742-1788) British. Portrait of George Washington (1732-1799) Oil on Canvas, In an Earlier Fine Carved Giltwood Chippendale Style Frame. 33.25” x 25.5”. Sold on behalf of a Private British Collector Provenance: Previously whereabouts unknown, but possibly referred to in 1931 as; ‘November 1927, Messrs. Kennedy & Company, of New York City’, found in France, sold to an American Collector’ (1p.88 item 4) It has been inscribed in ink along the top stretcher ‘Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)’ and Inscribed ‘Philadelphia’ In the Collection of Alexander Kardo Sessoeff, purchased in New York in February 1952 (relined and restored prior to leaving this collection in the late 1990’s) Private British Collector (who changed the frame to an earlier Chippendale style frame). This, the missing fourth portrait of George Washington (1732-1799) by Robert Edge Pine, was painted during the artist’s stay at Mount Vernon between April 28th and 16th May 1785. Dressed in the Uniform of The Continental Army in which Washington had recently served as Commander-in-Chief, with his right hand across his body and resting on the head of a cane, Washington is not surrounded by symbols of war, or in the context of battle but still as a powerful figure of authority. Four portraits of Washington by Pine are known to exist owing to a listing of some of the artists work in an advertisement published in the Pennsylvanian Packet and Daily Advertiser (December 28, 1789) ‘Scheme of a Lottery’ following Pine’s death in 1788 and posted by Mrs Pine before her return to England. The other three portraits (listed below) bear many similarities. The figure of Washington appears in each as three quarter length, facing left, his hand resting on a cane, said to have been presented to him by Louis XVI. The edge of a tent and head of a spear showing in the top right corner. It is in the detail of the epaulettes which differ with only one portraying the three stars signifying the rank of Commander in Chief (Exhibition No.79). Washington, having only recently returned to Virginia in 1783 following an absence of eight years during the American Revolution, appeared to be a reluctant sitter as observed in correspondence to Francis Hopkinson: ’In for a penny, in for a pound is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the Painter’s pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit like patience on a Monument, whilst they are delineating the lines of my face’. His sittings for Pine are widely referred to in his prolific diary entries. On April 28th 1785 he wrote: ‘To Dinner Mr.Pine, a pretty eminent Portrait & Historian Painter arrived in order to take my picture from the life & to place it in the Historical pieces he was about to draw. This Gentleman stands in good estimation as a Painter in England, comes recommended to me from Colo.Fairfax-Mr Morris Govr.Dickenson-Mr.Hopkinson & others.’ However it was not only due to the significant introductions made by Pine’s friends in Bath, George William Fairfax and Samuel Vaughan, both friends, neighbours and patrons, that Washington obliged to sit but also to hear of the artists sympathies to the American State. In a letter dated August 23rd 1784 Fairfax wrote: “Poor Mr Pine is as true a Son of Liberty as ay Man can be…and made so many enemies in this selfish Nation, that he is compelled to go to America to seek bread. Give me leave to reassure you, Sir, that there is not a person in England, that merits a better reception in America than the unfortunately Gentleman who only fault was his good wishes to our Country’” Another driving force for Pine’s move to America in 1784, shortly before these portraits were painted, was due to the lack of recognition for his work in England. It is believed a disagreement with Sir Joshua Reynolds and near expulsion (before himself resigning) from The Chartered Society of Artists lead to his unhappiness in London and following an inheritance from his brother Simon in 1772 he moved to Bath where he remained for eight years. There his disenchantment of Britain intensified and he began to display on canvas his strong political opinions with works such as ‘America’ ;described by his friend Fairfax as “expressive of the great Oppressions and Calamities of America, also the glorious Revolution with which it pleased Heaven to terminate the infernal War.” The lack of engravings as well as Washington’s reference in 1785 as being painted to be later placed in the ‘historical pieces’, enforces the belief that these four portraits were not intended to be a stand alone works, but studies to be incorporated into larger narrative historical scenes; a genre intensely popular in England and of which Pine intended to introduce to America. However, sadly Pine only lived for another four years and many of the great works he did complete were destroyed by fire at Daniel Bowen’s Museum in 1803. Biography of Artist: Much of Pine’s early life is not known, not even his birth date or education but it is clear he was brought up surrounded by art and artists due his father, John Pine (1690-1756) a prominent engraver who specialised in historical events. The earliest recognition of young Pine’s work is documented in 1760 when he won a prize given by the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts for his painting ‘The Surrender of Calais to Richard III. He was married in 1749. Pine’s contemporary Joseph Hopkinson (who also introduced him to Washington) described Pine as: ‘A very small man- morbidly irritable. His wife and daughters were also very diminutive; they indeed were a family of pigmies’. The Other Three Recorded Portraits by Robert Edge Pine of George Washington Oil on Canvas 35 ¾” x 28 ¼” 1817 Purchased in Canada by Henry Brevoort. By descent to J Carson Brevoort, By descent to Grenville Kane, Esq, Tuxedo Park, New York, exhibited Brooklyn 1917 Property of Mrs Rolla D Campbell, Jnr Now the Property of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington DC. Acquired 1980 Exhibited, National Portrait Gallery, November 1 1979-January 6, 1980, No.77 Oil on Canvas 35 ¾” x 29 ¾” Possibly Property of George Washington Philips Property of Benjamin Moran who donated it to City of Philadelphia in his will dated January 27 1887 Now situated in Second Bank National Portrait Gallery, Philedelphia, Pennsylvania Exhibited, National Portrait Gallery, November 1 1979-January 6, 1980, No.78 Oil on Canvas 36” x 30” Property of Godefroy Meyer of Paris (print dealer) as illustrated as ‘Number 56’ in his catalogue of 1913. 1925 Property of Percy A Rockefeller Property of Hayden Bartlett Harris, purchased from Rockefeller 1957 bequeathed to Harris Trust and Savings Bank, Chicago by Hayden Bartlett Harris Property of Jack Warner and Westervelt Company, now on display at the Tuscaloosa Museum, Alabama Exhibited, National Portrait Gallery, November 1 1979-January 6, 1980, No.79 Bilibiography Robert G Stewart, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Robert Edge Pine, A British Portrait Painter in America, 1784-1788, Published for the National Portrait Gallery by the Smithsonian Institution Press, City of Washington, 1979, for the Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, November 1, 1979-January 6, 1980. 1 Morgan, John Hill, and Mantle Fielding, The Life Portraits of Washington and Their Replicas, Philadelphia, 1931.
Lot 167
CARLOS MÉRIDA Proyecto para una ruptura (Febo al ocaso), 1978 Firmado y fechado 1978. Lápices de colores y grafito sobre papel albanene. Con copia de certificado de autenticidad de Iturralde Gallery Contemporary Latin American Art, 18 de diciembre de 1998. Procedencia: Brunk Auctions, Asheville, EUA. Subasta del 15 de septiembre de 2012. La obra para la cual es concebido este boceto se encuentra publicada en: CARDOZA Y ARAGÓN, Luis. Carlos Mérida. Color y forma. México. CONACULTA, 1992. Catalogada 132. 26.5 x 22 cm
Lot 184
A FINE AND RARE SOUTH GERMAN `GOTHIC` BREASTPLATE AND BACKPLATE, CIRCA 1480-90 the two pieces closely matched, the first formed of a main plate with angular outward turns at its neck and arm-openings, each decorated with an alternating pattern of notches and incised lines, a plackart of two upward-overlapping pieces, each rising to an elaborately fretted cusp at its centre and articulated to the plate above it by a sliding-rivet and two internal leathers, and a contemporary fauld of four lames, the lowest cut with a shallow arch over the crotch, the main plate decorated at the neck with a recessed V-shaped panel bordered by a pairs of pointillé lines, the plackart and fauld with medial ridges enclosed in the case of that of the fauld by similar pairs of pointillé lines, and at the borders of the arm-openings , the upper edge of each lame of the plackart and the lower edge of the fauld with ripple-like fluting; and the second formed of three downward overlapping plates, the uppermost with roped angular outward turns at its arm openings, a V-shaped neck-opening filled with a separate triangular gusset, and a culet of three lames of which the lowest descends to an obtuse central point, the neck-opening and the centres of all subsidiary edges fretted, and the arm-openings, each side of the back, and the centre of the culet decorated with flutes similar to those of the breastplate (both elements extensively patched, pitted and worn), all mounted on a wooden stand covered at its top by mail 60.0 cm; 23½ in Provenance Sartori Collection, Vienna Dacre Kendrick Edwards, sold Christie`s, 25 April 1961, lot 38 Exhibitions Cyril Andrade, Dalmeny Gallery, St James`s, October to November 1922, Catalogue, Part 2, nos 135 & 137 Arms & Armour Society, The Art of the Armourer, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, April to May 1963, cat. No. 7 (ill.) Battle of Barnet Quincentenary, Barnet, Middlesex, April 1971, cat.no. 11 A very similar breastplate forms part of the former arsenal of the City of Vienna, now in the custody of the City Museum, Vienna. The distinctive form of turned edges seen on the breastplate is also found on a cuirass in the Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer, Vienna, no. A 109b, made for the young Philip the Handsome by Jörg (?) Treytz of Innsbruck about 1485-90 (Thomas & Gamber 1975, p. 126, pl. 48).
Lot 80
THOMAS COLLIER R.I. (1840-1891) Adrian Bury writing in 1934 commentated that the `fifty odd years that have passed since his death have drawn all but an impenetrable veil over a man who must take his place among the supreme watercolour painters of England`. Thomas Collier still remains in the early twenty-first century, something of a forgotten name. His reputation though as one of the ablest of the mid 19th English landscape artists remains intact. His landscapes firmly placed in a tradition of English landscape painting established by Peter de Wint, Constable, Cotman and Cox. His work widely admired by a number of his contemporaries within the Birmingham School, including B.W. Leader, John Syer and Edmund Wimperis. The artist John Orrock was a particular admirer of Collier`s work . He recorded of his style that he "was the finest of sky painters especially of rain and cumulus clouds... of moorland with brilliant skies, full of accident". He had no rival... he and Muller were the most impressive sketches from nature I know". As a young man Collier trained at the Manchester School of Art and at that time often travelled to Wales, staying at Bettws-y-Coed. Some of his earliest work showing a distinctly Pre-Raphaelite influence. He exhibited regularly at the Birmingham Society of Artists and in 1870 sent three watercolours to the Royal Academy which were all exhibited. In the same year he became an Associate of the Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and a full member in 1872. During the 1870`s , Collier moved to London. However he never lost touch with Birmingham. Indeed he continued to exhibit at the Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Gallery between 1870 and 1889. Collier travelled extensively and each year the summer months were devoted to sketching tours. He was especially fond of the landscapes of North Wales, East Anglia and Sussex. Collier achieved considerable recognition as an artist during his lifetime both in England and on the Continent. He was exhibiting in Paris as late as 1889. Bury though concedes that his work was never `in the most fashionable category`. Another contemporary commentator succinctly recorded that "His work was too detached from everyday experience, too rich in the subtle and elusive mood of poetry to win the attention of those who liked to see the obvious in art..." Ironically it is perhaps those same understated qualities that makes Collier`s work appealing to connoisseurs today . THOMAS COLLIER, R.I. (1840-1891) Arundel Castle from the Park watercolour 8 ½ x 13 1/2in (21.7 x 34.3cm) Provenance: with The Ruskin Gallery, Stratford Upon Avon . Sold with another watercolour by the same artist depicting` An extensive moorland landscape ` (Provenance: Abbott and Holder Ltd); two (2) Arundel Park provided Collier with the inspiration for a number of watercolours. Bury noted that " The Downlands of which Arundel Park is a historic entity, were but the logical choice for an artist intent upon broad rolling lands and expanses of sky" .A larger watercolour from a similar vantage point depicting Deer in the Park at Arundel was exhibited by Collier in the Paris International Exhibition in 1878, when it gained him the Legion of Honour.
Lot 61
Henry Moore (1898-1986), British NUDE STUDY 3; Brush and India ink over graphite with wash on paperboard; signed and dated 34 lower right Sight 21" x 13" — 53.3 x 33 cm. Provenance: A. Zwemmer, 76 Charing Cross Road W.C.2.; Purchased by George Gilmour, Toronto(?) in 1985; By descent Exhibited: British Council Fine Arts Department in “Contemporary British Art”; Riksforbundet for bildande Konst, 1934 Literature: See “Sculptures & Drawings”, edited by David Sylvester. Vol. I, pg. 194, Illustrated. Starting Price: $10000
Lot 372
Pair 1920s silver napkin rings with engraved initials, in a fitted case (Birmingham 1919), maker - W. S., a late 1940s silver tea-strainer with Art Deco-style handle and pierced bowl (Sheffield 1947), Charles Boyton & Sons, together with pair contemporary silver wine / spirit labels (Birmingham 1975). All at approximately 4.5ozs, tea-strainer 14cm overall (5)
Lot 200
A selection of glassware to include two contemporary ceiling lightshades with etched and cut detail, at Art Glass vase of baluster form decorated with bands of pale green and gilt together with a cut glass cocktail shaker with etched cockerel decoration and one other, an emerald drinking glass in the Georgian style with faceted waisted stem and slice cut decoration to bowl, a heavy millefiori paperweight, etc
Lot 1431
Joe Hargan, Scottish Born 1952, oil on canvas, Lily, purchased from the Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton, image size 36cm wide x 36cm high Artist Resale Right : The buyer pays an additional 4% on the price for works of art selling between 1000 to 50,000 Euros (lesser percentages apply in higher brackets). This is payable to a living artist or to his or her estate in accordance with European Directive 2001/84/EC
Lot 1432
Joe Hargan, Scottish Born 1952, oil on canvas, The Bumble Bee, purchased from the Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton, image size 36cm wide x 36cm high Artist Resale Right : The buyer pays an additional 4% on the price for works of art selling between 1000 to 50,000 Euros (lesser percentages apply in higher brackets). This is payable to a living artist or to his or her estate in accordance with European Directive 2001/84/EC
Lot 1434
Joe Hargan, Scottish Born 1952, oil on canvas, The Moth Hour Of Eve, purchased from the Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton, image size 100cm wide x 100cm high Artist Resale Right : The buyer pays an additional 4% on the price for works of art selling between 1000 to 50,000 Euros (lesser percentages apply in higher brackets). This is payable to a living artist or to his or her estate in accordance with European Directive 2001/84/EC
Lot 2399
(lot of 3) Contemporary art glass group, Consisting of a signed stoppered bottle executed in cased glass with vibrant blue and orange interiors, signed indistinctly and dated 1995, 11"h. together with a pair of mid century cased glass vases with cream interiors having swirling decoration, 11.5"h.Starting Price: $75
Lot 2261
Robert S. Epstein (American, Contemporary), ``Gene Davis Portrait,`` 1978, infrared negative selenium toned print, signed, titled and dated verso, artist title label affixed verso, sight: 8.25``h x 12.625``w, overall (with frame): 16.25``h x 20.25``w. Provenance: Frederick Spratt Estate (San Jose, CA). Exhibited: ``Photographers X Photographers`` at Corcoran Gallery of Art (Wahington D.C., USA) in 1981. Note: Gene Davis was an American painter known especially for his paintings of vertical stripes of color, and was a member of the group of abstract painters in Washington DC during the 1960s, known as the Washington Color School.Starting Price: $200
Lot 768
A WALNUT AND EBONISED VIENNA WALL CLOCKthe timepiece with enamel dial and subsidiary seconds dial, the case with triangular pediment and glazed door flanked by turned pilasters, 106cm h, c1900Provenance: By family tradition a gift from the mother of D H Lawrence, Mrs Lydia Lawrence (1852-1910) to Ruth Roesetta Milward (Mrs George Everitt, m1914) (1885-1959) thence by descent to the present vendor.Although documentary evidence is lacking, the tantalising oral tradition as to this clock being a relic from the family home of D H Lawrence is plausible. Described as a `lace machinist` in the Census, Ruth Milward of St Ann`s, Nottingham had earlier attended Nottingham School of Art in Waverley Street. A contemporary of D H Lawrence, he was educated briefly at University College around the corner in Shakespeare Street. It is possible that Mrs Lawrence may have become acquainted with Ruth Milward on one of her visits to Nottingham, where she bought haberdashery to sell from the small shop in the front froom of her home in Victoria Street, Eastwood.
Lot 1
FERDINAND PREISSDIVERcold painted bronze and carved ivory on onyx and marble base, 24cm h, stamped circled PK (on bathing costume) engraved signature F Preiss, c1925Model No 1187. For another example see Shayo (Alberto), Ferdinand Preiss Art Deco Sculptor, Woodbridge 2005, p145 and for a contemporary photograph of Preiss with the model facing p.13.Two fine hairlines descending from the nape of the neck down the shoulder blades one of a few mm, the other perhaps approx 2cm. Another fine hairline in left upper arm, the pyramidal base with minor chips, no restoration
Lot 463
Contemporary Art Glass vase possibly Lundberg Contemporary Art Glass vase, possibly Lundberg, bulbous form with a pulled gold decoration on a mottled purple ground, falsely signed L.C.T. and Tiffany paper label applied, otherwise unsigned, 5.5"w x 9"h no problems; overall good condition Starting Price: $150
Lot 30
SHISHKIN, IVAN(1832-1898)Twilight, signed and dated 1896.Oil on canvas, 162 by 121 cm.Provenance: Private collection, Finland. Anonymous sale; Kansainvälinen Keväthuutokauppa, Bukowskis Helsinki, 12 December 2006, lot 250. Acquired from the above by the present owner. Private collection, Europe. Authenticity certificate from the expert V. Petrov. Exhibited: The 24th Exhibition of the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions, various cities, 1896–1897, No. 140. The All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition, Nizhny Novgorod, 1896, No. 391. Literature: Exhibition catalogue, The 24th Exhibition of the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions, St Petersburg, N. Sobko, 1896, p. 5, No. 140, listed and illustrated in black and white. Exhibition catalogue, The All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition, St Petersburg, 1896, N. Sobko, p. 14, No. 391, listed; p. 63, illustrated in black and white. N. Pikulev, I.I. Shishkin, Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1955, p. 224, listed. G. Romanov, Tovarishchestvo peredvizhnykh khudozhestvennykh vystavok. 1871–1923. Entsiklopediya, St Petersburg, Orkestr, 2003, p. 183, No. 2–188, listed and illustrated in black and whiteIvan Shishkin’s picture Twilight is considered one of the best of his late works. It is well known from the text and illustration in the catalogue for the 1896 All-Russia Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, where it was marked as sold. Few have had the fortune to see it first hand, however, because from the time of its sale until 2006 the picture remained in the confines of a private collection in Finland. Shishkin painted Twilight in Siverskaya – a little village near Gatchina where many Russian artists and writers would spend the summer months at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This area of dachas, picturesque, hilly, and with magnificent pinewoods, often served as inspiration for Shishkin, Kramskoy, Repin and Brodsky. “Here one can breathe easily and nature is wonderful,” Shishkin wrote of Siverskaya. Thus in 1896, leaving his post as director of the landscape studio at the Higher School of Art attached to the Academy of Arts, the master painter decided to set off “to the dacha” and paint from nature. Shishkin’s sojourns at Siverskaya were always extraordinarily fruitful. It was here that his best known canvasses were painted – Rye (1878) and Morning in the Pine Forest (1889); here he devised new compositions and made numerous studies: Ferns in the Forest, Dacha at Siverskaya, Wood on a Riverbank, A Swamp by the Warsaw Railway. The present lot, Twilight, undoubtedly holds its own among these seminal compositions painted in and around Gatchina. The lyrical and epic composition is characteristic of Shishkin’s work of the 1890s. Of a rather large scale and thoughtful execution, it produces an impression of monumentality, solemn magnificence and calm. The tall mast-pines soar skyward, in the foreground extending beyond the confines of the painting, then opening out in a wide glade that melts away in the limpid depths of the wood. A summer storm has just passed and the woodland track rutted by cartwheels has turned into an enormous puddle sparkling in the last rays of the setting sun and reflecting the reddish colour of the pine trunks. The majestic woods, the eternally swamped Russian roads, the stumps, the felled trees and new shoots rising in the same spot, the sparse needles of the tall northern trees through which the warm air streams, everything bathed in the golden light of sunset, and the cold lilac twilight is already forming in the distance, where gently painted tree trunks huddle – this scheme of contrasting elements is welded into a single integrated image of nature to generate great poetic expressiveness. A lyrical, intimate note sounds more strongly in Twilight than in many other of the artist’s paintings; he achieves a striking virtuosity in conveying forms without resorting to minute detail or unnecessarily pettifogging botanical descriptiveness. In the last decades of the 19th century Shishkin turned to the subject of the pine wood particularly regularly. He grew up in Yelabuga among the pine-covered expanses of the Afonasov mast grove and knew and loved pine woods like no other artist. Contemporaries called Shishkin the “Bogatyr of the Woods”, the “Forest Tsar” and, according to the artist and collector Ilya Ostroukhov, even to look at he was a “sturdy pine”. Under his hand, the pine wood, this master’s legacy to Russian painting, became transformed into something original and genuinely poetic. Pine Forest, Track in the Forest, Sun-Lit Pines, Morning in the Pine Forest, The Forest of Countess Mordvinova – in these works Shishkin not only conveys the beauty of stately trees soaring aloft, but also addresses contemporary problems of painting en plein air and allies himself with the principles of creating atmospheric landscape. In response to innovative trends in Russian figurative art that started in the 1880s and in seeking to express the more complex and ephemeral natural conditions that resonate with man’s spiritual state, Shishkin paid ever more attention to light and recreating atmospheric effects on canvas. In his best paintings there is movement of light, and the impression of air enshrouding the trees; there is a clarity and transparency to the vibrant shadows and undertones. Shishkin’s technique becomes richer and more varied, his palette more beautiful and the relationships between colours more subtle. As before however, the underlying principle of his work remains disciplined draughtsmanship and definition of form, precision in the colouring of every detail, and marvellous brushwork. In addition, his later work is characterised by a diversity of texture. His creative method – painting thick over thin – is manifest in the magnificent calm of Twilight, where the impasto in the foreground is combined with the soft, almost transparent, rendering of the background and sky. The artist’s desire to combine monumentality with elegiac reverie and to express a spiritual connection with nature is manifest. Twilight reflects Shishkin’s particular interest in rendering atmospheric phenomena – sunset, sunrise, sheets of drizzle and misty damp air, woods wet from rainstorms. A female acquaintance of the artist recalled how running past his dacha in a downpour, she was taken aback to see him standing barefoot and soaked through in a puddle. “Ivan Ivanovich!” she cried, “Did you get caught in the rain too?” “No, I came out to be in the rain!” the artist replied excitedly, “The storm caught me indoors. I saw this marvel from my window and hopped out to take a look. What an exceptional picture! This rain, this sun, these flourishes of dripping water... the dark forest. I want my memory to register the light, the colour and the lines ...” Shishkin longed to capture such moments. Every day he would arrive at his preferred spot and catch every variation in the air, light and elements of the natural world. He would then labour over the picture in his studio to combine the sketch-like immediacy of an impression with the finish of a studio work, which imparts to his canvasses their sense of compositional harmony and completeness
Lot 155
European Connections to the Arab World, Four Volumes. Roussel, Napoléon (1805-1878) Mon Voyage en Algérie Raconté à Mes Enfans, Paris: Risler, [c. 1840], 12mo, with frontispiece, illustrated title, and five full-paged illustrations in the text, 196 pages, with a gift inscription on the half-title dated 1840, "à son cher petit neveu Fritz"; green morocco spine, gilt, watered-silk-texture green cloth boards, vellum tips to boards; binding rubbed, mild to moderate intermittent foxing, 6 3/4 x 4 in. Neuphal, Georges (fl. circa 1860) Vocabulaire Français-Arabe, Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1864, octavo, 284 pages, text in Arabic and French, contemporary half sheepskin and textured paper boards; pages toned with some faults, binding rubbed with surface loss, 8 1/4 x 5 in. Manuscript on paper of the same text, 19th century, with added notes in Arabic, penciled annotations, et cetera, 279 pages, contemporary half leather, and marbled paper boards, worn, 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. St. George`s Gallery, Hyde Park Corner, Catalogue of the Oriental & Turkish Museum. London: Golbourn, [1854], octavo, stated third edition, with additions, rare pamphlet with illustrated title, and twenty wood engravings by James Boggi in the text, in marbled paper wrappers, 7 3/4 x 5 in. The ill-fated St. George`s Gallery, demolished sometime in the 1860s, hosted many interesting exhibitions from the time of its erection in June of 1842. Successful in the mid-1850s, shows there included the Free Exhibition of Modern Art, a South African show, and dioramas of Ireland and the Holy Land. Dickens attended an exhibition at St. Georges featuring `Kaffir Life` in 1853, and walked away with a rather dim opinion of the "Noble Savage." The Turkish show featured in this promotional program was mounted in 1854. The final exhibition at St. George`s, it featured several tableaux of wax figures depicting notable scenes from Middle-Eastern life, including royal baths, a slave market, and a harem. (4).
Lot 103
XU BEIHONG (1895 - 1953) * RUNNING HORSE "50.5 x 35 cm. Ink painting on paper. Hanging scroll, brocade mounting. Signed: "drawn by Beihong with a runny brush". Provenance: collection of Antonin Hasek. Published: Lubor Hajek - Cínské umení (Chinese Art), Prague, SNKLHU, 1954, text p. 180, illustration no. 172. A. Hoffmeister, L. Hajek, E. Rychterova - Současné čínské malířství (Contemporary Chinese Painting), NČVU, Prague, 1959, p. 70 and 71. PLEASE READ AUCTION TERMS AND CONDITIONS - DEPOSIT REQUIRED BEFORE BIDDING. " Starting Price: CZK 1800000
Lot 6248
Frank Lobdell (American, Contemporary), ``10.21.93,`` 1993, mixed media on paper, initialed and dated lower right, gallery label affixed verso, sheet: 17"h x 21"w, overall (with frame): 21.125``h x 25.25``w. Provenance: Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco, CA) to benefit the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA). Starting Price $2500
Lot 6249
Frank Lobdell (American, Contemporary) ``11.7.93,`` 1993, mixed media on paper, initialed and dated lower right, sheet: 17"h x 23.875"w, overall (with frame) 26.125``h x 32.625``w. Provenance: Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco, CA) to benefit the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA). Starting Price $3000
Lot 6250
Tim Curran (Californian, Contemporary), ``Over Berkeley,`` 1989, gouache on paper, unsigned, gallery title label affixed verso, sheet: 5"h x 8.5"w, overall (with frame): 16.75``h x 19.25``w. Provenance: Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco, CA) to benefit the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA) Starting Price $200
Lot 6252
Maria Robba (American, Contemporary), ``When the Lights Are Pink,`` 1987, oil on canvas, signed lower right and signed and dated verso, gallery title label affixed verso, canvas: 18"h x 20"w. Provenance: Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco, CA) to benefit the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA) Starting Price $100
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