Freeman’s announces highlights included in its ‘American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists Sale’
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- On Sunday, June 7, Freeman’s will hold its much anticipated, bi-annual auction of American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists. The sale will include a number of works by marquee names in the field, such as Robert Henri (1865-1929), William Macgregor Paxton (1869-1941), Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) and Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935). This season, a particularly heavy focus will be made on the New Hope School through high-level pieces coming from the private Collection of Heidi Bingham Stott, granddaughter of the illustrious Hiram Bingham who notably rediscovered the archeological site of Machu Pichu in 1911.
THE STRONGEST COLLECTION OF PENNSYLVANIA IMPRESSIONISTS TO COME TO AUCTION IN YEARS
Spring at Point Pleasant on the Delaware River by Edward Redfield (1869-1965) is one of the anticipated highlights of the Stott Collection (Lot 40, estimate: $300,000-500,000). Executed en plein-air on May Day of 1926, the painting depicts, in thick and short brushstrokes, a plunging view of the Delaware River from the artist’s studio in Point Pleasant. The subject was one of Redfield’s favorites, and he continuously returned to the location to paint similar vistas, as exemplified by The Peaceful Valley (Lot 57, estimate: $200,000-300,000) –another view of the celebrated locale from a different private collection, which Redfield executed in a more modern fashion almost a decade later.
Among the other highlights of the Stott Collection are three oils by Daniel Garber (1880-1958), including Rodger’s Meadow (Lot 44, estimate: $200,000-300,000), an important canvas that illustrates a shift in the artist’s career. Executed in 1922, the work faithfully records the local geography and the daily life of Bucks County, where Garber and his family moved at the turn of the century.
The Stott Collection also includes two quintessential nocturne scenes by George Sotter (1883-1951) (Lots 41 & 42), as well as a rare Italian canvas by Fern Coppedge (1883-1951), which the artist completed after her return from Florence in 1926 (Lot 43).
NOTABLE PENNSYLVANIA PIECES
Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania artists will be well-represented in the June sale, starting with The Converted Barn, an early painting by N.C. Wyeth (1853-1890), which depicts the studio where the artist would paint Treasure Island several years later (Lot 26, estimate: $50,000-80,000). Executed in 1908 (the year N.C. and his wife Carolyn moved from Delaware to Chadds Ford), the work shows Wyeth’s affinity for landscape painting and more specifically, his appreciation of the lush Brandywine River Valley.
Four pieces by Philadelphia native Arthur B. Carles (1882-1952) will also be included in the sale, starting with a 1908 portrait of his then-fiancée Mercedes de Cordoba (Lot 29, estimate: $15,000-25,000). Shown seated in front of a window pane in which one can spot the reflection of the artist himself, Mlle de C. owes a great debt to the art of Henri Matisse, whom Carles revered and met in Paris. In contrast, Abstract Still Life with Drape (Lot 32, estimate: $15,000-25,000) shows the strong influence that Cubism and Georges Braque had on Carles in the 1930s, a moment when the artist tried to synthesize his exploration of shapes with his love of color.
OTHER AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Among the several 19th century pieces on offer are two oils by Theodore Robinson (1852-1896), both kept in the family of the artist since his death in 1896. Respectively executed in Giverny and at his return to the United States, Moyen-Age (Lot 10, estimate: $7,000-10,000) and Vermont Hillside (Lot 9, estimate: $20,000-30,000) illustrate the influence of French painting, and of Impressionist Master Claude Monet, on the artist. The rest of the sale includes the recently rediscovered Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower by Edwin White (1842-1946), which is considered one of the greatest pieces the artist ever made (Lot 4, estimate: $10,000-15,000); three French canvases by Theodore Earl Butler (1861-1936) with stellar provenance (Lots 17-19, estimates: range from $15,000 to 40,000); as well as two watercolors by Stephen Scott Young (born 1957), including one directly bought from the artist (Lot 37, estimate: $10,000-15,000 & Lot 38, estimate: $12,000-18,000)
