Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: AMYD

Quick Words:

PAAM

Full Text:

Paam Annual Auction

w/3 cuts

By Rita Easton

PROVINCETOWN, MASS. -- A full house of approximately 200 came to the annual

consignment auction at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, held this

year on September 19.

The draw, in this community of year-round homes and a summer resort to many

fine artists, was the possibility of acquiring the work of known fine artists.

"We get a lot of return buyers who know what to expect when they come to our

auctions," commented Peter Macara of the gallery. "We're known as one of the

best sources for early Provincetown artwork, offering only deceased artists.

We've found that it's a lot less problematical as a service to the community.

Asking for consignment `gifts' from living artists is really not in their

interests. Also, then there isn't the angst of the artist sitting in the

audience. We've found a niche that this auction serves." One hundred ninety

works were offered.

The starring lot was a collage/mixed-media piece by Leo Manso. The 48 by 36

inch abstract, circa 1970, was purchased by a private buyer at $10,000.

Milton Avery was represented by a circa 1935, small oil on canvas depicting a

dancer. The 13 by 11 inch painting realized $6,000, "which we think was a

bargain price for such a fine piece by Avery," Macara said. A pencil drawing

of a seated nude by Sidney Simon, a familiar Provincetown/Truro artist who

died in 1997, also was a sleeper at $200.

A Katherine McCormick whiteline woodblock print fetched $1,200; an oil on

canvas harbor scene by Philip Malicoat brought $1,600; a Blanche Lazzell

monoprint, a departure from her whitelines, realized $1,900; and a John Hare

watercolor depicting a harbor scene reached $750, while two slightly smaller

watercolor harbor scenes by the artist garnered $650 each.

Two 1926 portraits of "mudheads" by a student of Hawthorne, Marjorie Windust,

were sold at $950 each, to two different buyers. The "mudhead" theme came into

being from Hawthorne's teaching method of placing the model to be painted

against the sun, blurring and darkening the features the artist was painting.

The result of the exercise was muddy. An oil on canvas by Cape Cod artist

Raymond Eastwood, "Cape Cod Dunes," went out at four times the estimate at

$2,600.

An Oscar Bluemmer pencil drawing of the Lusitania sold at $400.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required 15 percent premium.