Date: Fri 30-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Olana

Full Text:

Olana Auction

w/5 cuts

By Rita Easton

HUDSON, N.Y. -- More than 400 guests were in attendance at the seventh annual

Friends of Olana Benefit Art Auction on September 12. The historic home of

Nineteenth Century landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church, Olana opened its

doors to Friends' members, collectors, decorators, and art dealers, all of

whom enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres during the preview, followed by a

silent auction, and finally the highlight of the day, the featured auction.

The event grossed $82,000, of which $32,000 benefited collections research,

conservation, and educational programming on site.

Rupert W. Fennell, a vice-president and the senior decorative arts appraiser

of Sotheby's appraisal company, auctioned 93 lots, the starring lot being

"Cliffs at Monhegan" by Rockwell Kent, which carried a pre-sale estimate of

$2/2,500, but realized $5,500, drawing applause from the crowd.

A pair of Currier & Ives prints, "The Hudson River Crow's Nest," and "Watkin's

Glen," circa 1875, sold as a single lot at $375; a large Nineteenth Century

oil painting after Asher B. Durand, by Ellen Ellenwood, reached $1,500,

surpassing a $1,200 high estimate; a 1900 watercolor of a Venetian lagoon by

Henry Bacon fetched $1,200; and an oil on board of a Venetian lagoon done in

1881 by Walter Launt Palmer was purchased at $3,400.

"Algerian Seaport," an oil on canvas mounted on board, by Samuel D. Eldred,

crossed the block at $1,300; an 1870 pencil on paper illustration of Kirkwood,

N.Y., by David Johnson, sold at $800; Edward Gay's "Study for Landscape with

Trees" garnered $525; and a pair of Nineteenth Century oil on board

landscapes, initialed "E.K. of Massachusetts," was purchased at $950.

Robert Havell, Jr's rendering of "Fawn's Leap," an oil on canvas, reached

$1,600 for the 1866 painting; a pastel and watercolor on paper by James David

Smillie, "Woodland Road," a golden forest scene, brought $1,400; "A Mountain

Settlement at Sunset" by James Brade Sword, an oil on board, went out within

estimate at $2,400; and an oil on canvas after Frederic E. Church, "New

England Scenery," sold below estimate at $1,500.

A pair of Louise Kamp landscapes of Woodstock, unframed, reached $425; "Bend

in the Road" by R.R. Kuehler brought $625 for the pastel; an oil on board by

Wallace Weir Fahnestock, "Winter Afternoon, Dorset, Vermont," sold to a phone

bidder at $1,300; and "Study for Adventure" by Arthur Brown Davies surpassed

its high estimate at $1,500.

Among the furniture highlights, an Aesthetic movement side table, having legs

ending in brass feet, was purchased at $950; an ornately carved teakwood

etagere, circa 1885, possibly by the Lockwood de Forest Company in India,

realized $1,600; four upholstered balloon back side chairs, circa 1860, sold

at $500; and a circa 1835 mahogany Empire chest of drawers reached $400.

A chromolithograph after Thomas Moran, "Grand Canyon," reached $800; and a

signed bronze by Margaret Huntington Hooker, "Profile of a 19th Century

Naturalist," achieved $1,100.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required ten percent buyers premium.