Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999
Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999
Publication: Ant
Author: GWARD
Quick Words:
Barridorf-Wyeth-Easton
Full Text:
Wyeth Illustration Soars To $244,500 At Barridoff
(with 4 cuts)
By Rita Easton
PORTLAND, ME.-- Barridoff Galleries hosted an auction of American and European
art at the Holiday Inn By the Bay on August 4, following previews on August 3
and before the auction on the fourth. Over 244 lots were offered to the
standing room crowd, grossing $1.85 million, "...the highest by about a half
million dollars," said Ron Elowitch of the gallery.
Fetching the highest figure of the day, an illustration by N.C. Wyeth sold
privately at $244,500, "...probably a record," said Elowitch, "not for a Wyeth
illustration, but for any illustration." The oil on canvas measured 28â¹ by 26â¹
inches, and depicted Miles Standish, in an outdoor setting with a boat and
open ocean in the background, as the cover for a book. Pre-auction estimate
placed it at $125/175,000.
A second N.C. Wyeth, estimated at $20/30,000, "Man in Desert Garb," an
illustration, went on the phone for $43,700; an Alice B. Stevens gouache, a
cover illustration for the Ladies' Home Journal dated 1897, measuring 24« by
17 inches, consigned by a Maine gentleman, estimated at $6/9,000, made
$16,500; and a Leon Kroll, "Sunday Afternoon in Gloucester Harbor," estimated
at $60/90,000, with dimensions of 30 by 25 inches, realized $101,500.
Guy Wiggins was represented by a 25 by 30 inch representation of Gloucester in
summer, estimated at $40/60,000, going out at $85,000, and also by a snow
scene, a smaller canvas at 18 by 14 inches, estimated at $12/18,000, which
reached $25,300; an Edward Pothast watercolor, "Playing on the Beach," 20 by
16 inches, reached $55,200; a Theresa Bernstein, "Jordan Wharf," measuring 12
by 16 inches, estimated at $12/18,000, made $23,000; and an Alfred Thompson
Britcher measuring 15 by 23 inches, "Pink Parasol," estimated at $40/60,000,
achieved $81,700.
A Fairfield Porter watercolor, "Sketch for July," 27â¹ by 22â¹ inches, estimated
at $30/50,000, sold at $46,000, one of the few works by a major artist that
did not escalate beyond the high estimate.
Prices quoted above reflect a required buyer's premium.