Full Text:

AMERICAN PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURE AT DOYLE

(with 2 photos)

NEW YORK CITY -- William Doyle Galleries' American Paintings and Sculpture

auction sold to a standing-room only crowd of private collectors and dealers

on December 2. Competitive bidding ensued for many pieces in the grouping of

important landscapes, marine scenes, portraits, genre and sporting paintings,

as well as bronze figural groups from various estates and private collections.

A strong pastel drawing entitled "Paris Cafe by Ashcan School artist William

Glackens sold for $85,000, well over its pre-sale estimate. The great interest

in this piece is likely due to its museum quality, excellent provenance and

exhibition history. Formerly in the collections of Dr Sheldon and Jessie

Stern, James Goodman, Herbert Goldstone and galleries such as the Kraushaar

Gallery and Kennedy Gallery, Inc., the drawing was also exhibited at the

Brooklyn Museum of Art and Rutgers University Art Gallery and was featured in

an article in Burlington Magazine.

Of particular interest was a painting which sold at five times estimate,

"Shucking Corn" by Charles Courtney Curran. This quiet scene of a woman

cleaning corn displays the delicate play of light characteristic of Curran's

earlier works. A small painting, but fresh to the market, it was purchased by

a private buyer for $25,300. Two Impressionist images featuring seashore

themes also fared well: "Bay Shore" by Ernest Lawson depicting groups relaxing

near a jetty on the beach was purchased by a dealer for $17,250; and Edward

Potthast's "Seascape" sold for $18,400 to a private collector from Florida.

Of interest were several Nineteenth Century views of New York City. The

important work, "The Skyscraper of 1894, New York City," by William

Lippincott, which displays an atmospheric rendition of a view of the New York

skyline from the water, brought $43,700. William Rickar by Miller's "View of

New York Harbor from Castle Point" more than doubled its high estimate at

$14,950.

Upstate New York was well represented by the most important artist from the

Hudson River School, Frederic E. Church, whose work, "Moses Viewing the

Promised Land," achieved $85,000. This is a seminal work to Church's

development, as it was painted in 1846 during this period of study with Thomas

Cole. It displays an equal relationship of Cole's influence of his pupil and

Church's mastery of the landscape. On one hand, the inclusion of Moses in the

landscape reflects the theistic narrative nature of Cole's vision of landscape

and on the other, Church's solitary figure surveying the "promised land"

anticipates the tone of Manifest Destiny found in his mature works.

Also of interest was the wildlife rendering of "Buck and Doe" by Arthur

Fitzgerald Tait, an artist known for his depictions of wildlife in the

Adirondacks. It surpassed an high estimate at $39,100.

In other areas, Salvador Mege's "Schuylkill River, Philadelphia" depicting a

sunny winter day of skating and sledding on the river near Fairmount Park,

went to a private collector for $19,550. Another significant painting, the

crisp evening scene "Moonlight Reverie" by Eanger Irving Couse, in the

original frame by Couse brought $39,100.

A heartwarming reunion also occurred during the sale. Included in the

collection was a charming portrait painted by Milton Avery of his daughter's

childhood friend, "Paula." Lost for many years, the painting was recently

consigned to William Doyle Galleries. Perhaps in a tribute to times past, the

work was purchased by Paula, herself, for $14,375.

Grouping of works as well as the presence of a good number of private

collectors in the audience helped contribute.

The galleries next sale of American paintings, which will include works by

European artists as well, is scheduled for May 1999. For further information

or to consign, 212/427-2730.

To receive a free copy of Auction Preview, call 212/427-2730.