Fine Art Highlights

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951) carved limestone sculpture, “The Preacher”, depicting a minister with his left arm raised with a Bible in hand, open eyes and mouth, and attired in a long-tailed coat and bow tie, standing on a pedestal. 23 1/2″ H x 12 1/2″ W x 8 1/4″ D. This sculpture appears in an Edward Weston photograph of Edmondson’s yard taken in 1941. Ref. Edmund Fuller, “Visions in Stone,” p. 11. Illustrated, ibid, p. 36. Exhibited 1981, the Tennessee State Museum inaugural exhibit titled “William Edmondson: A Retrospective” and featured in the exhibition catalog of the same name on page 38, catalog entry #8. Also exhibited at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, “The Art of Tennessee”, 2006 (and full page illustration in the catalog, p. 281). Edmondson’s choice of a preacher as subject matter speaks to the prominence of the church not only in black communities in the early 20th century, and the role of the preacher as a community leader, but also to the importance of spirituality in his own life. It was a directive from God at the age of 57 which Edmondson (a former janitor and railroad worker with no formal art training) said prompted him to pick up a chisel and begin sculpting limestone figures. His work was noticed by Nashville art patrons who introduced him to Harper’s Bazaar photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Wolfe’s now-famous photographs of Edmondson and his yard full of limestone sculptures brought him to the attention of the New York art world and gained him the acquaintance of Alfred Barr, Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1937 Edmondson became the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art. At least three other Preacher figures by Edmondson are known, including one in the collection of the Newark Museum and another in the collection of the McClung Museum of Art at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Provenance: Private Southern Collection, acquired circa 1990 from the son of Myron King, owner of Nashville’s Lyzon Art Gallery and one of Edmondson’s earliest supporters. A notarized certificate of authenticity dated 2002, signed by Myron King Sr. and stating he purchased this sculpture directly from William Edmondson in about 1948 and gifted it to his son, will be provided to the winning bidder. PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASE ANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Overall good condition with old patina. Minor wear to base, particularly at corners and lowermost edges. Subtle and very early repaired break to upper left arm, said to have been repaired by Edmondson himself. By oral history, Myron King first viewed the sculpture in Edmondson’s yard and the break to the arm had already occurred. King suggested Edmondson would improve the durability (and marketability) of his sculptures by limiting his projecting appendages, advising him that “If it can’t roll down a hill without something breaking off, don’t carve it!” Whether Edmondson took this advice to heart or not is debatable; certainly his angel images and birds included projecting elements subject to breakage. However, his Preacher figure in the collection of the McClung museum has a much more closely-carved arm and Bible, and the Preacher in the collection of the Newark Museum holds aloft a much smaller Bible, suggesting Edmondson was working out ways to create a more stable design. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951), “Miss Lucy,” carved limestone sculpture depicting a standing woman, wearing a high collared dress and a carved locket, with long elaborately braided hair, holding a purse in one hand and a book, presumably The Bible, in the other. 15 1/2″ H x 4 3/4″ W x 8″ D. 28.4 lbs, Circa 1930/1935. Exhibited, “Will Edmondson’s Mirkels,” the Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood (April 12 through May 21, 1964), and listed as #6 in the catalog, published by Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Artist’s Biography: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. Women, Biblical figures and animals were among his favored subjects, although he also produced more utilitarian items such as tombstones and birdbaths. In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, and he is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. Provenance: The estate of Janet Marsh Pruitt (Mrs. Earl Pruitt) of Pennsylvania, formerly of Nashville, Tennessee. By descent from her parents, Ross and Anna Marsh. Mrs. Marsh acquired the sculpture from a member of the Art Department – likely Professor Sidney Hirsch- while working for Peabody College in Nashville, just a few blocks from where Edmondson lived. Professor Hirsch (who frequently walked past Edmondson’s house) is credited with introducing Edmondson to well-connected arts patrons Alfred and Elizabeth Starr and Harper’s Bazaar photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Wolfe’s now-famous photographs of Edmondson and his yard full of limestone sculptures brought him to the attention of the New York art world and gained him the acquaintance of Alfred Barr, Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art.Ê Unlike many Edmondson figures acquired by Nashvillians in the days before Edmondson gained international fame, “Miss Lucy” was not kept outside as garden sculpture. Mrs. Marsh told her family the limestone figure was always used inside as a doorstop (which has helped the sculpture avoid surface bleaching and erosion). According to the exhibit catalog, which quoted the Marshes, “Miss Lucy” was a good member of Edmondson’s Nashville Primitive Baptist church who had been “uplifted to heaven.” CONDITION: Overall very good condition, one minor abrasion to lower section of hair, scattered wear to base, old chip to front left corner. Small area of abrasion to one side (arm area) from former use as a doorstop. Remnants of an exhibition tag and the number 6 written in marker on underside. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951), “Miss Amy,” companion sculpture to “Miss Lucy,” sold in our January 2019 auction (lot #110). Carved limestone sculpture depicting a standing woman wearing a dress with square neckline; her bountiful hair is tied back, creating negative space between her back and her hair, and she holds a book in her left hand; her long skirt reaches all the way to the integral base. 14 1/2″ H x 4 3/4″ W x 7 3/8″ D. Circa 1930/1935. Exhibited, “Will Edmondson’s Mirkels” at the Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood (April 12 through May 21, 1964), and listed as #5 in the catalog, published by Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Additionally exhibited in “The Art of William Edmondson” at the Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood’s exhibit, January 28 – April 23, 2000 (which traveled to four other museums including the Museum of American Folk Art in New York and the High Museum in Atlanta); listed in the exhibition catalog “The Art of William Edmondson” on page 136, figure #23. Provenance: The estate of Janet Marsh Pruitt (Mrs. Earl Pruitt) of Pennsylvania, formerly of Nashville, Tennessee. By descent from her parents, Ross and Anna Marsh. Mrs. Marsh acquired this sculpture along with “Miss Lucy” from a member of the Art Department, likely Professor Sidney Hirsch, while working for Peabody College in Nashville, just a few blocks from where Edmondson lived. Professor Hirsch (who frequently walked past Edmondson’s house) is credited with introducing Edmondson to well-connected arts patrons Alfred and Elizabeth Starr and Harper’s Bazaar photographer, Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Wolfe’s now-famous photographs of Edmondson and his yard full of limestone sculptures brought him to the attention of the New York art world and gained him the acquaintance of Alfred Barr, Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art. Unlike many Edmondson figures acquired by Nashvillians in the days before Edmondson gained international fame, “Miss Amy” and “Miss Lucy” were not kept outside as garden sculptures. Mrs. Marsh told her family the limestone figures were always used inside as doorstops (which has helped the sculptures avoid surface bleaching and erosion). According to the 1964 “Mirkels” exhibit catalog, which quoted the Marshes, “Miss Amy” was a good member of Edmondson’s Nashville Primitive Baptist church who had been “uplifted to heaven.” Artist’s Biography: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. Women, Biblical figures and animals were among his favored subjects, although he also produced more utilitarian items such as tombstones and birdbaths. In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, and he is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. CONDITION: Overall very good condition. CONDITION: Overall very good condition with old patina. Number 1 or 7 (underlined) written in marker on underside of base. Old tape residue to underside of base. Small whitish surface scratch to top of base, about 1/4″L. Overall minor wear particularly to right side in hair (abrasions from door when used as doorstop). Vertical line extending from base near subject’s right shoe appears to be natural variation in stone and does not illuminate under UV light inspection. Minor wear to base, particularly at corners and lowermost edges. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951) “Lady with a Book,” carved limestone sculpture depicting a standing woman with short curly hair wearing a dress with bustle, holding a book in her left hand, her right arm bent upward at her waist. 12″ H x 3 1/2″ W x 7″ D. Provenance: the estate of Leah Levitt, Long Island, New York. While it is unknown exactly when or where Mrs. Levitt and her late husband, David Levitt, acquired this sculpture and the Edmondson “Critter’ sculpture in the following lot (#153), both have been in their collection for decades. (The “Lady with a Book” can be seen in the background of several of the Levitt family’s photographs taken in the late 1950s-early 1960s). It is possible Mr. Levitt became familiar with Edmondson, or at least with Edmondson’s work, in the 1940s when in preparation for his work in the Armed Services, he (Levitt) attended French Language training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. By that time, William Edmondson was well known in his hometown of Nashville and beyond, having become the first African American artist to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1937. Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life in Nashville as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as a chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17-year art career. In the 1930s, his work caught the attention of Professor Sidney Hirsch, who worked at Peabody College in Nashville, located just a few blocks from where Edmondson lived (and adjacent to the Vanderbilt campus). Professor Hirsch is credited with introducing Edmondson to well-connected arts patrons Alfred and Elizabeth Starr and Harper’s Bazaar photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Wolfe’s now-famous photographs of Edmondson and his yard full of limestone sculptures brought him to the attention of the New York art world and gained him the acquaintance of Alfred Barr, Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art, resulting in the landmark 1937 exhibit. Although Edmondson’s earliest work was more utilitarian in nature, such as tombstones and birdbaths, as his style matured his subject matter grew to include female figures (frequently based on women he knew from his community), Biblical figures, and various animals. PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASE ANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Overall very good condition. Slight circular loss to lower back of dress approx. 1/4″, some small losses to center of back base approx. 3/4″. Protective felt added to the base. [See more photos →]

Henry Moret, also spelled Henri Moret (France, 1856-1913), “Bateaux de peche dans la rade le matin,” (“Fishing boats in the harbor in the morning”) oil on canvas landscape depicting boats gathered just off the coast of Groix in Northwest France, as viewed from a cliff overlooking the cove, all under a vivid blue sky with scattered white clouds. The impressionist style landscape is rendered in a thick impasto technique, in vivid shades of blue, pink and green. Signed “Henry Moret” lower left and dated, “1902”. Ornate Rococo style giltwood and composition frame with foliate and cartouche molding, pierced edges and plaque, lower center, with name of artist and title “Anse de Groix 1902″ (Cove at Groix). Sight – 19 1/2″ H x 23 1/2″ W (50 cm x 62 cm). Framed – 29 1/4″ H x 33 1/2” W. We wish to thank Jean-Yves Rolland for confirming the authenticity and correct title of this painting. It will be added to his forthcoming Henry Moret catalog raisonne and a certificate of authenticity will be provided to the winning bidder. Provenance: Private Nashville collection; Sotheby’s, Oct. 7 1987, lot #37 (sold under the title “Groix, Bateau de Peche,” 1902). Biography: Henry Moret was best known for his colorful coastal landscapes painted in Normandy and Brittany, and for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony. He studied in Paris under Jean-Paul Lorens at the Academie Julian and Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole National des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and made his debut at the Salon de Paris in 1880. In 1888, he moved to Pont-Aven and was introduced to the tenents of Symbolism by his friends, Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard. In 1896, he settled in the fishing village of Doelen, where his style became increasingly Impressionist and nature-focused. CONDITION: Painting is in excellent condition with no evidence of relining or inpainting. Slight craquelure overall concentrated in top half with impact crackle top center 1″ H x 1 1/2″ W. Moderate 1″ x 1/2″ area of cleavage in boat 5 1/2″ from right side. Minor lifting impasto right edge. Three slight scuffs center to left side above and in rocks, largest 4″ L. See blacklight photos. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951), “The Nursing Supervisor,” carved limestone sculpture depicting a woman with long hair, long skirt and apron in a standing position, one arm folded slightly above the other. 13 1/2″H x 5″ W x 8 1/2″ D. Separate, later base 1 3/4″ H x 7 1/2″ W x 8 1/2″ D. Circa 1940. Sculpture (without base) exhibited and illustrated in Miracles: The Sculptures of William Edmondson, Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1995. Plate #20, page 45 (note: reverse image was used in catalog photo). Also exhibited William Edmondson: A Retrospective, Tennessee State Museum, 1981 (refer to catalog, p. 53, #31). Biography: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. Women, Biblical figures and animals were among his favored subjects, although he also produced more utilitarian items such as tombstones and birdbaths. In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. He is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. Provenance: The living estate of Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin H. Caldwell, Nashville, TN. CONDITION: Old 1 1/2″ loss to lower left front corner of sculpture base, light overall surface patination from outdoor exposure. [See more photos →]

Fernando Zobel de Ayala y Montojo (Spanish/Filipino, 1924-1984), “Plaza de Pilatos I,” oil on canvas abstract painting, with artist signature “Zobel” and Spanish inscription lower right. English translation: “Afternoon light in the face of Pilate (Casa de Pilatos) from the window of my study, seen through the square, Seville, 31 of December 1972”. Additionally signed, titled, and dated en verso. Housed in molded, silvered and gilt wood frame. Sight – 31 1/8″ H x 38 3/4″ W. Framed – 33 1/2″ H x 41 1/8″ W. Biography: Manila-born, Harvard-educated artist Fernando Zobel de Ayala y Montojo was not only a painter but also an important patron of the arts, collector, teacher, photographer, and writer. As an artist, Zobel is best known for abstractions that reflect the dual influences of Abstract Expressionism (particularly the works of Mark Rothko ), and Japanese and Chinese painting and calligraphy. Zobel was extremely active in the Manila art scene in the late 1950’s. He served as the President of the Philippine Art Association, and because of Zobel’s urging and vision, in 1967 the Ayala Foundation established the Ayala Museum, which focuses on Philippine art and culture. Zobel won several international art prizes, and his work is in the collections of museums including the Ayala Museum and National Museum of the Phillipines; Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; the Museo de Arte Abstracto, Spain; The British Museum in London; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Case wishes to thank John Seed, Professor of Art at Mt. San Jacinto College, for the use of his biographical information on Zobel for this catalog entry). Provenance: From the estate of Robert L. Zarbock, Escondido, California. After graduating from the University of Illinois School of Music, Zarbock became a producer of symphonic operatic music at RCA Record’s Victor label for many years. Upon retirement, he settled in California, where he served on the San Diego Opera Guild and the California Center for Arts. Proceeds to benefit Zarbock’s alma mater, the University of Illinois. (Note: see also two drawings by Zobel in this auction). CONDITION: Overall very good condition. Some slackness in lower right quadrant (needs restretching) and upper left quadrant, scattered very light craquelure, a few scattered minor accretions, scattered minor abrasions to exterior edges of frame. [See more photos →]

Anna Catherine Wiley (1879 -1958) impressionist oil on canvas painting, depicting seated mother and child in a meadow. The woman’s flower- adorned hat sits in the foreground and a bank of trees is in the background. Signed and dated “Catherine Wiley, 1913″ lower right. Sight – 28 1/2″ H x 32 3/4″ W. Framed – 34 1/2″ H x 38 3/4” W. Provenance: a private Blount County, Tennessee collection. Biography: Catherine Wiley was one of the early female students at the University of Tennessee, and taught art and drawing there from 1905 until 1918. She is credited with establishing formal art instruction at the school, and with making the program into one of the South’s best. Wiley also studied at the Art Students League in New York under Frank DuMond, and spent summers learning from major American impressionists such as Robert Reid, Jonas Lie, and Martha Walter. She won two gold medals at the Appalachian Exposition in 1910, and claimed the prize for best Southern artist at the Southwestern Fair in Atlanta in 1917. She served as President of the Nicholson Art League and director of the Fine Arts Department of Knoxville’s National Conservation Exposition. Her paintings – often depicting women in picturesque settings — were exhibited at many prominent venues including the National Academy of Design in New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1926, Wiley suffered a mental collapse which ended her painting career. She remained institutionalized until her death. Private Knoxville, TN collection. Condition: Overall very good condition with two visible spots of paint loss, one on a tree trunk in the background, the other in the bottom of the lady’s dress. Blacklighting does not reveal any repair or restoration. [See more photos →]

Birger Sandzen (American, 1871-1954), oil on board Colorado landscape painting titled TWILIGHT, depicting a lake with rocky, tree-lined bank at sunset. Mountains are visible in the background, and a crescent moon shines in the pink sky overhead. The scene is rendered in vivid color using a thick impasto technique. Signed lower right Birger Sandzen. Titled, signed and dated en verso TWILIGHT/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK/COLORADO/1927/BIRGER SANDZEN/LINDSBORG, KANSAS. Additionally inscribed Metzger A or H22215 en verso. Housed in a carved, whitewashed frame. 19 1/2″ x 23 1/2″ sight, 28″ x 32″ framed. This lot is accompanied by a 1983 letter from the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery attributing the work to Sandzen circa 1928-1931. According to the letter’s writer, co-director Larry Griffis, “The colors and brush strokes are characteristic of the period of his life that produced his finest work.” Griffis compares this work to two other known Sandzen works, “Silent Lake” and “Lake in the Rockies”. A letter from Douglas Hyland, director of the Brooks Museum in Memphis, regarding the Sandzen painting and calling it “one of his best works” is also included, along with a softcover book, “The Graphic Work of Birger Sandzen” by Charles Pelham Greenough, and various photocopied biographical materials relating to a past owner, Lois Eason, and to Birger Sandzen. Provenance: the estate of Lois Eason (Mrs. Jeter Eason) of Memphis, inherited circa 1980 by Mrs. Eason from her aunt (a faculty member in the University of Denver’s Art and Architecture Department); by descent to present consignor. Biography (source: the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery): Birger Sandzen was born in Sweden in 1871. He studied art in Stockholm with Anders Zorn and Richard Berg and also studied briefly in Paris. He came to Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas in 1894 to teach language and art, and remained there the rest of his career. He retired in 1946. In the meantime, he produced a large number of oil paintings, watercolors, and prints. Sandzen was a founder of the Mid-West Art Exhibition held annually in Lindsborg and the Smoky Hill Art Club. He also belonged to several art organizations including the Taos Society of Artists. PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASEANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Painting – excellent condition with slight craquelure overall concentrated in areas of heavy impasto. Outer edge of one thick brushstroke may have break (1/8″L by 1/32″W) in an area at the top right center (sky region) of the painting (very inconspicuous). Frame – shrinkage cracks to miter joints, some small edge losses. [See more photos →]

John Frederick Kensett (New York/Connecticut, 1816-1872), “Early Autumn,” oil on board Luminist landscape painting depicting sunrise or sunset over Contentment Island, site of Kensett’s studio, near Darien, Connecticut. Circa 1872. Unsigned. Titled verso, with 1960s-1970s exhibition labels for Wickersham Gallery, New York. Housed in a giltwood Hudson River School style frame. Sight – 13 1/2″ H x 17 3/8″ W. Framed – 20 1/8″ H x 24 1/8″ W. Note: Celebrated American Luminist painter John Frederick Kensett died in 1872, attempting to rescue the drowning wife of fellow artist Vincent Coyler. The following year, this work was included, along with many other works from his studio, in the Kensett Memorial Exhibition held at the National Academy of Design. It is illustrated on page 45 of the photographic album of the exhibit (refer to scan of photograph, upper left corner). This newly rediscovered Kensett painting will be included in the forthcoming John Frederick Kensett Catalogue Raisonne being prepared under the direction of Dr. John Driscoll. Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Benjamin H. Caldwell, Nashville, Tennessee, acquired from Orrin Wickersham June in the 1970s. Case is grateful to Dr. Janice Simon, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of Art History at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia; guest curator and principal author of the 2001 exhibit and catalog “Images of Contentment: John Kensett and the Connecticut Shore,” for the following essay: In 1867, painter John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872), ordinarily a New York City resident, bought nine acres of Contentment Island from his friend, fellow painter Vincent Colyer. Composed of the three Fish Islands, five Crabb Islands, salt meadow and marsh lands of Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut, this property permitted Kensett to engage eye and mind, senses and feelings with one place over an extended period without the interference of tourists. Indeed, his contemporaries equated his Contentment Island paintings with subjective responses to nature “very near to his own door,” so that artist, nature, and “God’s abounding gifts” became poetically one. “Early Autumn’s” sunrise scene, with two thirds of the painting displaying an intense rainbow of colors from orange-red along the horizon to bright chrome yellow blending into cerulean and grayer blue with painterly wisps of clouds at the top, displays Kensett’s intense absorption with place, atmosphere, and spirit. Looking down and across the shadowed point of land populated with cedars and pines jutting into Long Island Sound, this scene recalls the exact coloring, size, and proportions of Sunrise Near Darien (oil on panel 14″ x 18″, University of Michigan Museum of Art), though the waters are on the opposite side of the canvas. Both canvases appear side by side in the upper left of the photograph of the Kensett Memorial Exhibition held in 1873 at the National Academy of Design. Both paintings, along with the dramatic sunsets and twilights Kensett recorded while living on Contentment Island, convey an artist engaged with the modernist sensibilities of Tonalism with its emphasis on suggestion over definition, poetry of color over niggling detail, deep feeling over topographies of place. With Early Autumn and other paintings of Contentment Island, Kensett approached the aesthetics of George Inness and John La Farge. Unfortunately, his unexpected death in December 1872 cut short his modernist experiment. PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASEANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Overall good condition. Lower right quadrant has area of bloom in varnish; small pinprick indention near side; and three small gouges near bottom edge, largest 1/4″ L. Top center has 5 scattered semitransparent blue accretions and 2″ diagonal scratch. 1/8″ area of paint loss and accretion at left top corner. Left bottom corner has a 1″ faint splatter accretion 2″ from side. [See more photos →]

Anna Catherine Wiley (Knoxville, TN, 1879-1958), “The Pea Shellers,” impressionist oil on canvas painting depicting three women seated on the porch of an East Tennessee home, Wolf Creek, shelling peas. The women are seated in ladderback chairs, filling woven baskets with green peas while pods accumulate on the floor; sunlight filters through foliage in the background. According to oral history, the three women in the scene are Helen Peck Allen, Nell Allen and “Mary,” a housekeeper. Miss Wiley was a friend of the Allen family and spent summer weeks at the Allen family estate at Wolf Creek, visiting Helen Peck Allen (in whose family this painting has descended). It was during one of these visits that Wiley painted this scene. Wolf Creek was a summer vacation community located in eastern Cocke County, alongside the French Broad River and bordering the Tennessee and North Carolina state line. The Allen house was also known as the Wolf Creek Inn. Note: This painting was exhibited at the Knoxville Museum of Art’s as part of their ongoing exhibit, “Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee”. Wolf Creek was the setting for several Wiley paintings including “Farmstead” and “Indian Woman at Wolf Creek” both illustrated in the 1990 TN State Museum exhibit catalog titled “Southern Impressionist: The Art of Catherine Wiley”, pages 15 and 34. Housed in a later gilt wood frame with egg and dart molded rabbet edge. Sight – 19 1/2″ H x 23 1/8″ W. Framed – 24 1/2″ H x 28 1/2″ W. Provenance: the collection of Helen Peck Allen, by descent to her son David Allen Dashiell, by descent to Georgia Ryan Mott Dashiell. “The art of Catherine Wiley has long been considered one of the more beautiful manifestations of Southern impressionism. Her animated broken brush work, her colorful sun splashed fields and her endearing depictions of genteel ladies and well-dressed children at rest and play seem to suggest a life lived quietly and at peace with the world. Yet her life may well have been far more turbulent, and her descent into the state of madness, which removed her from the world for the last 37 years of her life, far more apparent in her art than simple summations of her importance would imply. Large numbers of women entered the art world towards the end of the 19th century, their pathway smoothed by the arts and crafts route which saw them ushered on from sewing circles and homebased kilns into actual studios where they were taught by the male masters of the day. Catherine Wiley was one of those. She studied at the Art Students League in New York with Frank Vincent Dumond prior to returning to her native Knoxville where she became an associate of Lloyd Branson, the most important local artist of the day. She was a pioneer instructor at the University of Tennessee Art Department and a frequent winner of citations for her work at regional exhibitions, notably acclaimed for most meritorious collection at the Knoxville Appalachian Exposition in 1910. The Pea Shellers, here offered for auction, can be seen as one of the more telling revealing moments in her progress as an artist. Compositional format in her early work is largely horizontal, her decorative figures placed mid-field without any implication of depth or forced perspective. But in The Pea Shellers her subjects have moved inside a shed and are actually at work. Gone is the wide spread vista, replaced by the tri-angular projection of the roof shed over which trailing vine drops into the scene, a spontaneous insertion of nature in motion, as yet untrimmed. Her palette, though still bright, is here more tonal, an essay in the close color harmonics of blue and green which impart a slight shimmer to the otherwise mundane occupation of the inhabitants. This painting is surely mid-career. By 1923 she was painting in a far darker mood. “Under The Arbor,” (Morris Museum of Art) has a well dressed young woman standing at dazed attention beneath a canopy of black leaves, out of place with her setting, even as the setting itself is distant from lush agrarian idealism. By 1925 her mind was gone. One of her final paintings, to be seen at the East Tennessee Historical Society, is so heavily thick with paint that the actual scene itself is unclear, a swirling abstraction lost in space. The Pea Shellers importance springs from what it tells the viewer about Catherine WileyÕs potential, as it seems to indicate that she was beginning to move on from pastoral post card reveries towards an artistic expression more concerned with life than with appearance. It is a painting that can be viewed as evidence that her full potential as an artist was never to be seen by we, her subsequent viewers, for which we are all poorer.”– Estill Curtis Pennington, art historian and author, “Southern Impressionist: The Art of Catherine Wiley,” exhibit catalog for the 1990 exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum. CONDITION: Overall good condition. Two old circular repairs are visible en verso near the upper and lower edges, one measuring 1 3/8″ diameter and the other measuring 1 1/2″ H x 1 5/8″ W. UV light reveals area of touchup to post at lower left corner and to two small areas of beam, upper center, and to a few spots of foliage, upper center. One tiny area of touchup to the area where hair meets upper cheek on the woman facing the viewer and a few tiny scattered spots to background. Some fine scattered cracquelure. [See more photos →]

Carroll Cloar (American, 1913-1993) acrylic on board pointillist painting titled, “The Landlady,” depicting a smiling lady in vivid yellow dress and brown hat, center foreground, with thirteen other well-dressed women, men and children clustered around the porch of a two-story wood farmhouse in the background. Rose bushes and other green foliage and trees under a sunny sky, and the porch on the fan, suggest the setting is a warm summer day. Signed lower right; additionally signed, titled, and dated 1980 en verso. Weathered wood frame with linen liner and gilt rabbet edge. Sight: 28″ H x 39″ W. Framed: 34″ H x 45″ W. Provenance: Private Nashville collection, ex-Dr. Benjamin Caldwell, ex-Forum Gallery, New York. Note: Video footage of Carroll Cloar at work on this painting is featured near the end of a documentary on his life and work, “Friendly Panthers, Hostile Butterflies,” produced by WKNO-TV and currently available to view on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-CMx3NbF3w . Biography: Carroll Cloar was known for incorporating nostalgic images from his Southern childhood, often merged with dreamlike motifs, into powerful magic realist scenes. The artist often noted that literature, particularly by Southern Gothic writers such as William Faulkner or Eudora Welty, influenced his artistic approach. Cloar graduated from Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to study at the Memphis Academy of Arts under the artist George Oberteuffer. In 1936, he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There, Cloar’s achievements earned him a McDowell fellowship which he used to travel across the American Southwest, West Coast and Mexico. Cloar served with the Army Air Corps during World War II and upon his return, he was awarded a Guggenheim traveling scholarship to fund an extended sojourn to Central and South America. Two years later, several of his images were featured in a Life Magazine article titled Backwoods Boyhood, and Cloar’s career went on to receive additional national acclaim. By the mid 1950s, Cloar had settled permanently in Memphis, where he produced paintings, often executed in casein tempera and acrylic paints. His works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooks Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. In 1993, Cloar’s painting, Faculty and Honor Students, Lewis Schoolhouse, was one of six paintings by American artists selected to commemorate the inauguration of President Clinton. (Courtesy of The Johnson Collection/Memphis Brooks Museum of Art). PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASE ANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Overall excellent condition; a couple of insignificant flyspecks to sky area. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951) limestone “Critter” sculpture of a small animal sitting upright on its hind legs, with front legs and feet cast downward, atop a rectangular integral base. 12 1/4″ H x 4 1/2″ W x 8 1/4″ D. Note: This example is stylistically similar to a sculpture sold by Case Antiques in 2011, Lot #190. Provenance: the estate of Leah Levitt, Long Island, New York. While it is unknown exactly when or where Mrs. Levitt and her late husband, David Levitt, acquired this sculpture and the Edmondson “Lady with a Book” sculpture in the preceding lot, both have been in their collection for decades. (The “Lady with a Book” can be seen in the background of several of the Levitt family’s photographs taken in the late 1950s). It is possible Mr. Levitt became familiar with Edmondson, or at least with Edmondson’s work, during the 1940s when in preparation for his work in the Armed Services, he (Levitt) attended French Language training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. By that time, William Edmondson was well known in his hometown of Nashville and beyond, having become the first African American artist to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1937. Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life in Nashville as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as a chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17-year art career. In the 1930s, his work caught the attention of Professor Sidney Hirsch, who worked at Peabody College in Nashville, located just a few blocks from where Edmondson lived (and adjacent to the Vanderbilt campus). Professor Hirsch is credited with introducing Edmondson to well-connected arts patrons Alfred and Elizabeth Starr and Harper’s Bazaar photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Wolfe’s now-famous photographs of Edmondson and his yard full of limestone sculptures brought him to the attention of the New York art world and gained him the acquaintance of Alfred Barr, Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art, resulting in the landmark 1937 exhibit. Although Edmondson’s earliest work was more utilitarian in nature, such as tombstones and birdbaths, as his style matured his subject matter grew to include female figures (frequently based on women he knew from his community), Biblical figures, and various animals. PRE-APPROVAL IS REQUIRED TO BID ON THIS LOT. PLEASE CONTACT CASE ANTIQUES, INC. AT THE KNOXVILLE GALLERY FOR DETAILS. 865-558-3033 or BID@CASEANTIQUES.COM. CONDITION: Overall good condition. Old breaks and losses to front and rear corners on right side of base. Protective felt added to the base. [See more photos →]

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), JANE AVRIL, 1899, original brush lithograph poster printed in four colors (from three stones) on wove paper, printed by H. Stern, Paris. Titled, dated and monogrammed in the stone. Depicts the famous Moulin Rouge dancer with a snake coiled around her dress. Jane Avril was one of Lautrec’s lifelong friends and a devoted patron; this was the final poster commissioned by Avril to advertise her work. To create it, Lautrec used a technique which enabled four different colors to be applied in only three printings. Sheet – 563 mm x 381 mm (22 3/16″ x 15″). Frame – 828.67 mm x 635 mm (32-5/8″ x 25″). Ref. Wittrock P-29B, Delteil 367 II , Adriani 360 III. Note: “Jane Avril” was used as the cover image for the 2014 book accompanying the recent exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art: “The Paris of Toulouse Lautrec: Prints and Posters from the Museum of Modern Art” by Sarah Suzuki. Provenance: From the collection of the late Dan Evins, co-founder of the Cracker Barrel Restaurant chain. CONDITION: Sheet adhered to auxiliary support. Image printed to edges at top and lower sheet edges, left side with 10 mm margin. General toning and fading overall; examined out of frame, less faded colors are evident in 5 mm sections at bottom of sheet edge and top left edge where they have been covered by a mat. Five repaired tears, largest being 48 mm, smallest being 3 mm; two on left sheet edge, one at top and two on right sheet edge. Hinge mounted. [See more photos →]

Carroll Cloar (American/Tennessee, 1913-1994) framed acrylic on board titled “Weeping Willow,” depicting a solitary older man sitting on the porch of a white Victorian house, under a bright sky, with verdant and immaculately clipped lawn in the foreground. An expansive weeping willow encroaches on the left side of the house, creating shadows across the porch. Signed lower left “Carroll Cloar” and additionally signed, titled, and dated July 1967 en verso. Housed in the original painted wooden frame with gilt liner. Sight – 22 1/2″ H x 33 1/2″ W. Framed – 29″ H x 39 1/2″ W. Biography (Courtesy of The Johnson Collection): Arkansas-born Carroll Cloar was known for incorporating nostalgic images from his Southern childhood, often merged with dreamlike motifs, into powerful “magic realist” scenes. Cloar graduated from Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to study at the Memphis Academy of Arts under the artist George Oberteuffer. In 1936, he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There, Cloar’s achievements earned him a McDowell fellowship which he used to travel across the American Southwest, West Coast and Mexico. Cloar served with the Army Air Corps during World War II and was deployed to Saipan and Iwo Jima. Upon his return from the war, he was awarded a Guggenheim traveling scholarship to fund an extended sojourn to Central and South America in 1946. Two years later, several of his images were featured in a Life Magazine article titled “Backwoods Boyhood,” and Cloar’s career went on to receive additional national acclaim. By the mid 1950s, Cloar had settled permanently in Memphis, where he produced paintings, often executed in casein tempera and acrylic paints. His works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooks Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. In 1993, Cloar’s painting “Faculty and Honor Students, Lewis Schoolhouse” was one of six paintings by American artists selected to commemorate the inauguration of President Clinton. CONDITION: Painting overall excellent condition. Frame with some chips to corner. [See more photos →]

Beauford Delaney (American, 1901 – 1979) oil on canvas of his mother, Delia Delaney. Subject attired in green with a white collar, yellow background. Signed lower right corner, “Beauford Delaney 1963” (or 1964). Executed in Paris, Beauford painted this oil on canvas of his mother from memory. Author David Leeming writes, “Beauford Delaney’s early life was dominated by the powerful figure of his mother, Delia Johnson Delaney, a strict, proud woman who upheld what she saw as the Christian virtues. She punctuated lessons on forbearance, patience, self-control, and turning the other cheek with songs.” (Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney). In 1865, Delia was born into slavery in Richmond, married and had 10 children in the Knoxville, TN area (only 4 children lived past the age of 20 years old). Delia Delaney died in 1958. This work was exhibited in “Beauford Delaney: A Retrospective”, The Studio Museum in New York, 1978, with a full page color illustration in the exhibition catalog, #10. This work is also referenced in “Hidden Treasures: Beauford and Joseph Delaney of Knoxville, Tennessee”, Volume 24, Number 1 (1997). Verso on central stretcher support, “Mother’s portrait” in black marker script, “Beauford” label, Ollendorf Fine Art moving label, and other inventory annotations. 25 1/8″ x 20 7/8″ sight, 26″ x 21 1/2″ framed. Provenance – Delaney Estate, Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, court-appointed administrator. CONDITION: Minor exfoliation above head, light lifting of paint to hair above left ear, background around head. [See more photos →]

The only known lifetime oil portrait of Bonnie Scotland, premier stallion of Belle Meade Plantation, with chief groom Robert “Uncle Bob” Green, painted and dated 1879 by Herbert S. Kittredge (American, 1853- 1881). The iconic painting depicts Bonnie Scotland standing in a field under a partly cloudy blue sky, beside Green, who is attired in a white apron, dark pants and a hat; two trees and a fence are visible in the background. Housed in a molded giltwood frame with title placard front center. Sight – 24″ H x 28″W. Framed – 33 1/2″ H x 38 1/2″W. Provenance: The Harding Family of Belle Meade Plantation, by descent to present consignor. Note: Most of the Kentucky Derby winners of the twentieth century, and a significant number of other important thoroughbreds, can trace their lineage to Bonnie Scotland. The stallion was foaled in 1853 in Malton, England by Iago out of Queen Mary by Gladiator, and originally owned by William l’Anson. Bonnie Scotland overcame an injury at age 2 and went on to win the Liverpool St. Leger, but collapsed while winning the Doncaster Stakes, and was retired to stud at the age of 3. His great fame ultimately came not as an English racehorse, but as one of America’s great sires. He was imported to New York in 1857 by Captain Cornish of Massachusetts and stood at John Reeber’s Fashion Stud in Lancaster, Ohio, and Col. W.F. Harper’s farm Nantura in Woodford, Kentucky. Other owners included J.C. Simpson of Chicago, Illinois, and C.C. Parks of Waukegan, Illinois. Although the Civil War disrupted the sport of racing in America, Bonnie Scotland spent the early 1860s siring runners that would go on to successful track careers, including Dangerous, Malcolm, Bourbon Belle, and Frogtown. In 1872, General William Harding purchased Bonnie Scotland and brought him to Belle Meade, where the stallion was bred with higher quality mares and established one of the most important sire lines in America. According to American Classic Pedigrees, he was the leading sire in America (1880 and 1882, runner up in 1868 and 1871), and “his progeny were known for good looks, balance, and overall soundness.” Clio Hogan’s Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967 credits him with 21 stakes winners. Some of the famous horses from his line include Bramble, Man-O-War, Sea Biscuit, War Admiral, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and most recently, California Chrome. Bonnie Scotland died at Belle Meade in 1880, one year after this portrait was painted, having helped build Belle Meade’s reputation as one of the great thoroughbred horse breeding nurseries in the world. Robert (Bob) Green was in charge of all the thoroughbreds at Belle Meade, a position which earned him international recognition. Born a slave, he was brought to Belle Meade in 1839 and thanks to his skill with horses, he soon became General Harding’s right hand man, with four grooms working under his supervision. Green is credited with saving several horses from injury during an ill-fated railroad trip to New York, which was jeopardized by the Johnstown Flood of 1889. Following emancipation, Green became Belle Meade’s highest paid employee, declining an offer from Fairview Farm in order to stay on with the Hardings. He led President Grover Cleveland on a tour of Belle Meade in 1887. According to Belle Meade Plantation’s website, near the end of his life, Green was forced to move from the property where he had lived and worked for decades. His request to be buried there was granted in 1906, and he rests on the grounds today in an unmarked grave. Artist biography: Herbert Kittredge’s untimely death at the age of 28 cut short a blossoming career in sporting art. Little is known about his youth and training. According to the book “Animal and Sporting Artists in America,” in 1876, “the noted American thoroughbred breeder Randolph Huntington encouraged [Kittredge] to make equine portraiture his career while living on Huntington’s stud in New York. Kittredge was commissioned to execute drawings of Leopard, an Arabian stallion, and Linden Tree, a Barbary stallion, both presented to General Ulysses S. Grant by the Sultan of Turkey in 1879.” Kittredge’s death at the age of 28 was reported in Wallace’s Monthly, which stated in an editorial that “his first serious attempt to delineate a horse, so far as we know, may be found in the MONTHLY for October 1878.” The young artist had come to the Wallace offices that year with a letter of introduction from Powell Bros. of Springboro, PA, and amazed the editors with his proofs of engravings of a Powell horse and several others. In fact, the magazine called Kittredge “the greatest and truest of all horse delineators the the world ever produced. We have studied the great masters, ancient and modern, and with the single exception of Rosa Bonheur we have never seen one who could equal Kittredge.” (Vol. 8, p. 694). The Hardings of Belle Meade were known to have commissioned works from America’s finest sporting artists. Edward Troye (1808-1874) was an early favorite. After Kittredge’s death, they engaged artists including Thomas Scott (see lot #111 in this auction) and Canadian-American painter Henry Stull (1851-1913) to paint portraits of their best horses. CONDITION: Painting is in very good condition with no areas of concerning deterioration. Fine to moderate craquelure overall, and canvas has been relined and trimmed. Blacklighting indicates areas of inpainting located near man’s arms, under horse, and to right side of sky. Various pinhole losses across top of sky and minor loss to top left corner. Stretcher crease length of canvas 2 ¾” from bottom edge. [See more photos →]

(3 items) – Carroll Cloar (Tennessee, 1913-1993) acrylic on board painting titled, The Waiting, depicting figures standing in an open field, a brick building in the background covered with FS Chapell The Rabbit’s Foot Minstrel show advertising posters and a solitary seated figure in the foreground, wearing a bee keeper’s head gear/suit and eating an apple. Signed lower right Carroll Cloar. Titled, signed and dated 1-83 en verso, label for New York Forum Gallery. Housed in a silver-gilt molded frame. Sight – 22″ H x 33 1/8″ W. Framed – 29″ H x 40 1/2″ W. Also included with this painting is the original pencil study for the painting, signed and dated by the artist, 23″ H x 33″ W. Note: This painting was featured in the exhibit and used as the catalog cover for CARROLL CLOAR: TIMELESS TALES OF THE SOUTH at Belmont University in Nashvillle, May 22-July 13, 2003. A poster for the exhibit accompanies this lot, 24″ H x 33″ W. Provenance: The estate of Dr. Benjamin H. Caldwell, Nashville, Tennessee. Biography (Courtesy of The Johnson Collection): Arkansas-born Carroll Cloar was known for incorporating nostalgic images from his Southern childhood, often merged with dreamlike motifs, into powerful magic realist scenes. Cloar graduated from Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to study at the Memphis Academy of Arts under the artist George Oberteuffer. In 1936, he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There, Cloar’s achievements earned him a McDowell fellowship which he used to travel across the American Southwest, West Coast and Mexico. Cloar served with the Army Air Corps during World War II and was deployed to Saipan and Iwo Jima. Upon his return from the war, he was awarded a Guggenheim traveling scholarship to fund an extended sojourn to Central and South America in 1946. Two years later, several of his images were featured in a Life Magazine article titled Backwoods Boyhood, and Cloar’s career went on to receive additional national acclaim. By the mid 1950s, Cloar had settled permanently in Memphis, where he produced paintings, often executed in casein tempera and acrylic paints. His works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooks Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. In 1993, Cloar’s painting, Faculty and Honor Students, Lewis Schoolhouse, was one of six paintings by American artists selected to commemorate the inauguration of President Clinton. CONDITION: Painting: Very good condition. Darker areas of varnish indicate that the varnish layer may not have been applied evenly. Frame with minor scattered abrasions, primarily lower left corner. Study: Pin-pricks to upper corners. Poster: Some bending top and bottom margins, 1/2 tear lower margin, pin-pricks to corners. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (Tennessee, c. 1884-1951) limestone “Varmint’ sculpture of a small animal sitting alert on its back haunches with both front feet together, paws cast downward. 12-1/2″ H x 5″ W x 7 3/4” D. Provenance: purchased directly from the artist in the 1940s by the consignor’s parents, Howard Chandler Jordon and Whitley Jarman Jordon Potter, who were friends and patrons of Edmondson. The consignor, who accompanied her mother on the visit to Edmondson’s Nashville home to purchase this piece, remembers Edmondson distinctly telling her that the subject was a ‘varmint.’ A photo of the consignor as a child, at home with the sculpture, is included in this lot along with an affidavit certifying provenance, signed by the consignor. Artist information: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. Biblical figures, women, and animals were frequent subjects, although he also produced more utilitarian items such as tombstones and birdbaths. In 1937 Edmondson became the first African American to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. He is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century and his works are in several major museums. Condition: Overall excellent condition. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee,1874-1951) carved limestone sculpture of a squirrel, sitting on its haunches and eating a nut, atop an integral carved base. Exhibited, “William Edmondson: A Retrospective,” Tennessee State Museum, 1981 (see exhibition catalog of same name, Georganne Fletcher, ed., p. 65, no. 100). Sculpture measures 12-3/4″ H x 5″W x 8″D. Provenance: The collection of Robert and Deborah Street of Nashville, a gift from the artist to the late Mrs. Claude P. Street. Edmondson’s sister, Sarah, worked for the Streets, and the artist was a frequent visitor to their home. He gave this sculpture as a gift to Mrs. Street for her garden, where it remained for many years. Street family members exhibited a photograph of Sarah Edmondson in the same exhibit (see exhibit catalog, p. 92, no. 112). Affidavit from family members is included with this lot, along with additional paperwork related to the exhibition loan. Biography: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. Biblical figures, women, and animals were frequent subjects, although he also produced more utilitarian items such as tombstones and birdbaths. In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. He is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. Condition: Surface weathering, small chips and roughness consistent with the medium and as made. [See more photos →]

Philip Leslie Hale (Massachusetts, 1865-1931), “La Donna” (“Mi Velata”), oil on canvas painting depicting a young woman in white dress with enigmatic expression, looking out from behind a “veil” of black lace curtains. Housed in a handcarved and painted wooden frame. 39_H x 25_W sight, 45_H x 31_W framed. Provenance – the estate of Margaret Wemyss Connor, Nashville, TN; Sotheby’s December 1st, 1998 sale, lot 00172; private collection; Vose Galleries, Boston; the artist (detailed notes available on request). Biography: A member of the Boston School of painters, Philip Leslie Hale’s reputation as an artist was somewhat overshadowed during his lifetime by his teaching and writing. As a young man he studied painting at the Boston Museum School with Edmund Tarbell (who remained an indelible influence), privately with William Merritt Chase, and at the Art Students League in New York with J. Alden Weir. He furthered his art education in Europe, studying in Paris at the Academie Julien and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and visiting the major museums of Europe, where he was said to be influenced by the French Impressionists Sisley and Pissarro and by Vermeer. He lived in Giverny for a time and was acquainted with Claude Monet. After studying abroad for over a decade, he returned to America and was given a one man show. Although he painted a variety of subjects over the years, he is best recognized for his decorative paintings of the female figure and his landscapes. In 1902 he married respected fellow artist Lillian Westcott Hale. Philip Hale went on to build a reputation as an instructor, critic and writer, teaching at the Boston Museum School and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and authoring several books (including a study on Vermeer in 1913). A retrospective of his work at Vose Galleries of Boston in 1966 helped reignite interest in his paintings. Source: Michael David Zellman, “300 Years of American Art,” Vose Galleries, Pierce Galleries. Condition: Relined. Blacklight reveals scattered inpainting, particularly on subject’s facial area including on forehead, under one eye and in crevice of nose, possibly on lips as well. [See more photos →]

Pair of Tennessee portraits by Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl (1788-1838), unsigned, oil on canvas, depicting Thomas Claiborne Jr. (b. Petersburg, Virginia, 1780- d. Nashville, Tennessee ,1856) in white linen shirt with tie, waistcoat and brass buttoned coat and a woman, likely his wife Sarah Lewis King Claiborne (1786-1867); in lace bonnet with yellow and purple ribbon and emerald green dress. Both housed in original matching 19th century gilt wood and composition slope-molding frames with corner leaf and scroll decoration, European, one with original framer’s label verso. Both portraits measure: Sight – 29 1/2″ H x 24 1/2″ W. Framed – 42″ H x 37″ W. Circa 1825. Provenance: Descended in the Claiborne Family through Henry (Harry) Laurens Claiborne; sold to dealer Charles Elder of Nashville, Tennessee; sold to Dr. Benjamin Caldwell circa 1960s; acquired from the Caldwell auction in 2006 by a Maryville, TN collector. †These portraits were exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum’s Exhibit, “Portrait Painting in Tennessee,” in 1988 and are illustrated and discussed in the catalog of the same name (ref. The Tennessee Historical Quarterly, winter 1987, p. 210). They have also been exhibited at Cheekwood Fine Arts Center in Nashville (dates unknown). Note: Thomas A. Claiborne served as a major on Andrew Jackson’s staff during the Creek War and in the Tennessee House of Representatives for two terms, 1811-1815 and 1831-1833. He became a U.S. Representative to Congress for Tennessee 1817-1819. Claiborne was also a Mason, and served as Grand Master of Tennessee from 1813-1814. Biography (Courtesy of James C. Kelly, Virginia Historical Society, Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 1998): Ralph E. W. Earl was the son of Connecticut painter Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Earl studied under his father in Northhampton, Massachusetts, before traveling to London in 1809 to study under Benjamin West and John Trumbull. In 1817, Earl arrived in Nashville to paint General Andrew Jackson, the hero of the battle of New Orleans. Later that year, in Natchez, he met and married Jane Caffrey, Rachel Jackson’s niece. She died the next year, but Earl moved into the Hermitage and would from then on remain in Jackson’s circle, accompanying the newly elected president to Washington. During the next eight years, Earl turned out numerous paintings of Jackson. Politicians, especially Democrats, knew it “did not hurt to order a portrait of General Jackson from Earl.” He painted many of Jacksonís friends and a few of his foes. Earl returned to the Hermitage with Jackson in 1837 and died there in September 1838. CONDITION: 1st item (Mr. Claiborne): Relined. Overall craquelure. Heavy varnish. Areas of inpainting on face and blouse and some minor scattered inpainting in background. Frame: Top left corner area reinforced and top right corner molding repaired and reglued. 2nd item (Mrs. Claiborne): Relined. Overall craquelure. Heavy varnish. Areas of inpainting on face and background. Area of repainting in green dress at base of image, approximately 4″ x 1″ then 2″ x 10″. Frame: Losses to corners lower left, lower right (1″ x 2″) and upper right. [See more photos →]

Continental School bust length view of a young man with shoulder length dark hair, black clothes, and a white collar, against a dark background. Housed in a carved giltwood frame. Stretcher with mortise joinery. Previous owner’s note on back attributes the painting to Bartolome Esteban Murillo (Spain, 1617-1682) or one of his students. Sight – 18 3/8″ H x 15 3/4″ W. Framed – 25 1/2″ H x 22 1/2″ W. Late 17th/Early 18th century. Provenance: The estate of Jean A. Yeatman and Harry C. Yeatman, formerly of Hamilton Place Plantation (near Columbia, Tennessee). CONDITION: Varnish irregularities and darkened in certain areas. Canvas showing expected crackelure. Scattered cracks and minor losses to frame. [See more photos →]

William Oliver the Younger (France/United Kingdom, 1823-1901) oil on canvas painting depicting a smiling, dark haired young beauty, seated upon a bench and attired in a white dress with an elaborate black lace wrap, with a pink rose behind her left ear and a holding a fan in her left hand; a man attired in a black hat and brown cloak leans on the edge of the bench behind her, gazing attentively. Signed and dated "W. Oliver 1878" lower left. Housed in an elaborate and possibly original gilt carved and gesso rococo style frame. Sight – 17 3/4" H x 14 1/2" W. Framed – 24 3/4" H x 21 1/2" W. CONDITION: Painting in overall good condition with an old wax relining, scattered craquelure. Circular shaped fiber in varnish layer, top right quadrant. Frame with minor gilt losses to the upper right corner and losses with gilt touch up and losses to all of the rear corners. [See more photos →]

William Edmondson (American/Tennessee, 1874-1951) carved limestone sculpture of a rabbit with raised paws, sitting on its hind legs, atop a rectangular integral base. 16 5/8″ H x 5″ W x 7 1/2″ D. Rabbits were popular subject matter for Edmondson. A very similar rabbit is visible in the background of a photograph of Edmondson’s yard taken in 1941 by photographer Edward Weston (ref. Edmund L. Fuller, “Visions In Stone: the Sculpture of William Edmondson”, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973, pages 7 and 9), and six rabbits were exhibited in the William Edmondson retrospective exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum in 1981 (ref. exhibit catalog, p. 64, for an example closely related to this one). Provenance: Private Pennsylvania Collection. Biography: William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and worked most of his life as a railroad employee and janitor. A spiritual experience at the age of 57 prompted him to begin sculpting limestone using a railroad spike as chisel, and he claimed divine inspiration for the works produced during his 17 year art career. In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, and he is regarded as one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. CONDITION: Repaired break to subject’s right ear and very old, tight repaired break to subject’s right arm. General erosion and weathering, particularly to details of subject’s lower left front and rear paws, ear tips, and to subject’s right side. Small 1″ chip to lower right side of base. Moss remnants to surface. [See more photos →]

Large William Louis Sonntag (American, 1822-1900) oil on canvas landscape depicting a naturalistic mountain scene. Housed in the original gilt carved frame. Sight – 54 1/4″ W x 66″ H. Framed – 64 1/4″ W x 76″ H. This painting was purchased directly from William Sonntag in 1874 and is documented in a letter William Sonntag wrote R. H. Armstrong of Knoxville, TN stating, “I have shipped(?sp) the picture you specified(?sp) from my work and would like for(?sp) you to purchase it at the price you named..” Sonntag goes on to discuss the style of lettering done on the back of the painting is “the way I did it then and the way I do it now.” The letter is signed “Yours truly W. L. Sonntag 120 East 22nd St.”. This original letter has been lost but the 35 mm color slides and digital copies of the letter accompany this lot. Provenance: Descended directly through the Armstrong family of Knoxville, Tennessee. Previously exhibited at the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Dulin Art Gallery (Knoxville’s predecessor to the Knoxville Museum of Art). Biography (Courtesy David Michael Zellman, 300 Years of American Art, Peter Falk “Who Was Who in American Art” and Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook): A native Pennsylvanian, William Sonntag Sr. was a landscape painter associated with the Hudson River School. He is best remembered for his romantic depictions of the American wilderness and “idealized visions of classical Italian ruins” that “reflect the influence of the eighteenth-century neoclassical tradition of English literature and painting” (Zellman, 195). At some point in the 1840s, he moved to Cincinnati where it is thought he studied at the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts under Godfrey Frankenstein. From the early 1840s to the mid-1850s, he had a studio in Cincinnati and made numerous painting trips in the Ohio River Valley and into the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky. His style of grandeur, sweeping vistas, and dramatic renderings were much influenced by Thomas Cole. In Cincinnati, his store-front gallery exhibition got the attention of a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad official who commissioned Sonntag to paint a series of landscapes along the B & O railroad route. Those works were positively received at the Western Art Union shows and helped advance his career. In 1853, Sonntag took his first trip to Europe and returned in 1855 for a year’s study in Florence, Italy. The latter part of his career, he lived in New York. He created panoramas with John C. Wolfe depicting Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and he also traveled with Arthur Tait painting Catskill landscapes. In 1861, he became an associate member of the National Academy of Design and exhibited his work regularly there for the next 40 years until his death. Condition: Conserved and canvas laid on aluminum board in 1974 by Cumberland Art Conservation. Some minor inpainting noted under black light. Rubbing noted to the perimeter of canvas. Losses to the gilt carved frame. Overall light craquelure. [See more photos →]

An important panoramic East Tennessee landscape oil on canvas by Thomas Campbell (1834-1914, born in England, active Tennessee). Titled on back “Tenn Mill and Mine”, showing a mill in the foreground and a large factory complex in the background right. Provenance – Calderwood Lodge of Calderwood Dam, Tennessee. Condition – overall excellent condition, uncleaned surface, a few areas with tiny flaking. Dimensions 39 1/4″ length x 21 1/4″ canvas, 29″ x 47″ carved gilt frame. Late 19th/Early 20th century. [See more photos →]

Evgeni Alexandrovich Lanceray (Russian, 1848-1886) large patinated bronze “Capture of a Wild Kirghiz Horse”, inscribed E. Lanceray in cyrillic, with foundry mark for F. Chopin in cyrillic, both marks on the base. Mounted on a bronze base with a frieze depicting the herding of wild horses. 17 1/2″ H x 25″ L x 12″ D. Condition: Original lasso pole and rope from rider to wild horse is missing. Old patina. Some oxidation and a couple of areas of bruising and abrasions to the surface. [See more photos →]

Basil Blackshaw, RUA, (Irish, b. 1932), oil on canvas painting, possibly a study, depicting a progression of three figures riding on horseback, set against a hazy sky; the horses wear exercise hoods while their heads are shrouded in fly masks. Signed lower left. 29″ x 29″ sight, 31′ x 31″ framed. Biography (courtesy Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook, and the Online Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art): Basil Blackshaw was born in Glengormley, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and is noted for his expressionist, even abstract, approach to traditional paintings, as well as his sports paintings and portraits, He attended Methodist College in Belfast and studied at the Belfast College of Art from 1948 to 1951, and was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris. A master in the technical skills of painting, Blackshaw is highly regarded for his loose application of paint and very distinctive use of color. His pictures of horse racing and boxing are especially popular but his compositions also include dogs, landscapes, rural life, and city scenes. In 1995, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland organized a major retrospective of Blackshaw’s artwork which traveled from Belfast to Dublin, Cork, and many galleries in the United States. In 2001, he won the Glen Dimplex Award for Sustained Contribution to the Visual Arts in Ireland. He was elected as an associate of the Royal Ulster Academy of the Arts in 1977, and an Academician in 1981. He is a member of the eminent group of Irish artists, Aosdana. Provenance: the estate of Lucille Svitzer Brady (Mrs. Frank B. Brady), formerly of Annapolis, Maryland. Condition: Excellent condition. [See more photos →]

Leon Augustin Lhermitte, also spelled L’hermitte (French, 1844-1925), “Fenaison,” or “Haymaking,” oil on canvas painting depicting workers in a field; three women and one man work under a sunny sky, harvesting hay to build a haystack while more figures, haystacks and a hut are visible in the background, set against a treeline. Signed lower left, “L. Lhermitte”. Housed in a giltwood molded Rococo style frame; plaque lower center with artist’s name and life dates. Sight – 17 3/4″ H x 21 3/4″ W. (45 cm x 55 cm). Framed – 27″ H x 31″ W. Circa 1917. Note: this painting is illustrated as no. 238 on page 150 in “Leon Augustin Lhermitte: Catalog Raisonne,” by Monique Le Pelley Fonteny (Paris: Editions Cercle d’art, 1991). The catalog entry states that it is a smaller version of Lhermitte’s circa 1890 painting, “Fenaison au Soleil.” Provenance: Private Nashville collection. Biography (source: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza): “Leon Lhermitte was born in the French region Aisne, as the son of a school teacher. In 1863 he went to Paris as a pupil of the Ecole Imperiale de Dessin, where he had the same teacher as Rodin, the well known Lecoq de Boisbaudran. A year later one of his drawings was admitted at the Salon in Paris; his first painting was accepted in 1866. In 1869 he went to London where he met Alphonse Legros, who eventually introduced him to the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. Lhermitte’s works sold well at Durand-Ruel’s gallery in New Bond Street. One of his paintings, “The Harvest ,” was awarded with a medal at the Paris Salon of 1874. In that period he made several trips to Bretagne. Degas invited Lhermitte to participate in the fourth exhibition of the Impressionists, but Lhermitte refused. His painting “The Payment of the Harvesters” was one of the highlights of the collection of the new Musee du Luxembourg in Paris. The art gallery Boussod, Valadon et Cie., signed a contract with Lhermitte for the exclusive rights to sell his paintings. Boussod and Valadon were the successors of the famous Goupil Gallery, which employed both Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo as sales assistants. The French Government asked Lhermitte to decorate the Salle des Commissions in the Sorbonne, and the city of Paris invited him to make a monumental painting for the decoration of the new Hotel de Ville. At the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, Lhermitte was represented with seven paintings. He was created officer of the Legion d’Honneur and made a member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. After the Great War, his health, which had never been very good, deteriorated and made it very difficult for him to continue his work. In his last years he only produced some pastels”. CONDITION: Painting is in excellent condition with no evidence of relining. Previous frame abrasions evident left, bottom, and right sides. UV light reveals 1 1/4″L area inpainting top right near forked hay. 1″ H x 2″ W area of scratching lower right between two women. Graphite pencil mark to right of signature evident. Negligible dot of loss middle of left edge. En verso thinning of canvas evident with previous tack holes and wear to edges. See blacklight photos. [See more photos →]

Portrait of Andrew Jackson by William Stewart Watson (Scottish, 1800-1870), signed lower right ” Stewart Watson/Pinxt 1836″. Watson is believed to have painted in both America and Europe for several years before settling in Edinburgh. He is primarily known for his portraits, including miniatures, and paintings of historical subjects. Condition – Professionally conserved in 2001. Blacklighting reveals inpainting/restoration to areas around the eyes, nose, and forehead. A couple of areas fluoresce in the right hairline area, one small area fluoresces in the chest area, and one to the background. Conservation report available to the successful bidder. Sight – 27 1/4″ Height x 23 1/4″ Width. Framed – 34 1/4″ Height x 31″ Width. Provenance – By family oral tradition, a gift from President Jackson to Colonel Albert James Pickett(1810-1858) when Pickett visited Jackson at The Hermitage in 1837. The painting was given to his daughter Mary Pickett Harris and descended through her family. The great-grandchild of Mary Pickett Harris consigned the portrait with Christie’s in 2001 where the present consignor acquired the portrait. Albert Pickett was a prominent writer and Alabama historian who was influential in Alabama politics during the second quarter of the 19th century. Pickett was a Jacksonian Democrat who was instrumental in organizing a counter-response to a group of Alabama anti-Jackson States Rights legislators who were successful in 1835 in endorsing Judge Hugh White of TN for President over Martin Van Buren. President Jackson presented Pickett with this portrait as a result of his loyalty. [See more photos →]

Frits Thaulow (Norway/France, 1847-1906), oil on canvas moonlight canal scene. Signed lower right. Original large, deep and elaborate giltwood and composition frame with swept edges, carved shells and scrolls at corners and centers interspersed with carved flowers, and an inner shell and scroll border. Old 5th Avenue, New York framer’s label en verso and small Minneapolis Institute of Art label, number L8 84. 31-1/2″ H x 39″ W sight, 46″ H x 53″ W x 5″ D framed. Provenance: Originally owned by gilded age industrialist John Warne Gates, also known as “Bet-A-Million Gates,” who made millions selling barbed wire and was a founder of the Texas company that would later become known as Texaco. Upon Gates’ death, the painting was inherited by his only son Charles Gilbert Gates. When Charles Gates died at the age of 37 while on a Western big game hunting trip, the painting passed to his young widow, Florence Hopwood Gates Judd, and has descended in her family to the present consignor. The painting was exhibited at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1915 (see The Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, May 1915). Biography: (Courtesy Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook): Norweigan-born Frits Thaulow (alternate spelling: Fritz Thaulow ) was a brother in law of Paul Gaugin, cousin to Edvard Munch, and a close friend of Claude Monet. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen before moving to Paris in the 1870s, where his paintings, particularly those involving complex reflections of water, were well received. Upon his return, in the 1880s he was acclaimed as Oslo’s foremost painter. He also founded the progressive Artists’ Union and served as its president. It was Thaulow who encouraged Monet to travel with him to Norway to paint snow scenes in 1895. Thaulow himself traveled throughout Europe in pursuit of subject matter, which owed more to French Realism than Impressionism. Condition: Light 2″ scratch in the lower left quadrant in water. About a dozen minuscule (pinpoint-sized) scattered areas of paint loss, mainly to the lower half (possibly white paint splatters). Scattered all over light craquelure. Thin, 2″ long scratch or line of paint loss at lower center rabbet edge. Blacklight reveals 3 areas of inpainting to sky, largest 1″, and 3 areas of inpainting to lower left quadrant in water, largest 1″L. Frame exhibits several large cracks and some apparent repairs, particularly to the left side. [See more photos →]

Carroll Cloar (Tennessee, 1913-1993) acrylic on board painting titled “Black Angus”, depicting six black cows in an orange/brown grassy field with barn and barren trees in the background, all under a bright blue sky. Signed, dated and titled en verso “Black Angus/Carroll Cloar/May 1967/Acrylic”. Housed in an ebonized and parcel gilt wood frame. Sight – 11 3/8″ H x 15 1/2″ W. Framed – 16 1/2″ H x 20 5/8″ W. Circa 1967. Provenance: Painting was given by the artist to a friend who lived in Memphis, and has descended in her family. Biography (Courtesy of The Johnson Collection): Arkansas-born Carroll Cloar was known for incorporating nostalgic images from his Southern childhood, often merged with dreamlike motifs, into powerful magic realist scenes. Cloar graduated from Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to study at the Memphis Academy of Arts under the artist George Oberteuffer. In 1936, he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There, Cloar’s achievements earned him a McDowell fellowship which he used to travel across the American Southwest, West Coast and Mexico. Cloar served with the Army Air Corps during World War II and was deployed to Saipan and Iwo Jima. Upon his return from the war, he was awarded a Guggenheim traveling scholarship to fund an extended sojourn to Central and South America in 1946. Two years later, several of his images were featured in a Life Magazine article titled Backwoods Boyhood, and Cloar’s career went on to receive additional national acclaim. By the mid 1950s, Cloar had settled permanently in Memphis, where he produced paintings, often executed in casein tempera and acrylic paints. His works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooks Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. In 1993, Cloar’s painting, Faculty and Honor Students, Lewis Schoolhouse, was one of six paintings by American artists selected to commemorate the inauguration of President Clinton. CONDITION: Overall excellent condition. [See more photos →]

Victor Coleman Anderson (Texas/New York, 1882-1937) oil on canvas painting, together with three pencil studies for this work. 1st item: Victor Anderson oil on canvas titled “Barn Swallow – Children Playing in Hay Loft”, circa 1935. Depicting children swinging from the rafters of a barn onto the hay below, signed lower right, Victor C. Anderson. Likely housed in the original molded giltwood frame, attributed to Newcomb Macklin. Mongerson Wunderlich Galleries, Chicago label en verso, lower left. Sight – 29 7/8″ H x 24 1/2″ W. Framed – 34 3/8″ H x 29 1/2″ W. 2nd item: Vertical pencil sketch on paper, depicting female swinging from hook central, titled sketches for ‘Barn Swallows’ Helen Costello, Dick Anderson, Harry Bohenlos, upper mid-margin. Float mounted in a contemporary gilt frame. Sight – 10″ H x 6 1/2″ W. Framed 17″ H x 13″ W. 3rd item: Horizontal pencil sketch on paper, depicting several figures swinging and sliding, titled, signed and dated Jumping in the barn/ July 15, 1935/ VCA Large Oil ‘Barn Swallows’. Float mounted in a contemporary gilt frame. Sight – 8 1/2″ H x 11″ W. Framed – 15 5/8″ H x 18 1/4″ W. 4th item: Horizontal pencil sketch on paper, titled, signed and dated Helen and Dick/ VCA /July 22, 1935. Float mounted in a contemporary gilt frame. Sight – 8 1/2″ H x 11″ W. Framed – 15 5/8″ H x 18 1/4″ W. Provenance: This painting descended directly from the artist’s daughter Joan Anderson Howe. It was exhibited at Illustration House in 1989 and previously exhibited at Mongerson-Wunderlich Galleries in Chicago circa 1985. Letter of provenance from Illustration House, Inc., New York, accompanies this lot. Biography (courtesy Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook): A painter and illustrator who lived briefly in Texas in the early 1930s, Victor Anderson spent most of his life in New York state, settling in White Plains where he died in 1937. He was the son of Frank Anderson, a Hudson River School painter, and although his father died when he was eight years old, Victor drew and painted from the time he was a youngster. When he enrolled in the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he was accomplished enough to go directly into the life-drawing class. He studied with Birge Harrison at Woodstock, New York during one summer and also took classes from Hobart Nichols and Herman Dudley Murphy. In New York City, while he maintained a high-powered illustration career, he was an active fine-art painter and had memberships and exhibited at the Grand Central Art Galleries, Salmagundi Club and National Academy of Design. As an illustrator, he did commission work for magazines including Life, Woman’s Home Companion, Collier’s, Country Gentlemen and The Ladies Home Journal. He illustrated two children’s books, Tommy Trot’s Visit to Santa Claus and Moonbeam Wish Book. CONDITION: 1st item: Overall very good condition. Re-lined with new stretchers and wax treatment to back of canvas. Please refer to blacklight photos. 2nd-4th items: All three (3) sketches are in good condition with slight burn, curling, and losses to edges. [See more photos →]

Henri Jean Guillaume Martin (French, 1860-1943), oil on canvas pointillist painting depicting a vineyard worker in a field, standing atop a wagon and working at a grape press. We wish to thank Marie-Anne Destrebecq-Martin, wife of Henri Jean Guillaume Martin’s grandson, Cyrille Martin, for adding this work to the Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin Catalog Raisonne and identifying it as a study for “Les Vendanges,” a triptych mural created by Martin circa 1927 for the Lot Prefecture Hotel in Cahors, France. The mural, located in a staircase leading to the General Council Hall, celebrates the importance of wine making in the region. (The triptych and more information about its history may be viewed here: http://henri-martin.net/troisieme-partie-le-decorateur/chapitre-iv-les-oeuvres-de-la-vieillesse/c-celebration-de-la-vigne-decoration-de-cahors-et-de-beziers/1-cahors-lescalier-dhonneur-de-la-prefecture/ ). Label en verso for Kurt E. Schon Ltd. Galleries (Vienna and New Orleans). Titled on brass plaque on front of frame, “L’Homme au Pressoir” and on remnants of other old paper label en verso. 24″ x 15″ canvas, 29″ x 20″ framed. Provenance: the collection of Mr. and Mrs. H.R. Slaymaker, Nashville, Tennessee, purchased from Kurt Schon Galleries, New Orleans, 1988 (receipt accompanies lot). Biography: French Neo-Impressionist painter Henri Martin lived most of his life in Marquayrol, near Bastide-du-Vert. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris starting in 1880, and won a medal at the 1883 Salon. A few years later, influenced by Georges Seurat and Edmond Aman-Jean, he began experimenting with pointillism, applying dots and stripes of color in order to capture the vibrant light of the South of France in his landscapes. It would become his signature style. Martin was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1896, won a gold medal at La Fete de la Federation in 1889, and in 1900 won the grand prize at the Exposition Universelle. He was named Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1914. (Source: Askart, Musee D’Orsay). CONDITION: Excellent condition. Relined. [See more photos →]

Michel Cazabon (France, Trinidad and Tobago, 1813-1888) Caribbean watercolor landscape depicting the figures of an adult and child standing at the edge of a body of water, with trees and hut in background and cattle drinking water in the foreground, under a hazy gradient sky. Faint signature "Cazabon" lower left. Housed under glass in a later, narrow stained wood molded frame. Sight – 9 7/8" H x 13 7/8" W. Framed – 18" H x 21 3/4" W. Provenance: acquired by consignor's ancestor while he was working for the Theodore Roosevelt administration in the Caribbean during the early 1900s. Biography: Michel Jean Cazabon, regarded as one of Trinidad's most important painters, was born to freed black immigrant parents from Martinique. He studied in Europe before establishing a studio in Port of Spain in 1848. Cazabon became best known for supplying landscape paintings of the area, mostly in watercolor, for local officials and wealthy planters. He also produced drawings for two subscription albums of lithographs published in 1851 (Views of Trinidad) and 1857 (Album of Trinidad) and contributed to a series of lithographs of Demerara and Martinique. CONDITION: Painting is adhered to backing board. General, even toning and some possible light fading. 1/2" tear at upper right corner. 1/32" hole lower right edge (goes through backing board). [See more photos →]

John Steuart Curry (American, 1897-1946) oil and tempera on canvas, “Wisconsin Still Life,” depicting two dead pheasants with a shotgun propped against a tree. Titled, signed “John Steuart Curry” and dated “1940” lower left. Sight – 44″ H x 29″ W. Gilt wood frame – 48 3/4″ H x 33 5/8″ W. Shown in the Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture from November 27 thru January 8, 1941 at the Whitney Museum of American Art; illustrated and discussed in the book “John Steuart Curry: Inventing The Middle West” by Patricia Junker, Page 86, figure 7. Junker writes that this painting “exists largely as a demonstration of painterly sumptuousness in the tradition of late nineteenth French still-life painting, most notably the canvases of Pierre Auguste Renoir. Even here [Curry] remained dependent on his subject, choosing the colorful plumage of two dead pheasants as justification for departing from his usual greens and browns….It is ironic, considering the profoundly serious, socially oriented nature of Curry’s creative ambitions, that it would be his simpler and less thematically ambitious paintings, such as Spring Shower, Wisconsin Still Life, and Wisconsin Landscape, that are now leading the way toward a more sympathetic reappraisal of his qualities and importance.” (p. 85). Born in Kansas, John Steuart Curry became the youngest member of the famed “Benton-wood-Curry” trio of regional painters of the early 20th century American Scene Movement. He studied at the Art Institutes of Kansas City and Chicago and for a year(1927) in Europe at the Academy Julian. When Curry returned to New York in 1928 he produced his work “Baptism in Kansas,” which launched his career as a regionalist. Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney bought “Baptism” for her museum and became his major patron. Curry remained in New York until 1936 teaching at Cooper Union, then at Art Students League. His works are in the collections of several museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum, St. Louis Art Museum Collection. Provenance – the estate of the artist; Graham Gallery – NYC; Merritt Chase Gallery – Chicago; Knoxville, TN collection. Condition: Canvas laid down on board. Overall very good condition, blacklight indicates a few small inpainted spots in the sky area and one of the red pigments used by Curry appears to flouresce a light purple. These areas are confined to the neck and upper shoulder area of pheasants and one of the background trees and a couple of places in the foreground grass. [See more photos →]

William Wendt (American/California, 1865-1946) large plein-air impressionist oil on canvas landscape titled “Breezy Uplands” depicting a lush green pasture with a copse of trees to the right under a cloud filled sky. Signed lower right “W. Wendt”. Housed in an elaborate, possibly original gilt and gesso rococo style frame with gilt plaque stating artist name and title. Exhibited, The Art Institute of Chicago, #36, March 2-22, 1905. Sight – 19 3/4″ H x 35 3/4″ W. Framed – 33 1/2″ H x 48 5/8″ W. Provenance: the estate of Mrs. Frank Wood, Evansville, Indiana and Dickson, Tennessee; acquired 1981 from the estate of Dalton Jobe of Indiana. Biography (source: The California Art Club): William Wendt is often referred to as the “Dean of southern California artists.” Born in Bentzen, Germany, Wendt immigrated to Chicago in 1880 and studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago while working at a commercial art shop. Wendt was a good friend of the artist George Gardner Symons in Chicago and made several trips to southern California with him between 1894 and 1906. After his marriage to sculptress Julia Bracken in 1906, the couple moved to Los Angeles. Wendt was a cofounder of the California Art Club and held the position of president for six years. In 1912 he was elected an Associate of the National Academy. CONDITION: Painting in very good condition with little to no restoration visible under UV light. Light cracquelure throughout. 1/2″ flake upper left corner at frame edge. Old restoration to upper left corner of frame, scattered small losses to frame. [See more photos →]

George David Coulon (American/Louisiana, 1823-1904), oil on panel landscape painting depicting Fort Macomb, Chef Menteur Pass. A brick building sits atop the moated hill, with a wooden structure in the foreground and a bridge faintly visible at left. Signed and dated lower right “G.D. Coulon 86”. Remnants of old label on verso reading: “Fort Macomb Chef Menteur, __ view taken from the residence of the officer in charge, sketched by Coulon June 12 __ .” Later pen inscription “Menton” underneath. Later wooden frame with gilt rabbet edge. Sight: 11″ x 17″. Framed: 15″ x 21″. Provenance: A Nashville, Tennessee estate. Note: Fort Macomb was a pre- Civil War fort, built to defend the city of New Orleans and located within what is now the city limits, on the western shore of Chef Menteur Pass. After the War of 1812’s Battle of New Orleans revealed weaknesses in the country’s coastal defenses, President James Monroe ordered better fortifications built along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts; this one was intended to protect the water route from the Gulf of Mexico to the western shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Designed by French engineer Simon Bernard, the brick fort was built in 1822 at the site of an earlier fort called Fort Chef Monteur. It was named Fort Wood in 1827 and renamed in 1851 for Major General Alexander Macomb (1782-1841), commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1828-1841. The fort was occupied by a Confederate garrison in 1861 at the start of the Civil War and retaken by Union troops after the capture of New Orleans, but not before Confederate soldiers destroyed the guns and burned the wooden structures. It was decommissioned in 1871 and the fort and its lands are now owned by the State of Louisiana. George David Coulon was born in France and became a prominent painter of portraits and landscapes in New Orleans in the late 19th century. He was a founder of the Southern Art Union and the Artists Association of New Orleans. CONDITION: Overall very good condition. Faint scratch at left side near tree, few light spots of grime and inclusions. Former areas of craquelure abrasion in sky area (recently cleaned). Later frame has some gilt wear at rabbet edge and a ding on central lower edge. [See more photos →]

Framed oil on masonite painting depicting skaters at the Wohlman Memorial Skating Rink in Central Park by Joseph Delaney (Tennessee/New York, 1904-1991), titled “Central Park Skating”. The perspective of the painting is westward toward the famous Dakota Building. Signed and dated lower left, “Jos Delaney ’68”. Recently illustrated and discussed in the 2009 book, “The Life, Art and Times of Joseph Delaney, 1904-1991 by Frederick C. Moffatt” on page 148. This painting was also featured in the 2004 “Life in the City: The Art of Joseph Delaney” exhibit, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (illustrated in the 2004 catalog, p. 29) and the Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. Overall excellent condition, original frame. Sight – 31 1/2″ Height x 29″ Width. Framed – 37 3/4″ Height x 36″ Width. Consignor purchased the painting directly from Joseph Delaney, Knoxville Collection. Biography (Courtesy of Frederick C. Moffatt) – Joseph Delaney was born in Knoxville in 1904, the ninth of ten children born to a Methodist Minister. He and his older brother, Beauford, discovered their interest in art by drawing on Sunday School cards. In 1930, Joseph left Tennessee for New York where Beauford was also working as an artist, and enrolled in the Art Students League under the tutelage of Thomas Hart Benton and Alexander Brooke. The subject matter he found there, including the city’s landmarks and its people, are the images for which he is best known. In 1986, Delaney returned to Knoxville to live and was artist-in-residence for the University of Tennessee Art Department until his death in 1991. Delaney’s works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Chicago Art Institute, The Knoxville Museum of Art, and The Smithsonian American Art Museum. [See more photos →]

Paul Sawyier (American, 1865-1917) oil on board impressionist landscape titled “Vale of Cashmere, Prospect Park, Brooklyn”. Depicts a path alongside the park’s reflecting pool, surrounded by flowering bushes and trees, and set under a partly cloudy sky. Signed lower left. Fragment of original title label secured to back of giltwood frame. Sight – 13 1/2″H x 16 1/2″W. Framed – 20 1/4″H x 23 1/4″W. History: The Vale of Cashmere was originally part of a formal garden in Prospect Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the mid-19th century). The secluded area eventually fell into near abandonment, but is currently the subject of a restoration effort. Biography: Paul Sawyier is regarded as one of Kentucky’s most important painters, and one of the few to work successfully in the Impressionist style. Sawyier was born in Ohio but moved to the Bluegrass State as a child. He studied portraiture at the Cincinnati Art Academy, and went on to New York to study at the Art Student’s League under William Merritt Chase. He also studied with painter Frank Duveneck in Covington, Kentucky and abroad, before returning to Frankfort, Kentucky. There he painted landscapes and portraits. From 1908 to 1913 he lived on a houseboat, moving up and down the Kentucky River and painting landscapes. In 1913, he made the decision to leave Kentucky and moved to Brooklyn; in 1915, he moved to the Catskill Mountains, although he continued to paint Kentucky scenes from photographs and send them back home. He died in New York of a heart attack at age 52. (source: Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook). Provenance – Lexington, Kentucky area collection. Condition: Overall excellent condition, small black scuffs along top left to middle of painting near frame. CONDITION: Overall excellent condition, small black scuffs along top left to middle of painting near frame. [See more photos →]

Burton Harry Callicott (Tennessee/Indiana, 1907-2003) abstract oil on canvas paintingtitled "Outpouring No. 2" depicting a white central circle with radiating bands rendered in the primary, secondary, and tertiary shades of the color wheel. Signed and dated "Callicott '85" lower right. Title, date, artist's name, and additional information en verso. Housed in a white wooden frame with gilt trim. Sight – 59 1/2" square. Framed – 6 5/8" square. American, late 20th century. Biography: "Born in 1907 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Burton Callicott spent much of his childhood and his seventy-year career as an artist and educator in Memphis. Callicott graduated in 1931 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he began an exploration of the use of light and dark that would follow him throughout his life. He is perhaps best known regionally for his set of three large murals in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum titled The Coming of De Soto. Completing his training in sculpture at the Cleveland School of Art in the midst of the Depression, Callicott returned to Memphis, where his mother and stepfather, Michael Abt, resided. The director of the western division of Tennessee's Federal Works of Art Project, Abt played a major role in launching Callicott's career. He put Callicott to work immediately on Memphis Cotton Carnival floats and displays for other Memphis festivals while also helping him secure a commission for a Public Works of Art Project mural in 1933. Installed in the Memphis Museum of Natural History (now the Memphis Pink Palace Museum), the three-panel mural depicts Hernando De Soto's arrival in West Tennessee. Another of Callicott's most recognized works, The Gleaners (1936), was completed during the early years of his career and received much attention at the 1939 New York World's Fair. These early projects set Callicott off on a long and successful career in Memphis. Callicott became a founding faculty member of the Memphis Academy of Art (now the Memphis College of Art) in 1937. Callicott became professor emeritus in 1978. Callicott's works have been exhibited at various museums across the state and region, including the Cheekwood Museum of Art and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University, the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock, and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia. Samples of his artwork are on permanent display at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the Memphis Pink Palace Museum. The Tennessee Arts Commission chose to honor the work of Callicott in 2000 with a specialty license plate for which he designed a rainbow with the caption, "art is…a rainbow." Callicott continued to live in Memphis until his death in 2003". (source: "Burton Callicott"by Elizabeth H. Moore,originally published October 8, 2017,https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/burton-callicott/).Provenance: The Guardsmark Collection, Lipman Holdings International, Memphis, Tennessee. CONDITION: Excellent condition. [See more photos →]

Augusta Christine Fells (Moore) Savage (American, 1892-1962) plaster sculpture with bronze patina titled GAMIN along front edge, depicting a young African American male with a tilted cap and wrinkled shirt. Signed “Savage” vertically in rectangle on the backside. Created circa 1929. 9″ H x 5 3/4″ W x 4 3/8″ D. Biography (adapted from The Johnson Collection): Augusta Savage was a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance. One of fourteen children born to a rural Florida preacher, she moved to New York in 1921 with less than $5 to her name to pursue the study of sculpture at the Cooper Union. Her skill in creating portrait busts of African Americans earned her praise, but she was denied admission to a women’s summer art program in France because of her race — an injustice that provoked national headlines. Her first “Gamin” sculpture was created in 1929 and was “a critical work not only to Savage’s career, but also as an embodiment of the Harlem Renaissance’s mission. The representation of the solemn, sensitive youth expressed the inherent dignity of an African American identity that many black artists sought to promote. Here, Savage captures an arrested moment, a sense of true immediacy; the child’s glance feels natural and uncontrived. While the subject is presumed to be her nephew, Ellis Ford, Gamin was conceived as a type rather than a portrait, representing one of the city’s countless street urchins. The critical and commercial success of Gamin catapulted Savage’s reputation far beyond Harlem art circles. The breakthrough sculpture garnered the attention of patrons and at last earned her a fellowship through the Julius Rosenwald Foundation to study in Paris. She arrived there in the autumn of 1929 and connected with fellow African American expatriates like Henry O. Tanner, Nancy Prophet, and Hale Woodruff. In late 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, Savage returned to Harlem, where she concentrated on teaching and advocacy.” She established the Savage Studio of Arts & Crafts in 1932 and taught at the Harlem Community Arts Center and the Harlem Artists Guild, inspiring many future African American Artists. Provenance: private California collection, by descent from the estate of Clara D’Agostino, New York. CONDITION: A couple of shallow chips to hat brim, one to nose and another to the chin. All have been touched up with a blue color paint. Fleabite to one eyebrow and along the right side base edge. Scratching to the base. [See more photos →]

Edouard Cortes (French, 1882-1969) oil on canvas street scene, depicting an early 20th century view of pedestrians, horse drawn carriages and streetcars along the Quai du Louvre in Paris. Signed lower right. Housed in the original carved gilt wood frame. Sight – 12 3/8″ H x 17 3/8″ W. Framed – 20″ H x 25″ W. Provenance: Deaccessioned by The Knoxville Museum of Art for the acquisition fund. Biography: Édouard Leon Cortès, born into a family of French and Spanish artists, gained immediate fame as a teenager after he submitted a Parisian street scene to the Salon des Artistes Francais. He went on to become a member of the Societe des Artistes Francais and exhibited regularly at the Societe Nationale and the Salon des Independants in Paris. He remains best known for his street scenes, which portrayed life on the streets of the City of Lights during the Belle Epoque, even long after that era had ended. Condition: Painting in excellent condition. Frame with minor abrasions to the perimeter. [See more photos →]

Joseph Paul Vorst (Missouri, 1897-1947) WPA era oil on board mural study painting titled "Hutchingsons Wheatbelt" depicting several workers processing bundles of wheat with a grain elevator and industrial facilities in the background. Signed "J. Vorst" lower left. Housed in a molded giltwood frame with a trapezoidal artist and title placard, lower center. Sight – 16 3/4" H x 35 3/4" W. Framed – 23 1/2" H x 42" W. American, second quarter 20th century. Provenance: Estate of Carl Klein, Brentwood, TN. Biography: "Born in Essen, Germany, Joseph Vorst was a portrait and mural painter, block printer, and illustrator. He studied at the Folkwang Academy in Essen and the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. He settled in St. Louis, Missouri, and exhibited widely including the Corcoran Gallery biennials, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Kansas City Art Institute." (source: Peter Falk, editor, "Who Was Who in American Art."). CONDITION: Overall very good condition with minute areas of paint loss, right edge of board. Natural age shrinkage to frame. [See more photos →]

Fred Greene Carpenter (1882 – 1965, born in Nashville, TN, active Missouri), oil on board painting depicting a female picking fruit, surrounded by verdant foliage, signed lower right, “F. G. Carpenter”. The reverse side has a landscape study executed by Carpenter depicting a figure with a cow surrounded by a meadow bounded by trees. Label affixed “Healy Galleries St. Louis”. Biography (courtesy Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook): Fred G. Carpenter was known for his brilliant use of color and curvilinear forms, often used to depict figures in exotic settings. Born in Nashville, he moved to St. Louis where he studied at Washington University’s School of Fine Arts and later, the Académie Julian in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and and the Colarossi Academy under Richard E. Miller. Carpenter’s painting “The Sisters” won an Honorable Mention at the Paris Salon in 1910. He also won a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy 1908 – 1931. Carpenter is also known for the lunettes he painted in the Missouri State Capitol. 23 1/4″ x 28 1/2″ sight, 27″ x 32 1/2″ framed. Provenance: a private Nashville, Tennessee collection. Condition: Oil overall excellent condition with light grime. Blacklighting indicates a light red flourescence on cap, apple, and cheek but it appears to be a pigment used by Carpenter, not inpainting. Scuffs to oil study on reverse side with nails scuffing margins. Losses to frame edge. [See more photos →]

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), CONFETTI, 1894, original brush, spatter and crayon lithograph, printed in three colors on wove paper with the Kleinmann blindstamp, printed by Bella & de Malherbe, London and Paris. Note: The poster was commissioned by Bella & de Malherbe “to advertise the flecks of paper they sold to replace plaster confetti which, considered too dangerous, had finally been outlawed in Paris in 1892” (“Toulouse Lautrec, A Life” by Julia Frey, p. 385). Sheet – 570 mm x 445 mm (22-3/8″ x 17-5/8″), Image – 570 mm x 390 mm. Frame – 833 mm x 637 mm (32-5/8″ x 25-1/8″). Ref. Wittrock P-13, first and only state. Provenance: From the collection of the late Dan Evins, co-founder of the Cracker Barrel Restaurant chain. CONDITION: Laid to wove-back linen support. Mat stain along sheet edges, mainly to left and right margins. Three tears, largest is 2.85 cm, extending from right edge near yellow hat. Other smaller tears at top margin and lower left margin. Pin holes at each corner. [See more photos →]

Friedal Dzubas (German/American, 1915-1993) acrylic on canvas, titled “Malmoe”. Signed and dated, 1974, en verso. Provenance – Knoedler Contemporary Art, New York and Howard Ameriger Art Gallery, New York. Dzubas was a German artist known best for his abstract style and use of vivid colors. Excellent condition. Sight – 40″ Height x 40″ Width. Framed – 41″ Height x 41″ Width. Circa 1974. [See more photos →]

Large Charles Krutch (TN, 1849-1934) panoramic oil on board of Mt. LeConte, signed KRUTCH in red, lower left corner and housed in an original textured gilt frame. Written in script en verso MRS BORDEN NY. Sight: 20 1/2″ H x 35 1/2″ W, Frame: 28″ H x 43 1/4″ W. Biography (Courtesy the Knoxville Museum of Art): Charles Krutch is regarded as one of East Tennessee’s first painters to specialize in scenes of the Smoky Mountains. He earned the nickname “Corot of the South” for his soft, atmospheric watercolor and oil paintings of the mountain range that served as his sole focus. Totally untrained as an artist, he often applied thick layers of oil paint with brushes as well as his fingers, in an effort to capture the changing moods of the mountains. Condition: Overall surface grime. Three areas of craquelure: far left center (2″ x 2 1/2″), lower center (1/2″ x 2 1/2″), far right center (2 3/4″ x 4 1/2″). Frame partially separated lower left. CONDITION: Overall surface grime. Three areas of craquelure: far left center (2″ x 2 1/2″), lower center (1/2″ x 2 1/2″), far right center (2 3/4″ x 4 1/2″). Frame partially separated lower left. [See more photos →]

Pair of Tennessee portraits by Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl (1788 – 1838) depicting the Reverend Hardy Murfree Cryer (b. 1792–1846), in dark coat with ruffled collar, and a woman believed to be his first wife Elizabeth Rice Cryer (b. 1793–1832) in black mourning dress with white lace collar and cap. Housed in black and gilt wooden frames. Both portraits measure 26 1/2″ H x 21 1/2″ W sight; 33″ H x 28 1/2″ W framed. Circa 1830. Provenance: Descended in subject’s family to current consignor. Biography ( Courtesy of James C. Kelly, Virginia Historical Society, Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 1998): Ralph E. W. Earl was the son of Connecticut painter Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Earl studied under his father in Northhampton, Massachusetts, before traveling to London in 1809 to study under Benjamin West and John Trumbull. In 1817, Earl arrived in Nashville to paint General Andrew Jackson, the hero of the battle of New Orleans. Later that year, in Natchez, he met and married Jane Caffrey, Rachel Jackson’s niece. She died the next year, but Earl moved into the Hermitage would from then on remain in Jackson’s circle, accompanying the newly elected president to Washington. During the next eight years, Earl turned out numerous paintings of Jackson. Politicians, especially Democrats, knew it “did not hurt to order a portrait of General Jackson from Earl.” He painted many of Jackson’s friends and a few of his foes. Earl returned to the Hermitage with Jackson in 1837 and died there in September 1838. Rev. Cryer was a close friend of Andrew Jackson who spent time at the Hermitage. According to the book “The Making the American Thoroughbred” (see book, also offered in this auction), Cryer was born in North Carolina in 1792, married Elizabeth Rice in 1812, was a member of the Tennessee Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church 1813-1816, and served one year on the Nashville district. “After withdrawing from the itinerant ranks, he served as a “local” preacher and continued to exercise the offices of a minister the remainder of his life. His many contributions to The Turf Register and The Spirit of the Times are rich in Biblical and classical allusions, after the style of that day; show much force and originality; and amply support the statement of McFerrin that he was of an ardent temperament and had a brilliant mind. His ardor distinguished him as a breeder no less than as a preacher. He kept more thorougbred stallions than any man of his time, except, perhaps, Thomas Alderson; owned a few blood mares; and took a great interest in turf sports.” The book quotes stud books kept by Cryer which show that “Cryer’s horses were patronized by practically all the prominent breeders and turfmen named heretofore in this volume, from Andrew Jackson and John Catron, down”. Cryer’s passion for horses seems to have gotten him into trouble only once with his church; he was charged with horse racing and summoned to a trial before a church tribunal. “The proof was clear and conclusive,” wrote J.R. Hubbard in The Spirit of the Times, “but the evidence showed that the horse was raced in the name of Col. George Elliott, and that this gentleman owned one half of him.” In Cryer’s defense, he told the judge: “I would like for you to let me know how I can arrange it for my half of the horse to stand in the stable while Col. Elliott’s half is racing.” He was acquitted. CONDITION: Blacklighting of portrait of Rev. Cryer indicates inpainting to perimeter of face including the left edge of forehead, lower right jaw line, spot to lower left edge of mouth and spot to the middle of the chin. Lighter area of fluorescence to forehead and background, possibly a varnish issue. Blacklighting of Mrs. Cryer indicates possible inpainting or varnish issue to a couple areas of forehead and chin. Possible inpainting or varnish issue to a couple areas of the background. Older relining, probably late 19th/early 20th century. [See more photos →]