Dirk Soulis believed that conducting his late winter gallery auction of art and antiques a bit later this year was worth the wait of the arrival of important pieces from the collection of Josephine Bird Hall (1888-1948), whose father was a principal of Kansas City’s oldest and finest department store, founded in 1884. Hall’s collection, assembled in the early days of the Twentieth Century, included this collection of 12 Meiji Japanese zodiac symbol carved wood netsuke. It was the top lot in the sale, bringing $71,340, a nice jump up from its $1/2,000 estimate.
Review by W.A. Demers, Photos Courtesy Soulis Auctions
LONE JACK, MO. — Coming just days before spring, this year’s late winter gallery auction of art and antiques conducted by Soulis Auctions was later than usual to accommodate the arrival of important pieces from the collection of Josephine Bird Hall (1888-1948), whose father was a principal of Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company, Kansas City’s oldest and finest department store, founded in 1884. Hall’s collection was assembled in the early days of the Twentieth Century. Topping the sale from her collection was a group of 12 Meiji Japanese zodiac symbol carved wood netsuke, bringing $71,340, a nice jump up from the lot’s $1/2,000 estimate. Each artist-signed example with inlaid eyes was finely carved and displayed nice patina. This collection was displayed in a small, divided case with interesting labels and written information from Hall, a lifelong collector of Asian and other antiques. Sizes ranged from 3/4 by 1¼ by 1½ to 1½ by 1 by 3/4 inches.
The overall sale totaled $803,500 with a 99 percent sell-through rate. Registered bidders numbered 2,210 and the sale was available on four online platforms.
As was seen in this sale and others [see review of March in Montana in this issue], Birger Sandzén (1871-1954) remains an auction favorite for Western art. Born in Bildsberg, Sweden, the son of a Lutheran minister, Sandzén when he came to America loved to travel and paint in one of his favorite places, Yellowstone National Park. By 1930 he had amassed a personal collection of more than 500 Western paintings and drawings. Sandzen visited New Mexico for the first time in 1918 and went back frequently to Santa Fe and Taos. The Taos Society of Artists made him an associate member in 1922. Two notable oils on canvas were top performers in this sale with “Mountains and Red Rocks,” 1920, 28 by 30 inches, coming in within estimate at $66,000, and an untitled view at sunset, circa 1920, 12½ by 18 inches, realizing an above-estimate $46,000. From a private Mission Hills, Kan., estate, acquired from American Legacy Gallery, which represented the artist’s estate, the large oil on canvas Rocky Mountain view at tree line is signed lower right front and painted in a unique palette of clean, attractive colors applied in the near-sculptural technique typical of Sandzen’s earlier works, though it dates to what scholars refer to as his Middle Period. From the same consignor, an untitled oil on canvas was done in a palette of the intense colors most associated with Sandzen’s early work and was signed lower left.
An untitled view at sunset, circa 1920, by Birger Sandzén, 12½ by 18 inches, realized an above-estimate $46,000. The oil on canvas was done in a palette of the intense colors most associated with Sandzén’s early work and was signed lower left.
Another regionalist, Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), was represented by a pencil-signed lithograph titled “Frankie and Johnnie,” 1936, a boisterous bar scene imagining the story and song of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man, Johnnie, making love to another woman and shoots him dead. From an edition of only 100 prints published by Associated American Artists, the lithograph sold for $21,600. Signed by the artist in pencil below the image lower right, the scene, according to catalog notes, was described by Benton, “The incident, according to legend, happened in St Louis though the tune in various forms is earlier than the 1890 St Louis story. Anyhow the story is a part of Missouri mythology like the Jesse James and Huck Finn stories.”
There was a Jack Lorimer Gray (1927-1981) oil on canvas view of New York City titled “Newtown Creek,” 26 by 40 inches, that reached $14,400, and an oil on Masonite by Lester Wilton Raymer (1907-1991), “Jury,” 1964, 12½ by 38¾ inches, went out at $11,500. Newtown Creek is a tributary of the East River running between Brooklyn and Queens, the New York City skyline rises behind the barges, ships and industry depicted in the thorough and accurate detail that is Gray’s trademark. In the Raymer painting the viewer is treated to a droll snapshot of what a jury of one’s peers could look like. The painting was signed and dated lower right front and again verso.
Decorative arts were also in the mix, with a seven-piece Chinese export silver tea set with enamel decoration bringing an impressive $16,800 against a $1,2/1,800 estimate.
Also notable was a circa 1900 Norwegian silver and plique-a-jour Dragestil long boat signed Marius Hammer. At 8½ by 12½ by 5 inches, it took $15,600, more than twice its high estimate.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. The next sale will occur on April 22. For more information, 816-697-3830 or www.soulisauctions.com.
