A Provincetown School “Mudhead” was the
sale’s top lot, finishing at $10,625.
PROVINCETOWN, MASS. — James R. Bakker Antiques conducted its spring live online fine art auction on March 12. Top lot of the sale was a “mudhead” of a boy with cap painted by an unknown Provincetown School artist selling at $10,625 against a $1/1,500 estimate. The painting exemplified Charles Hawthorne’s teaching technique. “Hawthorne used bold brushwork to capture the shapes and color, paid little attention to detail, and found contrast only in the sunshine and shadows. The model’s face becomes a virtual head of mud, thus coining the phrase “mudhead” wrote art critic A.J. Philpott in his article “Biggest Art Colony in World at Provincetown,” published by Boston Globe, August 27, 1916.
Close behind was John Dowd’s oil on linen, “Cottage,” selling at $8,125. Ross Moffett’s gouache of Bradford Street done in 1939 sold for $5,625.
This auction also featured a strong selection of women artists, with T.J. Walton’s oil painting of “Sunflowers” setting a new auction record for the artist at $5,313.
“Locust Trees, Cape Cod,” a gouache painted by Margaret J. Patterson in 1918, brought $5,000, and “Boats in Dry Dock, Provincetown,” an early oil by Mary Locke Brewer fetched $1,750.
More than a dozen new auction price records were achieved for both historic and contemporary Provincetown artists.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house.
Bakker’s next auction is scheduled for May 21; the firm is currently seeking consignments for May as well as for the rest of the year. For information, www.bakkerproject.com or 508-413-9758.
