Achieving $12,800, “Streetworkers” by Theresa Ferber Bernstein (American, 1890–2002), 1915, oil on canvas, 21 by 23 inches framed, was the top lot of the sale ($5/10,000).
Review By Carly Timpson; Photos Courtesy Eldred’s
EAST DENNIS, MASS. — With a portion of all proceeds benefitting WE CAN, a Harwich, Mass., organization focused on women’s empowerment and supporting women through challenging life transitions, the third annual Women In The Arts auction conducted by Eldred’s presented 156 lots of artwork made exclusively by women. With 100 different buyers, the March 13 auction generated about $120,000 in total, and 83 percent of lots were sold.
Claiming the sale’s highest price was “Streetworkers,” a 1915 painting by Theresa Ferber Bernstein. Bernstein often painted urban scenes, specifically those in New York City. “Streetworkers” depicts a group of men in the midst of labor on the city streets with buildings and smokestacks in the background. Housed in a gilded frame, the signed oil painting was sold to an overseas buyer for $12,800. Cheryl Stewart, a representative for Eldred’s, said, “This is a classic example of Bernstein’s work, exhibiting an animated but commonplace urban scene with unexpected color contrasts, a style critics often described as ‘masculine.’”
While Bernstein’s painting bore the highest estimate and finished appropriately, the second-highest finish did not have a similar story. Estimated at just $500-$1,000, competitive bidding drove Ethel Marian Wickes’ untitled portrait of a terrier to $11,520. The black and white dog with pointed ears was painted seated against an outdoor backdrop of a dirt path and greenery. Consigned by a local collector, the portrait sold to a phone bidder.
This oil on canvas portrait of a seated terrier by Ethel Marian Wickes (American, 1872-1940), 27 by 23 inches framed, fetched $11,520 ($500-$1,000).
Earning $7,040 was Pauline Lennards Palmer’s pastel-hued village scene depicting Provincetown, Mass. Nicknamed “Chicago’s painter lady,” Palmer also kept a seasonal studio in the art colony of Provincetown where she spent her summers creating light landscapes and figural works.
The auction featured several works by Sudanese artist Lucy Mackenzie, all of which smashed their estimates. Earning the highest price for Mackenzie was a lot of two paintings, “Still Life with Pewter Pitcher” and “Glass of Water.” Estimated at $300/500, the works sold for $5,760. With the same estimate and finishing close behind at $5,540 was Mackenzie’s slightly larger 2002 still life, “Bowl And Tulip On Silver Plate.” Stewart said, “These two Lucy Mackenzie’s were the surprise of the sale. They don’t come on the market very often, and their $300/500 estimates were commensurate with auction records. They were beautifully executed and were staff favorites — I think a few were underbidders — so we were pleasantly surprised but not terribly shocked at how well they performed.”
Similarly surprising the appraisers, “Golden Madonna” by Beatrice Edna MacPherson Edgerly crossed the block at $4,800 in spite of a $400/700 estimate. Edgerly’s “Golden Madonna” is a carved and painted wood depiction of two golden horses standing on an orange, flower-covered ground beneath a sparse tree. The work was housed in a similarly carved and painted frame, possibly Newcomb-Macklin. According to Stewart, “The estimate of $400/700 was in line with auction results, so the result may have been bolstered by the frame. I also know of a few people who just fell in love with it, so who knows.”
This untitled 19-by-23½-inch oil on board harbor scene by Alice Halicka (Polish/French, 1894-1975) was unframed and found a buyer at $4,800 ($2/3,000).
An untitled and unframed harbor scene on canvas by Alice Halicka, depicting several sailboats, a rectangular lighthouse and break walls, also found a buyer for $4,800. Signed to the lower right, this work was unlike the early cubist paintings or fashion-forward textile collages that Halicka is known for. The painting was sold to a phone bidder in Poland.
Finishing at $3,456 was “Little Buck Town” by Irma René Koen. A typed note pinned to the back of the frame identifies the work as “a painting of a hillside in Galena” and notes that the writer had purchased the painting directly from the artist. Koen’s square illustration of this Illinois hillside shows several houses among the trees and it is signed to the lower left. An obvious paint chip near the center of the painting and a couple of small flakes may have been the reason for its lower estimate, but bidders did not seem to mind.
Both pieces that crossed the block for $2,432 exceeded their estimates. Edith Longstreet Wood’s impressionistic painting of a white house beside a wooded river, “Addingham,” was estimated at $400/800 and Eleanora Morgan Kissel’s floral still life was estimated at $500-$1,000. Kissel’s painting showed a multicolored arrangement in a vase with a bowl of fruit on the table next to it.
Prices include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Eldred’s will conduct an auction of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century art and design on April 24. For information, www.eldreds.com or 508-385-3116.
