Leading the sale was Charles Willson Peale’s (American, 1741-1827) “Portrait of William Littleton Murray,” 1790, oil on canvas, 40 by 30¾ inches framed; it was bid to $44,800 ($40/60,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
NEW YORK CITY — Doyle Auctions conducted its American Paintings & Prints and American Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts auctions on October 23-24. Among 535 lots offered, 470 traded hands successfully for a sell-through rate of 88 percent. Louis Webre, Doyle’s senior vice president of marketing and media, shared that “The majority of the buyers of the top lots were privates bidding remotely online or via telephone.” In total, the auctions realized $1,315,840.
On the first day, Charles Willson Peale’s “Portrait of William Littleton Murray” impressed bidders who took the lot to $44,800 — the highest price of all 535 lots. The oil on canvas portrait was signed and dated “Ch WPeale / painted 1790” to the lower left corner and the work had been documented in literature relating to the artist, including in Charles Coleman Sellers’ Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale (Philadelphia, 1952) and Charles Willson Peale with Patron and Populace: A Supplement to Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale (Philadelphia, 1969). Lillian B. Miller also included the work in her 1983 text The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family, Vol. 1: Artist in Revolutionary American, 1735-1791 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press). According to the firm’s post-sale writeup, “Peale’s masterful portrait from 1790 of William Littleton Murray, who resided in the artist’s native Maryland, depicts the young man in a casual pose that exudes a confidence and optimism that reflects the mood of our nascent nation.” The portrait descended through the family of the sitter and was offered publicly for the first time in this auction.
“The Singer (Mrs Liego)” by Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins (American, 1844-1916), oil on canvas, 30¼ by 26½ inches framed, was bid well beyond its $5/8,000 estimate to achieve $38,400.
Other portraits also did well, with “The Singer (Mrs Liego)” by Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins achieving $38,400 — well above its $5/8,000 estimate. In this portrait, the sitter, wearing an off-the-shoulder yellow and white lace dress, was depicted with a somber expression, looking to the left. Like Peale’s portrait of Murray, this work also descended in the sitter’s family, though it also had provenance to Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., of New York City. Lloyd Goodrich included the painting in his 1933 book Thomas Eakins: His Life and Work.
A pair of circa 1820 portraits by Ammi Phillips nearly doubled their high estimate and sold for $20,480. “Man in Front of Red Drapery [Draperies]” and “Wife of Man in Front of Red Drapery [Draperies]” had long and notable provenance, including the collection of J. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas; Mrs Albert N. Petterson (neé Carolina E. Wohlfarth); Mary Allis of Fairfield County, Conn.; and Mr and Mrs Denison H. Hatch of Riverside, Conn.
“Head of an Old Saint” by Elihu Vedder also went out for $20,480, well beyond its $2,000 high estimate. In this 1879 icon, Elihu Vedder depicted the robed “Old Saint” with a solemn gaze, positioned in front of a hanging lamp. Housed in an ornate giltwood frame, the work had provenance to Hirschl and Adler Galleries and Berry-Hill Galleries, both in New York City.
Done in 1937 in the WPA-era style, Joseph John Paul Meert’s (Belgian/American, 1905-1990) oil on canvas “Coal Yard,” 21¾ by 31¾ inches framed, soared past its $2,500 high estimate to achieve $21,760.
Landscapes, in a variety of styles, also found success. The category was led by Joseph John Paul Meert’s oil painting of a “Coal Yard.” The Belgian/American artist is best known for his abstract art, though he was commissioned by the WPA to paint several murals. This work, dated 1937, fits the character of those WPA-style paintings, depicting men just outside the coal yard with trains and industrial buildings in the background. Signed “Meert” to the lower left, the work was also titled and dated on the stretcher bar. Estimated just $1,5/2,500, the occupational scene rose to $21,760.
Bearing a “Grandma Moses” copyright label on its reverse, “Ice Houses” by Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses showed a folky winter scene with houses by a river. Though the trees are green, the few people pictured in the scene were bundled up from head to toe. Illustrated in Otto Kallir’s Grandma Moses (New York City: Harry N. Abrams, 1973), this painting came from the estate of Dr Houston Brummit and sold for $21,760.
Done in gouache on paper then mounted on Masonite, Ben Shahn’s circa 1931 illustration of an Italian village bore a typed label that read “Villafelletto — Vanzetti’s Home Town.” According to Visit Cuneese, the city’s tourism website, Villafellatto “is located north of the provincial capital of Cuneo, halfway between Saluzzo and Fossano. Villafalletto, which owes its current name to the Falletti family, was the birthplace of Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a famous anarchist who was executed in the United States for a crime he never committed, and became a symbol of the fight against discrimination.” Shahn’s depiction of the village was exhibited at the University of Arizona in its “American Paintings, 1765-1963: Selections from the Laurence A. and Barbara Fleischman Collection of Art” show in 1964. Signed to the lower right, it more than tripled its high estimate of $5,000, achieving $17,920 in this sale.
“Villafelletto — Vanzetti’s Home Town” by Ben Shahn (American 1898-1969), circa 1931, gouache on paper mounted to Masonite, 18¼ by 21¾ inches framed, more than tripled its high estimate, achieving $17,920 ($3/5,000).
At $15,360 was Jervis McEntee’s “In The Hudson Valley.” The painting, signed “J McEntee” to the lower right, showed a field of cows in the Hudson Valley against a hazy autumnal backdrop of mountains. Its provenance included the estate of William Randolph Hearst, Hammer Galleries of New York City and Shannon’s Auction of Milford, Conn.
Selling for $12,800 against a high estimate of just $2,000 was Jerome George Rozen’s circa 1945 oil on board painting “Women Working Lathes at Munitions Factory,” which depicted industrious wartime women hard at work. The focal figure, dressed in a pink button-down shirt and with her hair tied up in a floral bandana, showed the dichotomy of femininity and industry. Signed to the lower left, the work had provenance to Illustration House in New York City, bearing a label from the company that indicated the piece was inspired by sketches of women at work in a Connecticut factory.
Furniture, silver and decorative arts were offered on the second day, being led by an American Renaissance Revival five-piece parlor set that soared past its $2,5/4,500 estimate to achieve $28,800. The set comprised a double-back settee, two armchairs and two parlor chairs, all with intricately carved and gilded ebonized wood and tufted burgundy damask upholstery. The settee and armchairs had carved crests with a gilt central medallion flanked by putti. While the maker was not known for certain, Doyle cataloged the circa 1860-70 set as “possibly Pottier and Stymus, New York.”
This circa 1860-70 American Renaissance Revival five-piece parlor set, possibly Pottier & Stymus, New York, was pushed to $28,800, far exceeding its $2,5/4,500 estimate.
Chris Barber, vice president and director of American furniture and decorative arts, shared, “I continue to be impressed with collectors and buyers who identify and go after items with great quality, craftsmanship, and history. That connoisseurship still drives the top of the market across categories. Elsewhere, there are great opportunities for those eager to begin collecting!”
Other notable results from this session included several sterling silver objects that specialist Todd Sell said did well, making for a “good silver sale.” At the helm was a Gorham ice bowl, shaped as an iceberg with hanging icicles throughout and a polar bear on each end cap. The auction catalog noted that this 1872 piece was inspired by the Alaska Purchase of 1867, when America bought the state from Russia. Additionally, “Gorham’s records list this model as costing a princely $86.96 when introduced in 1870,” in this sale, the icicle ice bowl was bid to $19,200, selling to an online buyer who was a new customer for Doyle.
At $15,360, more than double its high estimate, was a sterling silver floor vase made by Graff, Washbourne & Dunn for Bailey Banks & Biddle. Chased with lily of the valley motifs, the baluster-form vase had a ruffled rim and foot and weighed approximately 139 ounces. The 27-inch-high vase came from the collection of Irving and Joan Getz. Sell commented, “It was a very impressive size with really nice detail to the decoration. Very flashy and different from the everyday piece and I think that’s why it soared above estimate! The market for the unusual is alive and well!”
Prices include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Doyle’s Fine Art & Photographs auction will be on December 5. For information, www.doyle.com or 212-427-2730.
