The sale’s top lot was this Ansel Adams gelatin silver print from a private Maine collection. Titled “Mount Williamson from Manzonar,” it sold for $30,500.
Review by W.A. Demers
SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE — Barridoff’s summer 2024 International Fine Art Sale took place on the Barridoff lawn on August 17. The signature event featured the works of great artists like Ansel Adams, William Trost Richards, Katherine Bradford, Stephen Etnier and Wolf Kahn, among many others. The sale’s total was $660,504 and the sell-through rate was 85 percent. There were a total of 3,322 registered bidders across four online platforms — Barridoff.com, Bidsquare, Invaluable and LiveAuctioneers — as well as in person, telephone and absentee.
Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984) prevailed to take top lot status. His “Mount Williamson from Manzonar,” a gelatin silver print from a private Maine collection, sold to a private phone bidder for $30,500. Framed under glass and signed in pencil on the lower right of the mount, titled in pen and with an artist’s stamp on mount verso, it measured 24-7/8 by 28-3/16 inches in its frame.
American artist Jon Imber (1950-2014) also rocked the sale with a framed oil on panel titled “View of Grog Island,” an islet in Downeast, Maine. Possibly a fan of either the artist or the waterfront property, a private online bidder purchased it for $28,060, a significant premium over its $2,5/3,500 estimate. It created one of the surprises in the sale. From a private collection in Cumberland Foreside, Maine, the work was signed lower right, titled, dated and affixed with a Greenhut Galleries label verso.
American artist Jon Imber’s framed oil on panel, “View of Grog Island,” depicting an islet in Downeast, Maine, drew a clear-eyed price of $28,060, a significant premium over its $2,5/3,500 estimate. It was from a private collection in Cumberland Foreside, Maine.
Boston School painters of the early Twentieth Century counted Gertrude Horsford Fiske (1879–1961) in their circle. Besides capturing women in traditional scenes, Fiske was also adept as seen in “Tubat’s Creek,” a Kennebunkport getaway. The framed oil on canvas, 30¼ by 37 inches, was bid within-estimate to $25,620. The painting was signed with collector’s labels on backing verso, suggesting an interesting as it passed from the estate of the artist to the Tom Veilleux Gallery to a private collection in Michigan to Barridoff Galleries in 2020 and then to a private collection in Vermont.
An oil on canvas by Russell Cheney (American, 1881-1945) performed well, earning $21,960, more than twice its high estimate. Titled “Les Enfants Pendus (The Hung-Up Children),” the 1927-28 painting depicted three gentlemen in a parlor discussing the fine points of fencing. The large painting (65-3/16 by 77-1/8 inches) was signed and bore the artist’s insignia on the lower right.
“Crashing Surf” by William Trost Richards (American, 1833-1905) hit $19,520, rolling slightly over its high estimate. The framed oil on canvas was signed and dated lower right and measured 33½ by 28-5/8 inches. In 1988, it was sold by Sotheby’s and entered a private collection in Maine. Another Richards seascape followed in its wake, also realizing $19,520. This one, a 1900 oil on panel laid to panel, had provenance to a Portsmouth, N.H., purchase, a private Barrington, N.H., collection, the Carolyn S. Bedford revocable trust and a private collection in Maine. It measured 20-3/8 by 27-7/16 inches in its frame.
William Trost Richards’ “Crashing Surf” dashed slightly over its high estimate, bringing $19,520.
This sale included an interesting canvas by Neil Welliver (American, 1929-2005). The unframed oil on canvas depicted a picnic scene with a fully dressed gentleman and two nude models. Titled “Nudes on the Grass, the oil on canvas, signed lower right and measuring 75¼ by 76-1/8 inches, found a buyer at $13,420. Its provenance was equally interesting with the work going from Yasuyo Kawasaki, wife of the male subject, and a private Belfast, Maine, collection.
With typical embellishments of distant hot air balloons and a bare chested mermaid, Ralph Eugene Cahoon, Jr’s (American, 1910-1982) “Hong Kong, Three Miles” takes the viewer to an unfamiliar locale with a mermaid rickshaw driver transporting a wealthy Western gentleman toward Hong Kong, as the sign indicated was three miles away. A ship flying the American flag was seen in the distant harbor. The 16-by-20-inch oil on Masonite painting was signed lower right and took $13,420.
Fetching $12,200 was “Woman in a Frothy Dress,” a framed oil on canvas by Irving Ramsay Wiles (American, 1861-1948) showing a lady with upswept hair in décolletage side view. Signed upper right, it measured 17-1/8 by 15-1/8 inches and had provenance to a California collection. This was the sale’s second big surprise.
George Hawley Hallowell (American 1871-1926) was a Boston-born artist who spent his professional life there and studied drawing and art history at Harvard. He also attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and studied there for three years with Edmund C. Tarbell and Frank W. Benson. His “Grand Pitch,” a framed oil on canvas depicting a wild and spectacular section of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine, was bid to $10,370. It was signed lower right and bore a Vose Galleries label for the “Memorial Exhibition of Works by George Hallowell.” On the verso was a St Botolph Club label verso. This work by Hallowell measured 33 by 39¾ inches.
George Hallowell’s “Grand Pitch,” a framed oil on canvas depicting a wild and spectacular section of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine, found a buyer at $10,370.
American artist Hamilton Easter Field (1873-1922) was represented in the sale by “Moonlight on Chase’s Pond,” a serene nightscape of a portion of the 135-acre lake located in scenic York County, Maine. With collector’s label verso, the 15½-by-19½-inch painting went out at $10,370.
A Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) ceramic, “Visage d’homme” (1953), sold for $10,370. On its underside it bore the Madoura Plein Feu and Edition Picasso stamps, and it measured approximately 15¼ by 12-3/8 by 1½ inches.
A Maine landscape, “Port Clyde: (Harbor at Low Tide)” (2001), was evoked by American Twentieth and Twenty-First Century artist Joel Babb. The oil on canvas left the gallery at $10,370. Laid to panel and measuring 15-1/8 by 29-1/8-inches, the painting was signed lower left by Babb with an exhibition label inscribed “Intimate Wilderness: Maine Landscapes” on the back. Provenance listed the collection of Bob and Jackie Laskoff and a private Vermont collection.
Finally, the Maine icon Mount Katahdin looms in James Fitzgerald’s (American, 1899-1971), “Morning, Katahdin,” circa 1960, rendered in watercolor and Chinese ink with charcoal on paper. Signed lower left and framed under glass, the 27-7/16-by-32-7/16-inch painting brought $10,370. Included in the James Fitzgerald Legacy catalogue raisonné, provenance listed the estate of the artist by descent, Anne M. & Edgar F. Hubert, and a private collection in Massachusetts.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. Barridoff’s next sale, on October 13, will be a collaborative sale with Vose Galleries and will be conducted at the Lenox Hotel in Boston. For information, 207-772-5011 or www.barridoff.com.
