The top lot of the auction was “The Return of the Loupe-Garou” by George Rodrigue, featuring his renowned “Blue Dog” in a cemetery setting that sold for $73,800 to a private collector bidding online ($38/42,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Case Auctions’ 1,320-lot Summer Fine Art & Antiques Auction August 1-2 performed well across the board with diverse categories and price points. And of course, fine art proved especially strong. Though the firm does not release sales totals, the auction achieved seven figures, going nearly $300,000 over its high estimate with a 97 percent sell-through rate, said Sarah Campbell Drury, the firm’s vice president of fine and decorative arts.
“We were pleased with the turnout — over 5,000 registered bidders from more than 30 countries bidding in person, online and by phone — and healthy demand across a diverse range of categories,” she said. “We also celebrated our 20th year in business with cake and door prizes for our in-person crowd.”
Fine art dominated the auction and several world auction records were set for artists. Record prices were achieved for Kentucky memory painter Helen LaFrance’s oil on canvas landscape painting depicting an African American church community gathering for a Decoration Day or Memorial Day picnic celebration that made $26,400 and Joanna Higgs Ross, whose estate Case is handling. Ross had several paintings in this auction, led by her modernist acrylic on canvas of an East Tennessee landscape, “Cades Cove No. 8” that took a record price of $9,000. Also setting a new record was Kermit “Buck” Ewing with his expressionistic oil on canvas seascape depicting breaking waves along the shore that fetched $5,155. Both Ross and Ewing were members of the Knoxville Seven group of artists.
Co-owners John and Stephanie Case are pictured during a recent celebration for the auction’s 20th anniversary.
The overall top lot of the auction was a fine example of the late Louisiana artist George Rodrigue’s “Blue Dog” series with an acrylic, “The Return of the Loup-Garou” that nearly doubled its high estimate to collect $73,800 from a private collector bidding online. In this painting, the Blue Dog sits atop a white tombstone or monument in a cemetery under a full moon.
Besides paintings, an important photograph crossed the block in the form of a rare and large half-plate Civil War ambrotype that was much more than a mere family photograph as it showed nine Confederate soldiers, likely all members of 19th Georgia Infantry. It sold well over its $800-1,200 estimate at $22,140. “We suspected it would do well as it’s rare to have so many uniformed Confederate soldiers in a single image” Drury said. “What really drove it though was the story behind it. It was consigned by descendants of one of the soldiers in the image, and most of the people in it were members of the same Georgia family (as identified in a family letter that mentioned the photograph). The father, John Hutchins Johnson, pictured at right, had traveled from Georgia to Virginia to visit his three sons serving in the Confederate Army. Just a few weeks after this image was taken, his son Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson was killed leading the 19th Georgia Infantry into action at the Battle of Mechanicsville.”
The jewelry category was led by this 5.03-carat diamond solitaire ring in 14K yellow and white gold that performed well at $52,800 ($30/35,000).
The jewelry and timepieces category saw robust sales, led by a ladies 5.03-carat diamond solitaire ring in 14K yellow and white gold that bested its $30/35,000 estimate to bring $52,800.
Always popular with buyers is Newcomb College Art Pottery and while Case has sold several examples by the company a watermark was the circa 1897 Daffodil vase,” in this auction that was a cover object for the 2013-16 international traveling exhibit “Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise.” A rare and early high glaze example, it attained $29,520 ($10/14,000). The vase was thrown by Joseph Meyer and decorated by painter Katherine Kopman.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.caseantiques.com, 865-558-3033 or 615-0812-6096.
