The top lot of the auction was a vibrant oil painting by Mary Lee Abbott (American, 1921-2019), “Yellow Diamond I,” which attained $106,250 ($30/50,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
MILFORD, CONN. — Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers pulled out all the stops for its fine art auction on April 30. Bookending its compact but highly curated auction season with dedicated fine art auctions, Shannon’s put together a selection of historical paintings, fresh-to-market consignments and important works by known artists. The auction of just 152 lots achieved $1.8 million with a 82 percent sell-through rate.
“We hold two cornerstone auctions each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. These auctions typically feature roughly 200 paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture. Our clients follow our sales looking for artworks from the Nineteenth Century through contemporary art,” said owner Sandra Germain. “We have demonstrated success in many categories, and Shannon’s is still known for consistently featuring quality examples of historical American art.”
Overall, the April 30 sale performed robustly, and Germain was pleased with the results. It saw bidders participating from all over the world with buyers from six countries and 30 US states. There were 4,600 registered bidders online and another 400 on the phone or via direct absentee bids.
“It was a very diverse sale with top lots in American Impressionism, Modern and Contemporary, European Nineteenth Century painting and Nineteenth Century American landscapes,” she said. “The varied offerings brought our catalog to the attention of new bidders and we saw participation from a large number of new participants.”
Estimates were handily surpassed on many paintings, including the first lot across the block, “The Juke is Jumpin’” by Winfred Rembert, Jr, which made $13,970 against its $3/5,000 estimate.
Shannon’s proved again that it is keenly attuned to the market with its first lot across the block that set the tone for much of what followed. A dye on carved and tooled leather artwork by Winfred Rembert, Jr (American, b 1976), “The Juke is Jumpin’” soared over its $3/5,000 estimate to bring $13,970. The Connecticut artist is well known to Shannon’s, which set a world auction record for him in its October 2025 auction when “Big Grits,” also a dye on carved and tooled leather work, sold for $21,590. The artist, scholar, educator and community leader is the the eldest son of the late artist Winfred Rembert, Sr.
Paintings comprised the bulk of the auction, and the top lot was a vivid oil painting by Mary Lee Abbott. “Yellow Diamond I,” a work noted for its spontaneous brushwork and emotionally expressive nature, attracted much interest and attained $106,250, more than doubling its high estimate. Abbott was one of only three women artists to join The Club, an elite group of artists shaping the Abstract Expressionism movement.
“Women Abstract Expressionist artists are receiving long overdue attention by museum curators and in the auction and retail markets. We have seen this trend with recent high prices for works by Lynne Mapp Drexler, Alice Baber, Emily Mason and now Mary Abbott,” Germain shared. “We had five active phone bidders, in-house absentee bids and online participation. The work sold to a private buyer over the phone.”
This Andy Warhol screenprint on Arches Aquarelle paper, “Mick Jagger,” 1975, achieved $100,000 ($70/90,000).
Evincing the range of artworks featured, another standout was an Andy Warhol screenprint on Arches Aquarelle paper depicting Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. The pencil-signed artwork, number 36 of 250, sold over its estimate at $100,000. Warhol’s Pop-style celebrity portraits are instantly recognizable, and his collaboration with Jagger began when he was commissioned to design the band’s Sticky Fingers album cover in 1971. The portrait in this sale, reminiscent of a collage, showed Jagger gazing intently at the viewer and was signed by the singer and artist.
European artworks performed well, including Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret’s 1882 oil on canvas, “Hide and Seek (Cache-Cache),” which attained $63,500, selling over its high estimate. “As a dedicated chronicler of both modern and fashionable Paris, Dagnan-Bouveret’s paintings from the early 1880s often depict scenes set in well-appointed Paris interiors,” according to the catalog writeup. “‘Cache-Cache’ is a snapshot of its time and represents an inside view of upper-class life in the last decades of the Nineteenth Century in Paris.” The seemingly casual nature of this painting, depicting two models engaged in a game of hide and seek, as catalog notes explained, hints at the artist’s early forays into translating photography into painting.
Portraits were well embodied by Russian-born Louis Ritman whose “Summer Day,” which brought $43,750, featured one of his preferred subject matters: the female figure in a lush garden setting.
Summer landscapes were popular with buyers in this auction, and a standout was Louis Ritman’s oil on canvas “Summer Day,” which earned $43,750 ($40/60,000).
Historical artworks from some of America’s leading artists were well represented, led by “Portrait of a Lady with a Rose” by William Merritt Chase, circa 1901, which was said to have been created as an exhibition piece. It was meant to please the sitter but also the art world at large. Selling mid-estimate at $93,750, the portrait depicted a demure young woman in accordance with the conservative standards of Philadelphia society at the time. She wore minimal jewelry and Chase’s use of the rose to center his composition was a symbol of beauty and youth, as described in the catalog.
Landscape painting, a staple at Shannon’s, included several works capturing different seasons. Charles Courtney Curran’s “Spring on the Mountain Side” sold mid-estimate for $50,000 and used a color palette typical of his paintings done at the New York art colony Cragsmoor, of which he was an important member.
Moving from spring to summer, an untitled oil on canvas by Edward Mitchell Bannister depicted a Rhode Island shore landscape. While unsigned, the painting was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Anne Louise Avery, and it sold for $41,275. This painting alluded to many elements seen in other late Nineteenth Century Rhode Island artworks, and its location is likely near Narragansett Bay, as suggested by the distant sailboats and steamer pictured, according to the catalog notes.
This untitled and unsigned oil on canvas by Edward Mitchell Bannister, depicting a summer scene in coastal Rhode Island, sold within estimate at $41,275 ($30/50,000).
A fall-themed artwork offered was “Autumn Snow on Mount Washington,” an 1856 oil on cardboard painting by Aaron Draper Shattuck, which sold far over its $3/5,000 estimate. This painting managed to surprise Germain, who noted it was a small, 10-by-16-inch example with an estate stamp. “It sold for $41,125, proving that location matters,” she said. “We had three telephone bidders and numerous online bidders. The lot sold to an online bidder new to Shannon’s. We are delighted to have set this strong price for the artist.”
Another surprise, she said, was Charles Harold Davis’ signed 1886 oil on canvas “November,” which sold to a private collector on the phone. “This exceptional Charles Harold Davis stunned everyone that came by our preview. The painting was estimated at $12/18,000 and sold for $37,500,” she added. “We had six telephone bidders, in-house absentee bidding and online participation.”
Another artist whom Shannon’s manages to suss out at least one work by in each of its cornerstone art auctions — at least in the last few sales — is Italian-American painter Luigi Lucioni. He was represented with “Still Life with Pomegranates,” a 1966 oil painting painted in his signature style, which performed over estimate at $43,750. As the catalog described, the artist paid keen attention to detail while executing a balanced and engaging composition that incorporates varied textures from soft velvet drapes and hard ceramics and glass.
Rounding out the highlights were a Laurence A. Campbell oil on canvas titled “View Across 5th Avenue, 29th Street” in the style of Guy Wiggins’ iconic snowy New York City views ($40,625); Paul Wonner’s still life “Bucket of Flowers and a Red Stool,” a 1991 acrylic on canvas that made $38,100; and a Tonalist landscape by George Inness of Italy’s Lake Nemi at $34,375.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.shannons.com or 203-877-1711.
