Case Auctions – Two-Day Fine Art & Antiques Auction
July 6-7
Knoxville, TN
www.caseauctions.com

KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Abstract paintings from estates and from a Southern museum lend a Midcentury Modern edge to Case’s summer auction, happening July 6-7 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville. The 1,086-lot sale also abounds with more traditional American and European art and antiques, including a cache of scarce Rembrandt etchings and collections from two prominent Southern families: the Pinckneys of Charleston, S.C., and the Rogers of East Tennessee

Much of the abstract art was deaccessioned by an anonymous Southern institution, including paintings and mixed media works by Ben Nicholson, Alberto Burri, Antonia Saura, Giuseppe Santomaso, Howard Cohen and Julius Bissier, along with an abstract metal assemblage by Richard Stankiewicz. A large (72 inches square) magna acrylic painting by Friedel Dzubas, from the estate of noted Nashville businessman Richard Eskind, adds a dominant charge of color to paintings on display in Case’s showroom, and provides a visual contrast to an original black and white Alexander Calder surrealist landscape from the Signal Mountain, Tenn., estate of Sarah Gaunt. (In her youth, Gaunt worked as a studio assistant to Willem de Kooning; other art from her estate includes a watercolor by Elaine de Kooning and a Joseph Albers signed serigraph, “Homage to the Square”). Other Twentieth Century paintings include two Beauford Delaney portraits on paper from the Delaney estate; a large oil, “Central Park, NYC,” by March Avery; and original works by John Alexander, William Zorach and Larry Rivers, plus signed lithographs by Sam Francis, Red Grooms, Teh-Chun Chun, Rufino Tamayo and Serge Poliakoff. There is also a scarce Alfred Steiglitz photograph of a Guro mask, and a rare 1978 portfolio, “Ten Photographers,” featuring images by James VanDerZee, Duane Michals, Andre Kertesz, Eve Arnold and others.

Another important work in the auction is a quintessential summer scene of a woman with a green parasol, oil on canvas, by Impressionist painter Anna Catherine Wiley. The Tennessee-born Wiley was one of the South’s most important female artists and her work, influenced by her teachers Jonas Lie and Frank du Mond, commonly focused on women and children in outdoor settings. Other outstanding American works in the sale include an Andrew Wyeth letter illustrated with a detailed drawing of Brinton’s Mill in Chester County, Penn.; harbor scenes by Guy Wiggins and James Bonnar and a Maryland family’s collection of portrait miniatures including a documented Charles Willson Peale painting of David McMechen (1754-1810), a James Peale portrait of Maryland attorney general John Johnson Sr (1770-1824) and a documented Robert Field portrait of Henrietta Marie Hemsley Earle (1779-1821).

Highlighted in this sale is a collection of Southern art and antiques from the historic Pinckney family, whose home, Runnymede, outside Charleston, was frequently visited by artists, including William Posey Silva and William Aiken Walker. The collection includes a Silva oil landscape depicting the gardens at Runnymede, plus three unusual Walker works: a scene of the family’s cabin in Arden, N.C., a view of houses along the Charleston Battery and an 1864 watercolor depicting four Black musicians, painted early in his career while serving as a Civil War soldier. Other Southern art highlights in the auction include four portraits of the founding family of Rogersville Tenn., Joseph and Mary Amis Rogers by William Scarborough and their daughter and son-in-law, Frances and Hugh Kelso Walker, by Samuel Shaver; a Smoky Mountain landscape by “the Corot of the South,” Charles Krutch; a sensitively rendered watercolor portrait of a freed Black slave by Maria Howard Weeden; a portrait of former Nashville mayor and slain Tennessee Civil War Col. Randal McGavock by George Dury; exhibited works by African American artist Greg Ridley (“Mother and Son,” in marble) and Cherokee artist Paul Lancaster (“Garden Princess,” in oil), plus paintings by Bill Sawyer and Carl Sublett. There are also several regionalist landscapes from other American artists, including Gerrit V. Sinclair, Emil Holzhauer, Jean Hogan, Gerritt V. Sinclair, Ernest Feine, William Lester Stevens, Ronnie Hedge, Frank Von Sloun and George Carlson.

Collectors of self-taught Southern artists can choose between four paintings by Helen LaFrance of Kentucky (including one of her iconic “Church Picnic” scenes) and three paintings by Clementine Hunter of Louisiana. Also represented are Minnie Evans, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Howard Finster, Mose Tolliver, Tim Lewis and Woodie Long.

The auction features a collection of rare Rembrandt etchings, acquired in the late Nineteenth Century by members of the wealthy Acklen family of Nashville, whose Italianate mansion, Belmont, is now a historic house museum on the campus of Belmont University. The five images include “The Virgin and Child with the Cat and Snake” (first state); “Circumcision in the Stable” (first state); and “Old Man with Flowing Beard” (first and only state). A large painting of a pack of hunting dogs by English artist John Emms is one of several sporting themed works in the auction, along with a portrait of champion racehorse Sun Briar by Ignac Konrad and two John Maggs stagecoach paintings. There are also two Edouard Cortes Paris street scene oils and a small oil of a tiger by Henri Maik, all with Wally Findlay Gallery provenance, plus two Cuzco school religious paintings; a large Michelangelo Meucci oil of pigeons on a rooftop; and a Simon Glucklich still life.

Case’s gallery is at 4310 Papermill Drive. The live auction begins Saturday, July 6, at 9 am ET and Sunday, July 7 at 1 pm ET; online, absentee and phone bids will also be accepted. Preview appointments may be made on the company’s website through Friday, July 5. For information, www.caseantiques.com, 865-558-3033 (Knoxville), 615-812-6096 (Nashville) or 423-251-1320 (Chattanooga).

2nd of a Pair of Italian Romanesque Lions
Antonio Saura O/C
Alexander Calder Ink on Paper (A13222)
March Avery O/C
Fine Silver incl. Repousse Goblets
Elaine de Kooning Watercolor
Fine Rug Collection
Rare Rembrandt Etching
Edouard Leon Cortes O/C
Henri Maik O/C
1st of a Pair of Italian Romanesque Lions
Friedel Dzubas O/C, 72″ square
Alberto Burri Mixed Media
Ben Nicholson Oil on Paper
Giuseppe Santomaso O/C
Beauford Delaney Pastel
Hans Wegner
Picasso “Oiseau” Plate
Richard Stankiewicz
Minnie Evans
Andrew Wyeth Drawing
Chas. Willson Peale
Ernesto Pierret, 21K
COMPLETE CATALOG & ONLINE BIDDING INFO: WWW.CASEAUCTIONS.COM
1000+ Lots, featuring property from fine Southern estates and private and institutional collections. Previews by Appointment.
Buyer’s Premium: 20% Floor, 22% Phone/Absentee (Cash/Check/Certified Funds) TN #6045