Lynne Drexler, “Keller Fair Racetrack” 1959, oil on canvas, unframed, 30 by 36 inches, signed, titled and dated verso, topped the sale with a $286,700 result ($200/300,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Barridoff Auctions
SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE — More than 85 percent of the 300 lots offered sold on August 19 by Barridoff Auctions in the firm’s Summer 2023 International Fine Art sale and the sale achieved an overall total of $1,558,927.
Maine artist Lynne Drexler (1928-1999) was represented with four works, all of which sold within or above expectations, including the top two lots in the sale: “Keller Fair Racetrack,” from a Portland, Maine, collection, and, from a West Coast private collection, “Meadow’s Edge.” The former made $286,700, while the latter ended up at $109,800.
Another woman artist, Katherine Bradford (American, b 1946), also had four works in the sale. All of them sold with all of them beating their high estimates. “River Tide,” a circa 2005 painting that had provenance to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and a private collection in Portland nearly doubled its high estimate when it brought $26,586. Her “Yellow Suit, Red Suit,” a 2016 acrylic on canvas unframed work that had been handled by the Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland, Maine, found a new home for $21,960.
Katherine Bradford, “River Tide” circa 2005, oil on canvas, framed, 16 by 13 inches, had been published in the Maine Sunday Telegram and at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Of the four works by the artist in the sale, it achieved the most: $26,586 and the third highest result of the day ($10/15,000).
Wolf Kahn’s (American, 1927-2020) vibrant pastel on paper “Orange Treeline,” which came to Barridoff from a private collection in East Hampton, N.Y., topped off at $25,400. Of related subject matter, a pastel on board landscape by Julian Onderdonk (American, 1882-1922) titled “Coreopsis in Bloom, San Antonio, Texas” found a new home for $11,430, nearly twice its high estimate.
Landscapes by contemporary artists included “Untitled #17,” painted by Neil Welliver (American, 1929-2005) in 1974, which bore labels for both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris, and which found a new home for $21,960. It was followed at $13,970 by “Study for ‘Orion’” by Linden Frederick (American, b 1953), who had painted it in 1997 in oil on panel. “Cadillac View” by Eric Hopkins (American, b 1951) made $12,400.
Spanish modernist masters Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Joan Miro (1893-1983) were not to be overlooked. Bidders took Picasso’s “Pichet au vase,” made in an edition of 500 by Madoura Pottery studio after a 1954 design, to $16,510 and, to $12,600, Miro’s “Les Troglodytes,” a carborundum etching that was accompanied by a sales receipt, informational pamphlets and a certificate of authenticity.
Pablo Picasso, “Pichet au vase” Ramié 226, #50 from an edition of 500, 12-1/8 inches tall and ex a private collection in North Yarmouth, Maine, found a buyer at $16,510 ($10/15,000).
Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965) had two prints in the sale, led at $4,445 by “Nude with Long Torso,” from an edition of 100 and one of five drypoint etchings listed in the artist’s catalogue raisonné.
The sale presented several opportunities of collectors of illustration art. Mitchell Hooks (American, 1923-2013) had four works, all in gouache on board and all estimated at $800-$1,200. “Paula” brought the most: $6,985.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 207-772-5011 or www.barridoff.com.
