Provenance pushed this Winifred Nicholson (British, 1893-1981) oil painting, 29½ by 27½ inches in original frame, to the sale-high price of $54,120 ($10/20,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Several different estates and collections comprised the 306 lots in CRN Auctions’ October 18 Fall Auction. Owner and auctioneer Carl Nordblom shared that “The auction was well rounded, and serious internet action brought several high prices.” In addition, there were a handful of bidders attending in person, but about two-thirds of all successful sales were from online buyers.
David Erskine, the firm’s office manager, explained that unusual or exceptional pieces continue to bring strong prices, even as trends change. Exceptionality can come in the form of artistic quality, material value, size, provenance or rarity.
The auction’s top price was for a Winifred Nicholson abstract painting that fetched $54,120, more than doubling its high estimate of $20,000. Though Erskine noted that it was an unusual work for Nicholson even without the story, the driving factor for this work’s success was its provenance. “The stamps on the back make it even rarer than the artist itself,” he explained. “It was originally owned by a private collector and she eventually gave about 400 works to museums, so there aren’t many of these from her collection on the open market.”
Leading the choice Wolf Kahn (America, 1927-2020) pastels was this 27½-by-34½-inch framed image of sailboats that brought $22,140 ($10/15,000).
The late 1920s oil on canvas was from the estate of Vera White (1888-1966), an American Modernist artist and collector of European Modernist and Avant-Garde art,” as described in the catalog. An old paper label on the rear of the work read “Est. V. White,” likely from the 1966 Parke-Bernet auction of White’s estate. The auction catalog further describes, “This work comes from a private home in. New York. The White collection is heavily documented for its connections to European Modernist masters like Picasso, Matisse and Piet Mondrian.” Other labels included one from the artist’s framer, and the work was signed twice: once upon completion and again when it left her studio. In its original frame, the painting sold in this auction to an overseas buyer.
Following the Nicholson work, Nordblum added, “There were also five Wolf Kahn pastels that were chased, producing high results for each one!” From an important private collection, the Kahn works included “one really good one,” according to Erskine. Bidders agreed and pushed that pastel, which was the largest of the collection, to the auction’s second-highest price. Depicting a cluster of sailboats in dense orange and pink fog, the signed work took $22,140 from an in-house bidder.
“The consignor is very happy. These pastels are a hot commodity right now; collectors are really fighting for them,” Erskine reported. One showing a row of orange trees went out for $10,240; the same price was achieved by another depicting the Connecticut River. Bringing the fourth-highest price of $9,840 was an example featuring a purple barn among tall yellow crops. An orange barn made $7,380.
The Veneration of the Holy Virgin by the Three Bishops was depicted in this late Seventeenth Century central Russian icon, 12½ by 10¾ inches, that finished for $14,080 ($800-$1,200).
The auction also included approximately 80 lots to complete the final installment from a 50-year Connecticut collection of Spanish/Latin American Colonial items that CRN has been selling for a few years. Most surprisingly, the top lot from this collection was a Russian Orthodox icon that the collector acquired from Christie’s, London, in 1974. Depicting the Veneration of the Holy Virgin by the Three Bishops, the Central Russian icon from the late Seventeenth Century brought $14,080.
Other lots from this collection included Mexican Colonial silver, Cuzco School paintings, additional religious items that fit the Colonial theme, carved wood and coconut figures, Guatemalan folk art furniture, swords and daggers, spurs and jewelry. Highlights were a set of four large Colonial-style candlesticks from Bolivia, mid Twentieth Century or earlier. The hand-wrought silver candlesticks brought $8,610. “Senor San Raphael, Guianos al Cielo,” an oil by Mexican painter José de Páez of the archangel Raphael holding a fish, in a colonial-style frame, made $5,760.
A selection of Irish Georgian furniture from a Rhode Island collection was led by an Eighteenth Century Irish George II marble-top pier table. With its original thick marble slab, the table had cabriole legs with ball-and-paw feet and earned $8,610.
While not Irish in origin, a pair of Eighteenth/Nineteenth Century Georgian wall mirrors also came from the Rhode Island home and finished for $8,960. The 55-inch-long mirrors had gilded crests centering an oval églomisé panel depicting Hermes, the Greek god that Britannica identifies as “the divine messenger, the protector of herds and travelers, and the god of commerce and trade. He was also a trickster god and the patron of thieves and liars.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.crnauctions.com or 617-661-9582.
