MILFORD, CONN. – Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers kicked off the spring auction season with a sale of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures on April 29. More than 200 artworks crossed the block, including American art, Modern and contemporary art, sculptures, Hudson River School paintings and works by female artists. Leading the sale was a painting by Charles Morgan McIlhenney (American, 1858-1904), “Summer Afternoon by the Shore,” an oil on canvas, that rose to $100,000, inclusive of buyer’s premium. Signed lower right “C. Morgan McIlhenney” and measuring 14 by 26¾ inches, the painting had provenance to a private collection offered by Sotheby’s in September 1992 and exhibition history at the New Britain Museum of American Art in the summer of 2005. McIlhenney studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and established a studio in New York. He started as a figure painter, but found that he preferred to paint landscapes and animals. He won awards at the National Academy of Design and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, and was a member of the American Water Color Society. A more extensive recap of this sale will follow.
