Frederick Douglass is said to be the most photographed American of the Nineteenth Century. It is also said that he sat for these portraits — more than 160 of them — in the hopes of instilling a deeply racist America with an acknowledgment of his humanity. Douglass saw that photography was raw, real and unapologetically representative. It stood in steep contrast to how African Americans were depicted at the hands of artists who would often form a narrative. Douglass said, “Negroes can never have impartial portraits at the hands of white artists. It seems to us next to impossible for white men to take likenesses of black men, without most grossly exaggerating their distinctive features.” So it made sense that Douglass would eventually make his way into the studio of James P Ball, one of the Nineteenth Century’s most prominent photographers — African American or otherwise — who held a studio, at the time, in Cincinnati, Ohio. By the time Douglass sat for Ball, the photographer had already rose to fame and courted nobility, reportedly photographing Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens in an 1856 trip to Europe. Ball would do his part for the abolitionist movement, photographing Union officers and soldiers as well as producing a moving panorama titled “Mammoth Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade; of Northern and Southern Cities; of Cotton and Sugar Plantations; of the Mississippi, Ohio and Susquehanna Rivers, Niagara Falls & C.” The work, considered his most ambitious project, consisted of 2,400 square yards of canvas containing painted scenes. A Frederick Douglass Carte de Visite shot by James P Ball approaches the block at Heritage Auctions, joining a number of other top lots from around the United States in this week’s picks.
HERITAGE
Sale Date: January 15, 2019
Lot 47012
Frederick Douglass Carte de Visite
Bearing J.P. Ball’s imprint on the reverse, Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1867.
Opening Bid: $3,000
APPLEBROOK AUCTIONS
Sale Date: January 10, 2019
Lot 190
Breininger Redware Potter Pitcher
Measures 9-3/8 inches high.
Estimate: $800-1,600
PBA GALLERIES
Sale Date: January 10, 2019
Lot 5
John Ashbery,
“Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror”
Arion Press, 1984. Eight lithographs, offset lithographs, etchings, photogravures and woodcuts by Richard Avedon, Willem & Elaine de Kooning, Jim Dine, Jane Freilicher, Alex Katz, R.B. Kitaj and Larry Rivers, 12-inch vinyl record by Ashbery. Loose sheets, housed in a brushed stainless steel movie canister with convex mirror at center. Editioned 16 of 175 copies.
Estimate: $6/9,000
POOK & POOK
Sale Date: January 11–12, 2019
Lot 401
George D. Wolfskill
Elaborate fox hunt scene, 31½ inches long.
Estimate: $4/7,000
BLACKWELL AUCTIONS
Sale Date: January 12, 2019
Lot 111
Baltimore Repoussé Sterling Silver Candelabra
Antique five-candle sterling silver repoussé candelabra by Baltimore silver shop, in the manner of Stieff Rose and Kirk Repousse. Could be Schofield. Measures 15 inches tall. Total weight 56.7 ozt.
Estimate: $1/1,500
SARASOTA ESTATE AUCTION
Sale Date: January 12–13, 2019
Lot 5060
Emile Albert Gruppe (1896–1978)
“Gloucester Evening,” oil on canvas, overall size 27 by 31½ inches.
Estimate: $5/8,000
ESTATEOFMIND
Sale Date: January 12, 2019
Lot 306
Harry Callahan, “Eleanor Chicago”
Gelatin silver photograph, 1948, signed Harry Callahan (Harry Morey, 1912–1999). Signed in black contact margin, print circa 1970, 8 by 10 inches.
Estimate: $100-1,000
SKINNER
Sale Date: January 12, 2019
Lot 387
Pair of Neoclassical-style Doré Bronze Mounted Porcelain Tables
Octagonal tops, polychrome enamel decorated and with foliage decorated metalwork, 31½ inches high.
Estimate: $5/7,000
EAST COAST FINE ARTS
Sale Date: January 13, 2019
Lot 11
William Glackens Illustration
Watercolor on paper, original illustration of a French village scene with man on donkey, circa 1903. This is the original artwork for an illustration which appeared on a page within The Works of Charles Paul de Kock: Frere Jacques. This book series was an American printing of a compilation of works by French romantic author Charles Paul de Kock, whose works were considered explicit when published. The publisher, who enlisted major artists to illustrate the stories within, was eventually unable to fulfill his financial obligations and the book series was never fully completed.
Estimate: $2/2,500
