ASHEVILLE, N.C. — “Bateau à l’ancre (Boat at Anchor)” by French artist Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) led Brunk Auctions’ February 5 Premier auction with it selling for $59,040 to a buyer in the United States who was bidding by phone. The 1908 composition, done in distemper on brown paper measuring 16 by 14-5/8 inches, had been exhibited at Durand-Ruel in France in 1961 and was being sold by the Sheridan Wood Nicholson Revocable Trust, to benefit environmental charitable causes. Extensively published in no less than three works, the piece courted international competition.

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