This carved limestone “Mother and Child” by William Edmondson (1874-1951), who in 1937 became the first Black artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, carried the day at $122,000. It was used as a doorstop in a Nashville home prior to being recognized as an important sculpture in 2023.
KNOXVILLE, TENN. — A carved limestone “Mother and Child” sculpture by self-taught artist William Edmondson was the top lot at Case Auction’s Winter Auction January 27-28, bringing $122,000 from a private collector on the telephone, underbid by four other phone bidders. Considered one of the most important sculptors of the Twentieth Century, William Edmondson (Tennessee, 1874-1951) claimed divine inspiration for his carvings, which he produced over a period of about 20 years. In 1937, he became the first African American artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. This sculpture was the first Edmondson human figure to come on the auction market in the last four years and had carried a conservative $40/44,000 estimate due to its partially painted surface.
Overall, the auction attracted more than 7,500 registered bidders and achieved a 98 percent sell-through rate.
“What encouraged me about this auction was the strength of demand across multiple categories, but especially American art,” said company president John Case. “We saw some of the best prices on paintings nationwide in the last three years on artists like George Rodrigue, John Sloan, William Walker.”
“Louisiana Sunday Morning,” a painting depicting the iconic Southern “Blue Dog” figure by George Rodrigue (1944-2003), sold to a private collector for $103,700 ($50/60,000).
The George Rodrigue painting, which surged to $103,700, was titled “Louisiana Sunday Morning.” It featured his iconic Blue Dog figure surrounded by candles and flowers, symbols of the artist’s hope and sense of renewal after learning his cancer was in remission in 2012. (Sadly, Rodrigue died the following year). The winning bidder was an out-of-state collector bidding online against three phone bidders and at least one other online bidder. A Rodrigue cameo glass “Blue Dog” themed bowl, consigned from the same private collection as the painting, soared to $23,400 against a $5/6,000 estimate.
A small — 6-by-17-inch — William Walker Florida seascape, discovered in a Tennessee antique shop for $25, rode a wave of strong interest from its $7/8,000 estimate to $39,000. The John Sloan painting, a Taos landscape oil, which sold for $36,400 and double its low estimate, was a key lot from the estate of Nashville art collector Ann Wells. A George Inness oil landscape, characterized by catalog raisonné author Michael Quick as a study for Inness’ 1856 landscape, “Spring,” blossomed to $31,270, and a gouache on paper painting, “Yellow Abstraction,” painted in 1961 by Beauford Delaney, realized $24,400. Frederick Stuart Church’s painting of cherubs rowing a boat, initially sold by Case in 2021, doubled its hammer price in this sale, selling for $10,370.
This John Sloan Taos landscape sold for $36,400, double its estimate.
Demand was robust for regional art: a landscape by Southern impressionist painter Anna Catherine Wiley doubled its low estimate to reach $12,000, and a small Elizabeth O’Neill Verner pastel portrait of a Charleston flower seller, which had been bought by the seller at a thrift shop for $15, soared to $9,760. A Marie Hull Mississippi coastal landscape sailed to $7,320, while two small Clementine Hunter Mississippi scenes, “Wash Day” and “Cotton Wagon,” earned $6,500 and $3,120, respectively. A Ron Williams’ Smoky Mountain landscape brought $5,980, and a Carl Sublett abstract, formerly from the collection of US Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, made $5,368. An abstract work, “Dear Friend,” 1996, achieved a new auction record for Tennessee artist Andrew Saftel, at $5,040, while a collage painting, “Of Men That Perish Into Kingdoms of Tranquility,” set a new auction record for recently deceased artist Michael Madzo.
A collection of ephemera from the historic 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art, also known as The Armory Show, was divided into four lots and attracted a crowd of bidders. A rare poster for the show soared to $29,280, while an exhibit catalog competed to $17,080. A set of 54 postcards, each showing a painting exhibited at the show, reached $9,760, and a framed collection of pins, stationery, two postcards and two engraved invitations sold for $2,074.
The auction featured a rare original poster, postcards and other items from the 1913 Armory Show, offered in multiple lots. Top seller was the poster at $29,280.
The top furniture lot of the auction was a rare, free-form 1960s Philip and Kelvin Laverne coffee table with organic root-like molded sides and polished bronze top. It more than tripled its estimate, selling for $23,400. A mid-Nineteenth Century cherry pie safe attributed to John Wolfe of East Tennessee, with punched urn and flower tins in colorful later paint, competed to $15,860. A Georgian chinoiserie lacquered bureau closed at $7,800, the same price as a rare Tennessee Federal sugar desk from the Wells collection. Bucking the “brown is down” furniture trend, a Kentucky block front chest of drawers, sold by Case back in 2015 for $3,186 as part of the Lexington estate of Bertha Wright of Calumet Farm, raced to $7,320. A Virginia Federal pembroke table, documented by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts with attribution to the Alexandria area, brought $6,710, and a petite pine North Carolina corner cupboard documented to Mecklenburg County, N.C., found a new home at $4,392.
Other Southern decorative arts highlights included a Virginia Great Road earthenware pottery double handled jar with manganese splotches, which commanded $18,300; a Black version of the early 1900s “Alabama Indestructible Baby Doll” by the Ella G. Smith Doll Company, $4,046; and a W. Lamb & Son North Carolina half stock percussion rifle, $2,074.
Southern pottery was in demand: this Southwest Virginia earthenware jar competed to $18,300.
The book and document category featured a collection of books by Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023), who spent much of his early life and career in Tennessee. International bidding propelled a signed first edition of Blood Meridian to $15,600, while a lot containing the simultaneously published The Passenger and Stella Maris (each a signed first edition) shot to $13,000. An archive of mid-Nineteenth Century documents related to the historically significant Abram Maury family of Middle Tennessee tallied $7,320, and an 1809 Tennessee land indenture signed by a then-aspiring young businessman named Andrew Jackson — who would go on to become America’s seventh president — chalked up $4,080.
Asian art highlights included an early Twentieth Century Wang Hing Chinese export tea service with silver mounted wooden tray, eight pieces total, which served up $11,050. Two Chinese Qing Dynasty Manchu Ministry of Rites brass seals commanded $5,334 and $4,064, while a blue cloisonné box with white jade belt hook handle closed at $3,302.
Shining in the silver and metalware category was a collection of antique Kirk repoussé holloware, divided into multiple lots: a set of 12 hand-decorated goblets earned $9,150, while the matching water pitcher and 19-inch tray served up $2,340 and $2,080, respectively.
Jewelry included a 2-carat (GIA) round diamond solitaire ring with baguettes in platinum setting, $12,000, while an 18K Cartier “Juste un Clos” gold and diamond bracelet saw interest to $10,200. A vintage Rolex man’s 14K watch with black leather strap ticked to a strong $4,160.
Case is now currently accepting consignments for its Summer Auction scheduled for July 6-7. For information, info@caseantiques.com, www.caseantiques.com or call 865-558-3033 (Knoxville), 615-812-6096 (Nashville) or 423-251-1320 (Chattanooga).
