October 18, 2012
Live Auction104 East 25th Street
New York, NY, 10010 USA
Phone: 212.254.4710
Fax: 212 979 1017
Email: swann@swanngalleries.com
Viewing NotesExhibition & Sale Schedule: Sale 2290 - African-American Fine Art - begins at 2:30pm in New York on Thurs, October 18. All material in Sale 2290 on display at our premises in New York City, 104 East 25th Street, as follows - Sat, Oct 13: 10am to 4pm - Mon, Oct 15: 10am to 6pm - Tues, Oct 16: 10am to 6pm - Wed, Oct 17: 10am to 6pm - Thurs, Oct 18: 10am to Noon.
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Lot 1: ROBERT S. DUNCANSON (1821 - 1872) Young America.
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Description: ROBERT S. DUNCANSON (1821 - 1872) Young America. Oil on canvas, 1846. 406x311 mm; 16x12 1/4 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower left. Provenance: private Georgia collection, acquired in the 1960s or 1970s; thence by descent to the current owner. Young America is both a dramatic and an unusual painting by Robert S. Duncanson, which was just recently rediscovered. Few figurative paintings from the early part of his career are known, let alone have come to auction. Before becoming an acclaimed landscape painter, Duncanson made some historical paintings in addition to typical genre commissions. Joseph D. Ketner II describes how Young America is "a rare, early example by Robert S. Duncanson from the first decade of his professional career, when he was traveling regularly between Cincinnati and Detroit painting portraits, still lifes, historical and 'fancy' pictures on commission." Patriotic imagery is an unusual subject for a commission, as it is usually found in popular printed material. Duncanson had adapted some common themes found in prints in his paintings The Drunkard's Plight, 1845, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Mary Magdalene, 1846, private collection. This blonde young man and his battle scene differs from the typical representation of a youthful embodiment of nationalist spirit. This specificity makes the figure more than just an American symbol--Ketner suggests that the young man may be a son sent off to war whose family commissioned this likeness. The heroic figure of Young America, raising both his sword and the American flag, according to Ketner, is "possibly the earliest patriotic painting of the Mexican-American war period." Young America also shows the imagination and developing talent of a young American artist. This exciting discovery adds to the growing appreciation and understanding of this important 19th century painter's work. We would like to thank Joseph D. Ketner II, curator-in-residence at Emerson College and noted Robert S. Duncanson expert, for his examination report and essay confirming the work. The painting is being sold with his report, dated January 5, 2012.
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Lot 2: CHARLES ETHAN PORTER (1847 - 1923) Three Apples (Still Life of Apples, Grapes and Blueberries).
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Description: CHARLES ETHAN PORTER (1847 - 1923) Three Apples (Still Life of Apples, Grapes and Blueberries). Oil on canvas, circa 1877-81. 254x355 mm; 10x14 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: Roger King Gallery, Providence, RI, with the label on the frame back; private New York collection. This fine painting is a wonderful example of Porter's series of still lifes of apples, from his early period in Hartford, CT. This oil has the realistic detail, delicate handling, straw covered ground and the muted artist's signature similar to the larger and masterful Apples on the Ground, circa 1878, in the collection of the Wadsworth Aetheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. The artist bravely moved from New York to the smaller Hartford, where he found a receptive popular and critical audience for these works. These apple paintings sold well, and he continued to paint them: "Porter's apples are certainly extraordinary productions" raved a Hartford Daily Times reporter in 1878. Cummings pp. 36-37.
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Lot 3: CHARLES ETHAN PORTER (1847 - 1923) Overturned Basket of Apples.
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Description: CHARLES ETHAN PORTER (1847 - 1923) Overturned Basket of Apples. Oil on canvas, circa 1885. 508x610 mm; 20x24 inches. Signed in oil, lower left. Provenance: acquired at Winter Auctions, Plainville, CT, September 12, 2011; private New York collection. This is a large and unusual example of Porter's series of apple still lifes, which was painted during his later, second period in Hartford, CT. This oil is very similar in the impastoed handling, contrasts and casual naturalness of Apples in an Overturned Basket, circa 1885, exhibited at the artist's 2007 New Britain Museum retrospective. The artist, according to Hildegard Cummings, considered one of his apple paintings his best work and showed it in the National Academy of Design in 1885--unfortunately, the available records do not confirm which depiction of apples he referred to. Cummings pp. 74-75.
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Lot 4: EDWARD M. BANNISTER (1828 - 1901) Untitled (Autumn Landscape).
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Description: EDWARD M. BANNISTER (1828 - 1901) Untitled (Autumn Landscape). Oil on canvas board, 1888. 413x535 mm; 10 1/2x13 5/8 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right. Provenance: private New York collection. Bannister's unusual autumn scene of trees rich wtih fall foliage depicts a landscape in a limited palette of golden ochre and sienna. Bannister began to explore more atmospheric and tonal painterly effects in his late 1880s and early 1890s landscapes. Bannister's Landscape with Clouds, undated, and Crossing the Bridge Before Sunset, 1893, both exhibited in Edward M. Bannister--A Centennial Retrospective, Roger King Gallery and Kenkeleba House, 2001, also share this overall golden hue and painterliness.
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Lot 5: EDWARD M. BANNISTER (1828 - 1901) Untitled (Landscape and Cloud Study).
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Description: EDWARD M. BANNISTER (1828 - 1901) Untitled (Landscape and Cloud Study). Oil on cardstock board, circa 1895. 184x210 mm; 7 1/4x8 1/4 inches. Initialed in oil, lower right. Provenance: private New York collection. Bannister often painted small oil studies en plein air that focused on clouds and weather patterns in the sky. The Smitnsonian American Art Museum collection of Bannister paintings includes other small oil on boards of surnrises, sunsets, and storms, including a very similar, undated oil, After the Shower.
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