Maine Antique Digest April 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 23-B
- AUCTION -
Before the sale, Graham Arader
addressed the crowd while auc-
tioneer Joanne Grant looked on.
He reminded them of his charita-
ble giving initiative, as well as tell-
ing them about the binder full of
information available for all bid-
ders to look through. Pennington
photo.
A Memory of the Tropics, 39" x 29", oil
on canvas, by Norton Bush (1834-1894)
sold to an absentee bidder for $36,600 (est.
$28,000/32,000). Bush was born in 1834 in
Rochester, New York, where he studied paint-
ing with artist James Harris. He moved to
New York City at the age of 16 and contin-
ued to study art, working under artist Jasper
Cropsey. Bush moved to California by way of
Cornelius Vanderbilt’s route through Nicara-
gua—it was 600 miles and two days shorter to
California than the preferred method of going
through Panama—and relocated in San Fran-
cisco permanently. He visited South America
on two other occasions and died in 1894. The
painting sold at Bonhams in San Francisco on
December 10, 2007, for $39,000.
There were two paintings by George Catlin (1796-
1872) that had been commissioned by firearms
maker Samuel Colt (1814-1862). Panther Shooting,
oil on canvas, 19¼" x 25¾", 1854, sold to a phone
bidder on the line with Lori Cohen for $45,750 (est.
$35,000/45,000). Colt commissioned Catlin to cre-
ate a series of lithographs of Catlin using the Colt
rifle in South America. According to the 2006 cat-
alog Samuel Colt: Arms, Art, and Invention by Her-
bert G. Houze and edited by Elizabeth
Mankin Kornhauser, Colt and Catlin
probably met to discuss his commission
in late 1854 or early 1855. The commis-
sions likely numbered nine to 12 and
were meant to tell a narrative. Catlin’s
Leopard Hunting in Brazil (not shown),
a gouache and watercolor with traces of
pencil on paper, 21" x 26¾", sold to
the same phone buyer for $39,650.
Ostrich Chase, Buenos Aires, another
George Catlin oil on canvas com-
missioned by Samuel Colt, sold to
an absentee bidder for $42,700 (est.
$35,000/45,000). Measuring 19¼" x
26½", the painting shows Catlin hunt-
ing ostriches—something he found
difficult. He wrote, “I with ‘Sam’ [his
firearm, named after Samuel Colt] in
hand, and a six-shot revolver in my
belt set out for the hunt.... I have joined
in the buffalo chase in all its forms,
but never before took part in a chase
so difficult as this. After the brood [of
ostriches] was separated, they ran in
all directions, darting in zig-zag and
curved lines before and around us,
leading our horses into angles difficult
to turn.”
Columbia Jay, aquatint from The
Birds of America, plate 96, 39½"
x 26¼", hand colored, published
by Robert Havell in London,
1827-38, brought $42,700 (est.
$28,000/32,000), above the previ-
ous prices published in the catalog:
$39,650 at Mid-Hudson Auction
Galleries/Arader sale on Decem-
ber 4, 2014; $32,500 at Guernsey’s/
Arader in 2013; and $19,000 at
Guernsey’s/Arader in 2014. (M.A.D.
reported it as selling for $23,750).
Canvas-Backed Duck, an aquatint from The
Birds of America with original hand color-
ing, plate 301, published by Robert Havell
in London, 1827-38, sold for $51,850 (est.
$40,000/50,000) to a phone bidder. The city of
Baltimore may be seen in the background. Pre-
vious auction prices included $71,700 at Chris-
tie’s in 2004; $63,440 at Guernsey’s/Arader in
2013; $54,900 at Guernsey’s/Arader in 2014,
and $52,000 at Sotheby’s in 2007. On Arader’s
blog ) he
tells the story of selling three Audubons to the
White House in 1985, and this Canvas-Backed
Duck was one of President Ronald Reagan’s
favorite. “Of course I was not allowed to make
my pitch for these Audubons directly to the
President. But I was allowed to drive them
down to theWhite House where Clem [Conger]
brought in a selection of 25 of the best images.
Almost instantly Reagan selected the three
that had the city views in the background—the
Canvas Backed Duck with Baltimore, the Long
Billed Curlew with Charleston, and the Great
White Heron with Key West were his choices.
Wow. What a day.”
View of East Rock, New Haven by Con-
necticut artist George Henry Durrie
(1820-1863), brother of John, oil on
canvas, 20¼" x 25¼", sold to a left bid
for $30,500 (est. $25,000/30,000). It was
offered at Sotheby’s Graham Arader
sale in 2009, estimated at $30,000/50,000,
but went unsold. (It had sold successfully
at Sotheby’s once; it brought $19,800 on
October 22, 1982.) Durrie painted the
scene frequently. Some of his earliest
landscapes are of East and West Rock in
New Haven, according to Martha Young
Hutson’s 1977 book George Henry Durrie
(1820-1863), American Winter Landscap-
ist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives.
Called “One of Audubon’s Most
Brilliant compositions” in the cata-
log, the 39" x 26" American Robin,
plate #131, sold for $51,850 (est.
$24,000/30,000). As is Arader’s cus-
tom, he included previous auction
prices for American Robin: $28,125
at the Guernsey’s/Arader sale on
January 25, 2014; $27,450 at the
Guernsey’s/Arader sale in 2013,
and $22,500 at Guernsey’s/Arader,
also in 2013.
A phone bidder paid $51,850 (est.
$25,000/30,000) for Buck at Bay ,
20 1/8" x 30 1/8", oil on canvas, by
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (British, 1819-
1905), ex-Trinity College, Hartford
Connecticut.
The schooner “Fannie Palmer”
leaving Waldoboro, Maine showing
Baker Palmer under construction,
1901, by British artist Louis Dodd
(1943-2006), oil on wood, 22" x 36",
sold for $4880 to an Internet bidder.
Waldoboro, home to Maine Antique
Digest, was known as the home of
the five-masted schooners. Some-
body lost serious money here: this
painting sold at James D. Julia’s in
Fairfield, Maine, in February 2010
for $21,850.
Still Life with Strawberries and
Flowers by Severin Roesen (c.
1816-1872), oil on canvas, 24½"
x 34½", sold for $42,700 (est.
$40,000/60,000); this example pre-
viously sold at Sotheby’s in March
1996 for $21,850. Another Roesen
still life in the Arader sale went
unsold (est. $30,000/40,000). Born
in Germany, Roesen exhibited in
Cologne in 1847 and is thought
to have studied in Düsseldorf. He
immigrated in 1848 to the United
States, where he lived, worked, and
exhibited in New York City until
1852, when he moved to Pennsylva-
nia, settling in Williamsport.
Connecticut Homestead by Henry
Pember Smith (1854-1914), oil and
canvas laid down on board, 25"
x 35", sold for $10,370 to a phone
bidder on the line with Lori Cohen.
Christie’s had sold it on September
25, 2008, for $6875. Smith was a
specialist in marine and landscape
views. He was born in Waterford,
Connecticut, in 1854, but little is
known about him before 1877,
when he set up a studio in NewYork
City. Smith exhibited regularly at
the National Academy of Design,
although he was never a member.
Smith also exhibited at the Ameri-
can Watercolor Society and the Art-
ists’ Fund Society.
☞