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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 3-B
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AUCTION -
3-B
A record for an almshouse
painting by Rasmussen.
Sotheby’s, New York City
Sale of the Katz Collection
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
W
hen Ralph Katz retired from his
medical practice in Buffalo, New
York, he and his wife, Susanne, moved
to a 1950s house in New Hampshire, where they
lived with their collection of American folk art
until they downsized and moved to a retirement
community and sent the collection to Sotheby’s,
where it was offered on January 21. Sotheby’s
installed more than 60 of their portraits along
with landscapes and seascapes, painted chests,
painted boxes, decoys, and whirligigs in a
stunning exhibition on the fourth floor, making
vernacular works from the 19th century seem
modern.
View of the Berks County Almshouse
, a large oil
on canvas, 32" x 40", signed “J Rasmussen” and
dated 1880, was the most admired folk painting
of the week. It is titled and has the names of the
directors below the image. It sold with buyer’s
premium for $516,500 (est. $80,000/120,000)
to Pennsylvania collector Steve Smith in
the salesroom, underbid in the salesroom by
Patrick Bell of Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope,
Pennsylvania. It is in very good condition.
The price is a record for an almshouse painting
by John Rasmussen and tops the $339,300 Kelly
Kinzle paid for one in October 2008 at Pook &
Pook. In 2013 at the sale of the Andy Williams
collection at Skinner, another Rasmussen
almshouse painting sold for $102,000. In the
1880 census Rasmussen is listed as an inmate
of the Berks County almshouse and a fresco
painter. He was one of the three almshouse
painters, including Louis Mader (1842-after
1899) and Charles Hofmann (c. 1820-1882). At
Pook & Pook in October 2013 a record $545,100
was paid for an almshouse painting by Hofmann.
Steve Smith was the underbidder. Almshouse
paintings have sold privately for more. They
are rare, and those painted on zinc are often in
poor condition, while those on canvas, like the
one sold here, fare better. Every folk art collector
wants one.
Afireboard painted with a stark still life of fruit
on a small table, from the Moses Martin house
in Salem, New York, was another favorite that
provoked bidding on the phones and online. It
sold online for $100,000 (est. $60,000/80,000).
The Katzes owned five landscapes by
James Hope (1818-1892). Two phone bidders
competed for the best one, a large (26¼" x 36¼")
view of
Clarendon Springs, Vermont
that sold to
a collector for $87,500 (est. $30,000/50,000).
According to the catalog, Hope painted at least
three views of Clarendon Springs, one of which
was commissioned by the owner of Clarendon
House, which is in the center of this view, and it
was hung in the lobby. It is now in the collection
of the Currier Museum of Art.
Orphaned as teenager, James Hope purportedly
walked from the family farm inMontreal, Quebec,
to Fairhaven, Vermont, to begin an apprenticeship
as a wagon maker, and later he enrolled in the
Castleton Seminary. He cultivated an interest in
painting, particularly during a short period while
he was recuperating from an injury. He often
painted multiple copies of the same view, and in
time his work became more academic. During
the summers of 1848, 1849, and 1850, Frederic
Church (1826-1900) painted in the Clarendon
Springs region. It was there that Hope befriended
Church. He described Church in a letter as
“famous through color power.” The catalog
points out that Hope’s style is more linear and
stylized than Church’s and suggests that the bold
red clouds in the Clarendon Springs painting may
be a nod to Church, whose depictions of sunset
skies often include vibrant reds and oranges. In
1853 Hope went to New York City to become a
more academic painter. His family remained in
Vermont, and he returned there in the summers.
Only three of the five Hope paintings in the
View of the Berks County Almshouse
by John Rasmussen (1828-1895), oil on canvas,
32" x 40", signed “J Rasmussen,” dated 1880, and titled below the image with a list
of the directors, sold for $516,500 (est. $80,000/120,000) to Pennsylvania collector
Steve Smith in the salesroom, underbid in the salesroom by Patrick Bell of Olde
Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pennsylvania. It is a record for an almshouse painting by
Rasmussen, topping the $339,300 that Kelly Kinzle paid at Pook & Pook in October
2008. In the 1880 census Rasmussen is listed as an inmate of the Berks County
Almshouse and a fresco painter. He was one of three almshouse painters, including
Louis Mader (1842-after 1899) and Charles Hofmann (c. 1820-1882). At Pook &
Pook in October 2013, a record $545,100 was paid for an almshouse painting by
Hofmann; Smith was the underbidder.
This carved
and polychrome
wooden figure of
Lady Liberty on a
base and holding a
metal flag is 17" high
to the top of the flag.
The late 19th- or early
20th-century figure
sold to Connecticut
dealer Roberto Freitas
for $16,250 (est.
$6000/8000), underbid
on the phone.
Carved and painted
wood bathing beauty
whirligig, early 20th
century, 15" high,
sold for $11,250 (est.
$3000/5000) to New
Jersey dealer Leon
Weiss of Gemini
Antiques.
This cast-iron trade figure in the form of woman riding
sidesaddle, with the cast trademark of Cincinnati Stove
Works and on the reverse marked “R CIN IRON FDY/
CIN. O-1903,” 39" long, sold for $5000 (est. $5000/
8000) in the salesroom to Buffalo, New York, dealer
Dana Tillou. Another sold at Noel
Barrett’s toy sale at Pook & Pook
on December 3, 2016, for
$6000 (est. $6000/8000).
Another was offered by
Jeffrey Tillou at the Winter Antiques
Show for more. Cincinnati Stove
Works advertised as early as the
1880s using a woman on horseback
as its logo.
This paint-decorated poplar slide-lid box,
Schoharie County, New York, circa 1830, with fruit
and floral decoration on a green ground with red trim,
6" x 12" x 8", sold on the phone for $4750 (est. $600/800).
This portrait of a young girl and boy, circa 1830, is
attributed to Royall Brewster Smith (1801-1855). The
47¾" x 34¾" oil on canvas has a Gerald Kornblau,
Samuel Herrup, and Stephen Score provenance. It
sold to a collector in the salesroom for $20,000 (est.
$15,000/20,000).