By Carter B. Horsley The stars of this auction are Ash Can school works from the Arthur Altschul Collection highighted by a great Everett Shinn (1876-1953), Lot 9, "Footlight Flirtation," a 29 1/4-by-36 1/4-inch oil on canvas, dated 1912. It has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It sold for $3,639,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. Lot 11, "Gray and Brass," is a great John Sloan (1871-1951), oil on canvas, 21 1/2 by 26 1/2 inches, painted in 1907. It also has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It sold for $2,319,500. These are true masterworks by these artists and top museum quality.
This was a very successful auction with about 85 percent of the lots selling for a total of $31,632,545.
The Altschul works also included several fine Ash Can school drawings, notably Lot 7, "O'Rourke Tried to Climb Through The Ropes, But Was Pulled Back and Thrown on the Floor," by William J. Glackens (1870-1938), a superb charcoal and Chinese white on board, 14 by 11 inches, circa 1905, shown below, which has an estimate of $75,000 to $100,000. It sold for $229,500.
Another fine Glackens drawing is "The Balcony," Lot 8, an ink and Chinese white on board, 11 by 13 3/4 inches, circa 1899, with an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $185,500.
There are several excellent drawings from the Altschul Collection by Everett Shinn including Lot 16, "Washington Square," a watercolor and gouache on paper, 8 1/2 by 12 inches, 1942, with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000, and Lot 17, "Old Vanderbilt House," shown above, a 7 1/4-by-10-inch watercolor and gouache on board that was executed in 1945. The scene shows the former mansion that occupies the site of Bergdorf Goodman and which is also the subject of one of Shinn's large paintings in the Oak Bar of the adjacent Plaza Hotel. Lot 16 sold for $77,675 and Lot 17, which had an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000, sold for $71,700.
Among the non-Altschul properties are Lot 33, "Outer Harbor (Summer)," a very fine oil on panel, 18 1/2 by 32 1/4 inches, by Maurice B. Prendergast (1859-1924), another Ash Can School painter known for his lively mosaic-style paintings and watercolors. This has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $850,000. This was as good a Prendergast as one could hope for but surprisingly his works have not done very well in recent years at auction.
The cover illustration of the catalogue is a very fine and formal Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) family work, Lot 22, "Mother and Sara Admiring the Baby," a 46 1/4-by-29-inch pastel, circa 1901. While it is pretty and true to Cassatt's popular formula, it is not as interesting or dramatic as some of her sketchier works. It has an ambitious estimate of $3,500,000 to $5,000,000. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $2,600,000.
Another very pretty Impressionist pastel is lot 29, "Afternoon in the Park," by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), that measures 18 3/4 by 14 3/4 inches. It was executed in 1889 and while technically very well done, it has a rather ambitious estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 and is, like the Cassatt, a little too formal. It sold for $2,099,500.
Far better and much more beautiful than either the Cassatt or the Chase is Thomas Wilmer Dewing's "The Song," Lot 37," a 26 1/2-by-34-inch oil on canvas. Executed in 1891, this is a classic Whistlerian work of great beauty and poetry and has an estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. It sold for $3,419,500.
Lot 67, "Wooden Horses," is a fine carrousel tempera on board by Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) that measures 24 by 40 inches and was painted in 1936. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000 and delightfully captures the fun of amusement parks and is a particularly vibrant work by Marsh. It sold for $834,500.
Lot 81, "The Jazz Singer," is a very fine watercolor on paper, 13 by 8 inches, by Charles Demuth (1883-1935). It has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000 and is executed in 1916 and is of considerable historical interest as well as being a superb watercolor by an important artist. It sold for $185,500.
Another New York scene is Lot 110, "Broadway Looking South from Liberty Street," by John William Hill (1812-1879), watercolor on paper, 17 1/4 by 24 3/4 inches, 1831. It has a modest estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. It sold for $130,500.
Lot 113, "Two Hunters in a Landscape," is a fine Massachusetts scene by Martin J. Heade (1819-1904), an oil on canvas that measures 12 1/4 by 24 inches and comes from the Thyssen-Bornemesza collection. It has a conservative estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $240,000.
Lot 120, "Sunset," by George Inness (1825-1894), is a handsome work by this very poetic Tonalist. An oil on canvas that measures 32 1/4 by 42 inches, it was executed in 1893 and has a conservative estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It is top museum quality and lovely. It sold for $295,500.
Lot 127, "Looking over Niagara Falls,"by Thomas Moran (1837-1926) is a 14-by-30-inch oil on canvas that has a very conservative estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $339,500.
Lot 130, "Kit Fliers," by John G. Brown (1831-1913), is a very, very charming oil on canvas, 12 by 9 inches, of two city boys playing with kites. Executed in 1867, it has a modest estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. Brown is famous for his paintings of shoeshine boys but at his best, as here, he was a very fine genre painter. It sold for $32,862.
Lot 143, "Buffalo Hunt," by Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874) is a great oil on canvas, 21 1/2 by 34 inches, 1858 by the earliest and best painters of the West. It has an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold for $1,659,500. Sotheby's also has two portraits of George Washington, one by Gilbert Stuart and the other by Rembrandt Peale. There are a lot of these.