T
he sale will feature an impressive group of early 19th century landscapes, including several oils from the Hudson River School of Painters. Among them is Jasper Cropsey’s (1823-1900) “Waverly Newton, Long Island,” a captivating oil which features all of the hallmarks of Cropsey's best works -- a crystalline lake, a verdant hill in the background, and an infinite sky. The undisputed beauty and endless variety of North America’s landscapes inspired Cropsey to closely observe, explore, and make sketches of sites and locales. Here, the artist captures a glowing sailboat gently approaching a pavilion, set among an impressive forest, in which trees are depicted in a great symphony of colors. The clouded sky is tinted with a soft pink, indicating the warm glow of the setting sun. The building in the background is in fact “Waverly”, the Remsen and Strong family homestead at Flushing Bay, Newtown, Long Island. The Frick Library has a photograph of another painting of this same subject, this time depicted on a calm day. It shows the same house and wharf, as well as the sailing vessel at its mooring. It is signed and dated on a piece of wood floating in the lower left. Other highlights include Albert Bierstadt’s (1830-1902) “Autumn Landscape,” the artist’s signature subject, which he renders here in a dazzling palette of reds, greens, browns and yellows. Additionally, George Inness’s (1825-1894) “Siasconset Beach” will be featured. The artist, along with William Trost Richards (1833-1905) and Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), was among the first to portray Nantucket’s lush natural settings and alluring seascapes. The American landscapist first visited Nantucket in 1879, and returned on several occasions, including in 1883 – the year our work was executed. In the 1870s and 1880s, his style had evolved from a more traditional practice, often associated with the crisp realism of the Hudson River School, to an increasingly visionary and almost mystical representation of the natural world. Here, the artist captures the beauty of a Nantucket sunset, on the island’s south shore, while an anonymous figure starts up a bonfire on the beach. His use of light and atmospheric expression brings deeper spiritual meaning to his composition, awakening emotion within the spectator. Finally, the sale also features the very Impressionistic “Pink House by a Pond” by Ernest Lawson (1873-1939), which brilliantly captures the effects of light and shadows on a small path leading up to a bright blue lake in the distance. Richard Mellon Scaife (1932-2014), owner of the Trib Total Media publishing company and other media properties, was a dedicated philanthropist and preservationist. Collecting fine art was his other passion. Scaife began to amass a major collection of largely American paintings with the influence of his mother, Sarah, ultimately leading to the creation of the Sarah Scaife Galleries in 1974, a part of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He later donated a commissioned Andy Warhol portrait of Andrew Carnegie to the Carnegie Museum and a rare John James Audubon painting to the National Gallery of Art. Scaife donated more art to Pennsylvania’s The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg and to the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford than to any other institutions, because for him, they had “great collections and excellent staffs.”
american art & pennsylvania impressionsts
09 december | philadelphia
contact: alasdair nichol anichol@freemansauctionauction.com
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