Tag Archives: contemporary art

Original Paintings by Mühl, Husain, Dunning will Headline Bruneau & Co’s February 21 Online Auction

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Cranston, RI, USA, February 8, 2022 -/DailyVoice/- Original paintings by noted, listed artists that span multiple generations and genres will headline Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers’ next online-only Estate Fine Art & Antique Auction scheduled for Monday, February 21st, beginning at 6 pm Eastern time. More than 350 lots, pulled from prominent estates and collections across New England, will come up for bid.

“Continuing on the momentum of last month’s sale, this catalog features an incredible single owner collection of 32 paintings by noted New England artists of the late 19th and early 20th century,” said Kevin Bruneau, Bruneau & Co’s president and an auctioneer. “Names include Robert Spear Dunning, George Whitaker, Charles Gifford, and Bryant Chapin, amongst others. It will be interesting to see how they perform today. The art market is red-hot right now.”

Travis Landry, a Bruneau & Co. auctioneer and the firm’s Director of Pop Culture, added, “While the antique art is sure to perform, this catalog does contain some great pieces of modern and contemporary art. The Roger Mühl oil on canvas is sure to attract interest, along with the Michael Steiner bronze. Also, we can’t forget about the two Maqbool Fida Husain watercolors. This auction is jam packed. Collectors and investors need to mark their calendars right away.”

The paintings by Roger Mühl (France, 1929-2008) and Maqbool Fida Husain (India, 1913-2011) are expected top achievers, each with estimates of $8,000-$12,000. The Mühl work depicts pale pink and red tulips in a celadon colored vase over polychromatic patches of color. Measuring 19 ½ inches by 20 ½ inches (canvas, less frame), the abstract painting is signed lower right and titled Tulipes Rouges on verso. It also retains the original label from Findlay Galleries (N.Y.).

Roger Mühl was a 20th-century French painter best known for his light-drenched landscape renderings of the south of France. His paintings often featured built-up impasto surfaces and utilized complimentary colors and neutral tones, creating both atmosphere and physicality in his subtle compositions. He studied at National School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg but spent most of his life living and working in Provence, while exhibiting worldwide.

There are two paintings by Maqbool Fida Husain in the auction, both of them watercolors. One is a polychromatic rendering, depicting a dancing Ganesha. Signed “Husain” lower left and measuring 20 inches by 14 inches (less frame), it was purchased directly from the artist by a prominent Ohio collector and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Husain’s son, Shafat.

The other is an equestrian painting, depicting a galloping, monochromatic horse in moonlight, lined with sepia and blue. Larger than the other work, at 33 inches by 24 inches (less frame), it’s also signed “Husain” lower left, is from the same Ohio collector and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Shafat Husain. Maqbool Fida Husain is often called “the Picasso of India.”

A still life painting of fruit by Robert Spear Dunning (Mass./N.H., 1829-1905), depicting peaches, a pear and bundles of red and green grapes glistening under light is expected to gavel for $6,000-$9,000. The 7 ¼ inch by 11 ¼ inch canvas (less frame) was pulled from a large Massachusetts estate and is signed and dated “R.S. Dunning 1896” on verso and lower right.

Dunning was a founder of the Fall River School in Massachusetts and is best known for his realist trompe l’oeil paintings. He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and his work is housed in many public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Fall River Historical Society in Massachusetts; the Columbus Museum in Ohio and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

A large, 17th century Flemish Old Master hunting scene, measuring 34 ½ inches by 43 ¾ inches, carries an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. The genre painting depicts a man on horseback and three men wielding spears chasing a deer across the river with hunting dogs. The scene is framed by full trees and neoclassical structures in the distance beneath a pink sky. The work is unsigned.

A fine Chinese silk gold thread dragon robe dating to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) is expected to change hands for $2,000-$3,000. The beautiful early robe of high quality, 29 inches long and approximately 22 inches wide at the shoulders, is finely decorated with raised gold thread five-toed dragons flying amongst clouds with bats and cranes, and with a lower crashing wave border.

An early 20th century round African Baule tribe Kplekple carved wood mask with two horns, protruding eyes, a low mouth and beard, decorated in red, black and white paint, 17 inches tall and deaccessioned from the collection of a cultural museum in Alabama, should reach $2,000-$3,000. The mask has a minor split bottom right and a few areas of wear and losses to the paint.

A preview is available by appointment the week of and day of sale, with doors opening at 9 am Eastern time. The auction will begin at 6 pm EST. Bidding is available via in-person, absentee, telephone or Internet, with a 20% buyer’s premium (or 18% with cash, check or wire transfer).

Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, Bidsquare.com, bidLIVE.Bruneauandco.com and the mobile app “Bruneau & Co.” on iTunes or GooglePlay. To learn more about Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers and the 357-lot, online-only Estate Fine Art & Antiques auction scheduled for Monday, February 21st, please visit www.bruneauandco.com.

Bronze Sculpture by Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986) will headline Shannon’s Fall Fine Art Auction, Thursday, October 28

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Milford, CT, USA, October 21, 2021 -/DailyVoice/- Shannon’s has collected an exceptional group of 180 artworks to be offered in their Fall Fine Art Auction on Thursday, October 28th, beginning promptly at 6 pm Eastern time. There are spectacular offerings in every category, particularly 20th century American art, 19th century European art, Hudson River School painting, Modernism and Contemporary art.

Headlining the auction are two works by celebrated the British Modernist, Henry Moore. Moore, best known as a sculptor, was a skilled draughtsman often working out concepts for his sculptures on paper. Shannon’s will offer both a bronze, Mother and Child on Ladderback Rocking Chair (estimated at $400,000-$600,000) and a colored, mixed-media work on paper, titled Rocking Chairs (estimate $100,000-$200,000) related to the series of mother and child sculptures on rocking bases.

The bronze, from an edition of 9, was intended to rock back and forth, adding charm and playfulness to the warm subject matter. It was purchased directly from Moore’s New York City dealer in 1952. The drawing, created in 1948, illustrates Moore’s various approaches to the mother and child theme. Although the work is a study on paper, Moore clearly conceived of his works as volumetric sculptures, drawing shadows and motion into his designs.

A large, 80 inch by 150 inch painting by the Chilean artist Roberto Matta carries a pre-sale estimate of $150,000-$250,000. The untitled painting presents an alternative, futuristic, dreamlike universe with hypersexualized, androgynous humanoid figures typical of his paintings from mid-century. Other highlights in Modern and Contemporary include a monochromatic abstract painting by Russian artist Serge Poliakoff, a bright, expressive watercolor by Paul Jenkins and two works from the estate of Gerome Kamrowski.

Two superb works on paper by Charles Burchfield lead the offerings of 20th century American art. January Sun, measuring an impressive 40 inches by 34 inches, depicts a view in Buffalo outside the artist’s home and studio. Burchfield started the composition in 1947 and finished it in 1957. Estimated at $150,000-$250,000 this market-fresh watercolor has been in a private collection for nearly 50 years and is in excellent original condition. From the same collection, another Burchfield, titled Lincoln Avenue at Salem, Main Street, is expected to bring $70,000-$90,000. Dated 1916, the work illustrates a scene from Burchfield’s native Ohio during an early period in his career. Loosely associated with the Regionalist artists, Burchfield found inspiration in his immediate surroundings.

From the same collection a rare Thomas Hart Benton oil study, Study for Sugar Cane, will be offered with an expected selling price of $200,000-$300,000. The oil sketch reads much larger than its size, and is almost identical to the larger, finished composition now in the collection of the Thomas Hart Benton Trust.

Other highlights in American art include a snowy view of the financial district by Guy C. Wiggins (estimate $100,000-$150,000); a Luminist vista of the Susquehanna River by John F. Cropsey (estimate $80,000-$120,000); a large view of Niagara Falls by Hermann Herzog (estimate $40,000-$60,000); a portrait of a woman by Charles Courtney Curran (estimate $40,000-$60,000); a large forest interior by Worthington Whittredge (estimate $40,000-$60,000); a masterpiece-quality work by Felicie Waldo Howell (estimate $30,000-$50,000); and a portfolio of 96 watercolors by Fidelia Bridges (estimate $30,000-$50,000).

European paintings include a portrait of the opera character Musette from Puccini’s La Boheme by Italian Academic artist Eugene von Blaas, estimated at $100,000-$150,000; and a portrait of a wealthy Viennese banker by Isidor Kaufmann, estimated at $100,000-$150,000.

To view the full catalog, condition reports and to bid live online, visit www.shannons.com. Previews will be held by appointment only, October 18th-27th, weekdays from 11 am to 6 pm Eastern time, and Saturday, October 23rd from 10-3. Virtual previews and additional photos are available by request.

Bidding is available by telephone, absentee or live on shannons.com. A live-stream of the auction will be broadcast on shannons.com. Telephone bids can be reserved in advance and absentee bids will be accepted before the auction. Consignments at Shannon’s are accepted year-round. To consign a single item or an entire collection, contact info@shannons.com.