US Painting before 1940
See also : 18th century painting Birth of USA Far West Women artists Illustrators Cities Flowers Sport in art
Chronology : 18th century 1770-1779 1840-1849 1870-1879 1880-1889 1927 1928 1930-1939 1932 1934
Chronology : 18th century 1770-1779 1840-1849 1870-1879 1880-1889 1927 1928 1930-1939 1932 1934
1779 George Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale
2006 SOLD 21.3 M$ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
Please watch the 2015 'Game changer' featured post by Christie's, including video.
Please watch the 2015 'Game changer' featured post by Christie's, including video.
1846-1848 The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity by Edward Hicks
2008 SOLD for $ 9.7M including premium by Sotheby's (UNPAID 4 months later)
Link to pre sale press release.
1878 Green River of Wyoming by Thomas Moran
2008 SOLD 17.7 M$ including premium by Christie's
Shared on Wikimedia :
1886 Red Poppies in the Twilight
2016 SOLD for $ 6.9M including premium
John Singer Sargent is the most European of US artists. His mother suffered a breakdown after the death of an infant daughter and his father abandoned for this reason his job as a surgeon in Philadelphia. The couple spent their time traveling throughout Europe and John was born by chance in Florence, the capital of the arts.
John was a child prodigy. The Impressionists did not however welcome him into their ranks because he was a pupil of Carolus-Duran who taught an academic classicism in Paris. John specialized in the society portrait. In 1884 he painstakingly painted the Portrait de Madame X which made a scandal by its plunging neckline. The artist was too far ahead of the couture fashion of the following century.
Disgusted by the failure of this artwork which he considered as his best painting he traveled to England in August 1885. Shortly after his arrival, he was injured in the head while swimming in the Thames, sufficiently seriously for a friend to require him to have some convalescence in the English countryside. The accident triggered a reorientation of his art.
John had visited Giverny just before and he was encouraged by Monet to paint outdoors. He conceived an ambitious composition showing two small girls in a garden in a contrasting light of late afternoon. This painting will be completed in the following year and titled Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by reference to a nursery rhyme. It is a masterpiece of the artist and a turning point in his career.
On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells Poppies, oil on canvas 62 x 91 cm painted in 1886 in England during the preparation of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. It is estimated $ 4M, lot 8.
The colors are vibrant but the modernism lies in the theme and composition of this humble piece of grass slope, anticipating by four years the interest of Van Gogh in Auvers for wild flowers. Red poppies and other flowers are the only subject of this magnificent painting without further forefront and whose background is completely darkened in the excuse of the nightfall.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's (below).
John was a child prodigy. The Impressionists did not however welcome him into their ranks because he was a pupil of Carolus-Duran who taught an academic classicism in Paris. John specialized in the society portrait. In 1884 he painstakingly painted the Portrait de Madame X which made a scandal by its plunging neckline. The artist was too far ahead of the couture fashion of the following century.
Disgusted by the failure of this artwork which he considered as his best painting he traveled to England in August 1885. Shortly after his arrival, he was injured in the head while swimming in the Thames, sufficiently seriously for a friend to require him to have some convalescence in the English countryside. The accident triggered a reorientation of his art.
John had visited Giverny just before and he was encouraged by Monet to paint outdoors. He conceived an ambitious composition showing two small girls in a garden in a contrasting light of late afternoon. This painting will be completed in the following year and titled Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by reference to a nursery rhyme. It is a masterpiece of the artist and a turning point in his career.
On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells Poppies, oil on canvas 62 x 91 cm painted in 1886 in England during the preparation of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. It is estimated $ 4M, lot 8.
The colors are vibrant but the modernism lies in the theme and composition of this humble piece of grass slope, anticipating by four years the interest of Van Gogh in Auvers for wild flowers. Red poppies and other flowers are the only subject of this magnificent painting without further forefront and whose background is completely darkened in the excuse of the nightfall.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's (below).
#AuctionUpdate John Singer Sargent's gorgeous 'Poppies' from 1886 sells above estimate for $6.9m pic.twitter.com/MQJjeDBKCJ
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 18, 2016
1896 The Old Wyoming
2015 SOLD for $ 8.6M including premium
The railway, superseding the dangerous Oregon trail, allows the emergence of civilization into the wilderness of the Western American territories that are not yet upgraded into states.
The village of Green River in Dakota Territory is served by the Pacific section in July 1868 before the famous transcontinental junction of 10 May 1869. Green River will be part of Wyoming in the later division of states.
Green River was incorporated as a city in 1868 and became a rallying point for geological and geographical expeditions starting with Powell in 1869.
Thomas Moran arrives by train to Green River in 1871 to join the Hayden expedition. The admirer of Turner is dazzled by the variety of colors: the reflection in water adds green and lavender to the yellow and orange of the cliffs. He immediately realizes a first watercolor. He does not seek realism but idealization and the result is sumptuous.
The Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming is one of the finest western landscapes and Moran painted this scenery in different sizes without changing the composition.
An oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm painted in 1878 was sold for $ 17,7M including premium by Christie's on 21 May 2008. A later version in the same technique, 51 x 76 cm painted in 1896, is estimated $ 6M for sale by the same auction house in New York on May 21,lot 7.
The village of Green River in Dakota Territory is served by the Pacific section in July 1868 before the famous transcontinental junction of 10 May 1869. Green River will be part of Wyoming in the later division of states.
Green River was incorporated as a city in 1868 and became a rallying point for geological and geographical expeditions starting with Powell in 1869.
Thomas Moran arrives by train to Green River in 1871 to join the Hayden expedition. The admirer of Turner is dazzled by the variety of colors: the reflection in water adds green and lavender to the yellow and orange of the cliffs. He immediately realizes a first watercolor. He does not seek realism but idealization and the result is sumptuous.
The Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming is one of the finest western landscapes and Moran painted this scenery in different sizes without changing the composition.
An oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm painted in 1878 was sold for $ 17,7M including premium by Christie's on 21 May 2008. A later version in the same technique, 51 x 76 cm painted in 1896, is estimated $ 6M for sale by the same auction house in New York on May 21,lot 7.
1904 The Mountains of a New Land
2014 SOLD 12.5 M$ including premium
In 1871, the Hayden survey explores and describes Yellowstone. Nature had created without human help some fabulous romantic landscapes. The scientists are accompanied by two young artists, the photographer WH Jackson and the painter Thomas Moran.
Photos are black and white at that time, so it was left to the paintings of Moran to display to the Americans the extraordinary colors of the Rocky Mountains. Even the Congress is charmed by these images. In 1872 the first national park is established in Yellowstone.
Moran was seduced by this theme that occupied him for his entire career. Inspired by Turner's art, he expressed the deep sensitivity of the landscape in a sharp line that respected the geological realism.
Painted in 1878, the Wyoming mountain reflected in the Green River is one of his masterpieces. This oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm was sold for $ 17.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 21, 2008.
On May 22 in New York, Christie's sells a panoramic view in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, expressive and contrasted. Painted in 1904, this oil on canvas 75 x 152 cm is estimated $ 8M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this late panoramic view by Moran: $ 12.5 million including premium.
Photos are black and white at that time, so it was left to the paintings of Moran to display to the Americans the extraordinary colors of the Rocky Mountains. Even the Congress is charmed by these images. In 1872 the first national park is established in Yellowstone.
Moran was seduced by this theme that occupied him for his entire career. Inspired by Turner's art, he expressed the deep sensitivity of the landscape in a sharp line that respected the geological realism.
Painted in 1878, the Wyoming mountain reflected in the Green River is one of his masterpieces. This oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm was sold for $ 17.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 21, 2008.
On May 22 in New York, Christie's sells a panoramic view in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, expressive and contrasted. Painted in 1904, this oil on canvas 75 x 152 cm is estimated $ 8M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this late panoramic view by Moran: $ 12.5 million including premium.
1910 Polo Crowd by George Bellows
1999 SOLD 27.5 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
1920 George Bellows in the Crowd
2012 SOLD 7 M$ including premium
George "Geo" Bellows is passionate about his country, America. The favorite theme of his art is the crowd, of which he captures the movement. Being himself an athlete, he is interested in sports, and of course in the crowds of the spectators.
On December 1, 1999, Sotheby's sold Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 161 cm, painted in 1910. Sold $ 27.5 million including premium, this lot then got the record for an American painting at auction. The buyer, Bill Gates, was identified after the sale.
On May 17 in New York, Sotheby's sells a tennis scene painted in 1920. This oil on canvas, 109 x 135 cm, is estimated $ 5M.
On vacation the previous year in Newport RI, the artist had attended a tournament won by Bill Tilden of which he wanted to recreate the atmosphere. The game of tennis is underway, and the crowd is dense around the players. The style is typical of this artist: almost impressionistic in the clothing of the crowd, realistic up to the border of naivety in the anecdotal part of the scene.
This dynamic and colorful work is a very interesting account of the atmosphere of the early Roaring Twenties.
POST SALE COMMENT
Deserved result for this interesting painting by George Bellows: $ 7M including premium.
In the same sale of American art, an unusual painting made by Edward Hopper in 1939, certainly influenced by surrealism, was sold $ 10.4 million including premium.
The image is shared on Wikiart :
On December 1, 1999, Sotheby's sold Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 161 cm, painted in 1910. Sold $ 27.5 million including premium, this lot then got the record for an American painting at auction. The buyer, Bill Gates, was identified after the sale.
On May 17 in New York, Sotheby's sells a tennis scene painted in 1920. This oil on canvas, 109 x 135 cm, is estimated $ 5M.
On vacation the previous year in Newport RI, the artist had attended a tournament won by Bill Tilden of which he wanted to recreate the atmosphere. The game of tennis is underway, and the crowd is dense around the players. The style is typical of this artist: almost impressionistic in the clothing of the crowd, realistic up to the border of naivety in the anecdotal part of the scene.
This dynamic and colorful work is a very interesting account of the atmosphere of the early Roaring Twenties.
POST SALE COMMENT
Deserved result for this interesting painting by George Bellows: $ 7M including premium.
In the same sale of American art, an unusual painting made by Edward Hopper in 1939, certainly influenced by surrealism, was sold $ 10.4 million including premium.
The image is shared on Wikiart :
1922 Painting-Secession by Georgia O'Keeffe
2016 SOLD for $ 13M including premium
The movement created by Stieglitz in 1902 as the Photo-Secession is much more than a group of friends. Modern photography is born in New York. The foregrounds, angles, contrasts and choice of themes escape the realism. With his camera, the photographer is like the painter : he expresses his feelings.
Stieglitz is also linked with Europeans painters. In 1908 he exhibits at his gallery in New York some works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Cézanne. The early abstract drawings by Georgia O'Keeffe are sincere and authentic creations in which he sees the seed for an American art.
After meeting with Stieglitz, Georgia is occupied as a model for the photographer and her creative activity is slowing. Each summer they spend some time together in the Stieglitz family country house at Lake George in upper state New York. Still attentive to abstraction, Georgia observes how nature uses geometry to construct landscapes and flowers.
On May 19 in New York, Christie's sells Lake George Reflection, oil on canvas 147 x 86 cm probably painted during the summer of 1922, lot 14 estimated $ 8M.
The theme is a classic landscape whose colors are more expressive than realistic. Georgia conceived that a reflection of the mountain in the water can be perfect if the weather is fine. The shore of the lake separates the picture into two halves of identical width.
And Hop ! At its first exhibition in January 1923, the artist positions it as a vertical work. The observer sees what he wishes to see : a symmetrical abstraction, a New York street lined with skyscrapers, the inside of a flower revealing the pistil, or a sexual symbol. The double meaning is revealed by the title of the work : it is a view of Lake George.
In 1913, Kandinsky had promoted non-figurative art with his story of a watercolor viewed after a fall over. In 1912, the double meaning of the Octopus photograph by Coburn anticipated the surrealism by more than ten years. The image of Lake George by O'Keeffe is a reflection in water and a reflection on the artistic language.
Stieglitz is also linked with Europeans painters. In 1908 he exhibits at his gallery in New York some works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Cézanne. The early abstract drawings by Georgia O'Keeffe are sincere and authentic creations in which he sees the seed for an American art.
After meeting with Stieglitz, Georgia is occupied as a model for the photographer and her creative activity is slowing. Each summer they spend some time together in the Stieglitz family country house at Lake George in upper state New York. Still attentive to abstraction, Georgia observes how nature uses geometry to construct landscapes and flowers.
On May 19 in New York, Christie's sells Lake George Reflection, oil on canvas 147 x 86 cm probably painted during the summer of 1922, lot 14 estimated $ 8M.
The theme is a classic landscape whose colors are more expressive than realistic. Georgia conceived that a reflection of the mountain in the water can be perfect if the weather is fine. The shore of the lake separates the picture into two halves of identical width.
And Hop ! At its first exhibition in January 1923, the artist positions it as a vertical work. The observer sees what he wishes to see : a symmetrical abstraction, a New York street lined with skyscrapers, the inside of a flower revealing the pistil, or a sexual symbol. The double meaning is revealed by the title of the work : it is a view of Lake George.
In 1913, Kandinsky had promoted non-figurative art with his story of a watercolor viewed after a fall over. In 1912, the double meaning of the Octopus photograph by Coburn anticipated the surrealism by more than ten years. The image of Lake George by O'Keeffe is a reflection in water and a reflection on the artistic language.
1922 Sapphic Eden viewed by Maxfield Parrish
2006 SOLD for $ 7.6M including premium by Christie's
2010 SOLD 5.2 M$ including premium
PRE 2010 SALE DISCUSSION
Away from the artistic trends, Maxfield Parrish is now recognized as the pioneer of fantastic art. Professional illustrator, prolific author of posters and calendars, he uses a sharp line and bright colors to evoke fairy themes.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans, to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork, as seen in the article Daybreak (painting) of Wikipedia, is carefully composed. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two huge endless columns, two young women wake up. One of them, lying, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is totally naked.
The original oil on board, 67 x 114 cm, was sold $ 7.6 million including premium at Christie's on May 25, 2006. It comes back in the same auction house in New York on May 20, on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker. It is estimated $ 4 million.
The sale includes also several other paintings by this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate had been perfectly logical. The upper estimate, which I had not copied (in conformance with my practice) was $ 7 million, comparable to the 2006 result. The existence of a dedicated collector, even if anonymous, always drives the price. When that collector is selling, we can therefore expect a decline, even if the seller is identified.
The lower estimate, $ 4 million, was well targeted. Daybreak was sold $ 5.2 million including premium.
The picture is shared by Wikimedia :
Away from the artistic trends, Maxfield Parrish is now recognized as the pioneer of fantastic art. Professional illustrator, prolific author of posters and calendars, he uses a sharp line and bright colors to evoke fairy themes.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans, to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork, as seen in the article Daybreak (painting) of Wikipedia, is carefully composed. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two huge endless columns, two young women wake up. One of them, lying, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is totally naked.
The original oil on board, 67 x 114 cm, was sold $ 7.6 million including premium at Christie's on May 25, 2006. It comes back in the same auction house in New York on May 20, on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker. It is estimated $ 4 million.
The sale includes also several other paintings by this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate had been perfectly logical. The upper estimate, which I had not copied (in conformance with my practice) was $ 7 million, comparable to the 2006 result. The existence of a dedicated collector, even if anonymous, always drives the price. When that collector is selling, we can therefore expect a decline, even if the seller is identified.
The lower estimate, $ 4 million, was well targeted. Daybreak was sold $ 5.2 million including premium.
The picture is shared by Wikimedia :
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1927 The Lady of the Weeds
2015 SOLD for $ 9M including premium
It was not enough for Georgia O'Keeffe to be Stieglitz's wife and model. She finds a small paradise in the grasslands around Lake George in upstate New York. Nature knows how to create perfect shapes much better than an artist can do. She watches the flowering of the weeds.
Georgia expresses the beauty of white flowers in a variety of viewpoints that reveal their sublime geometries in the process of their outbreak.
A painting of petunias executed in 1926 still marks an aesthetic reference to photography by showing side by side a pale pink flower and a dark purple flower that is somehow its negative. This oil on canvas 76 x 91 cm was sold for $ 4.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 19, 2010.
Georgia's favorite flower is the calla lily, whose name means beautiful in its etymology. She is sometimes nicknamed the Lady of the Lily by her friends.
An oil on canvas 81 x 43 cm painted in 1927 is starring a calla lily with its white petals opening on a yellow pistil. It is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 20, lot 14. Georgia particularly enjoyed that artwork which she kept in her personal collection.
She discovers Taos two years later. A datura painted in very large size in 1934, 122 x 107 cm, was sold for $ 44.4M including premium by Sotheby's on November 20, 2014.
Georgia expresses the beauty of white flowers in a variety of viewpoints that reveal their sublime geometries in the process of their outbreak.
A painting of petunias executed in 1926 still marks an aesthetic reference to photography by showing side by side a pale pink flower and a dark purple flower that is somehow its negative. This oil on canvas 76 x 91 cm was sold for $ 4.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 19, 2010.
Georgia's favorite flower is the calla lily, whose name means beautiful in its etymology. She is sometimes nicknamed the Lady of the Lily by her friends.
An oil on canvas 81 x 43 cm painted in 1927 is starring a calla lily with its white petals opening on a yellow pistil. It is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 20, lot 14. Georgia particularly enjoyed that artwork which she kept in her personal collection.
She discovers Taos two years later. A datura painted in very large size in 1934, 122 x 107 cm, was sold for $ 44.4M including premium by Sotheby's on November 20, 2014.
1928 View of New York by Edward Hopper
2013 SOLD 19 M$ including premium
Hopper does not want to be blinded by the foils of America, but he loves his country and New York. In reaction against his time, he developed a passion for anonymous houses in front of which he goes his way by road, rail or river. He does not know whether they are used or abandoned, but their menace of ruins are the symbol of the past that he does not wish to leave.
On May 23 in New York, Christie's sells Blackwell's Island, an oil on canvas painted in 1928, 88 x 151 cm, estimated $ 15M. It is a very good example showing the independence of Hopper against any art trend.
Blackwell's is part of Manhattan, but this district without skyscrapers chosen by Hopper to symbolize New York was known for its prison and penitentiary hospital. Always in search of the past, the artist pretends to ignore that its name was Welfare Island since 1921 (to become Roosevelt Island later).
On East River shore, buildings align with factory chimneys. A small motor boat, single direct example of a human activity, is almost out of field going to a future that does not concern us.
This is a very geometric composition with sharp colors. The sky is crossed by radiant tracks. All front sides of the buildings shine under the sun excepted one of them. The river is too blue, voluntarily, to capture all the attention. This landscape is not classical and is the opposite of impressionism. It is not far from surrealism. It is a Hopper.
SELECTED TWEET
Sunlight on the side of Hopper's houses is as artificial as stage lighting & sets the scene for the drama called American Loneliness.
— Lee Mamunes (@HopperAtoZ) May 18, 2013
POST SALE COMMENT
Hopper is always fascinating, and this painting is outstanding. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
On May 23 in New York, Christie's sells Blackwell's Island, an oil on canvas painted in 1928, 88 x 151 cm, estimated $ 15M. It is a very good example showing the independence of Hopper against any art trend.
Blackwell's is part of Manhattan, but this district without skyscrapers chosen by Hopper to symbolize New York was known for its prison and penitentiary hospital. Always in search of the past, the artist pretends to ignore that its name was Welfare Island since 1921 (to become Roosevelt Island later).
On East River shore, buildings align with factory chimneys. A small motor boat, single direct example of a human activity, is almost out of field going to a future that does not concern us.
This is a very geometric composition with sharp colors. The sky is crossed by radiant tracks. All front sides of the buildings shine under the sun excepted one of them. The river is too blue, voluntarily, to capture all the attention. This landscape is not classical and is the opposite of impressionism. It is not far from surrealism. It is a Hopper.
SELECTED TWEET
Sunlight on the side of Hopper's houses is as artificial as stage lighting & sets the scene for the drama called American Loneliness.
— Lee Mamunes (@HopperAtoZ) May 18, 2013
POST SALE COMMENT
Hopper is always fascinating, and this painting is outstanding. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
1932 The Devil's Snare
2014 SOLD for $ 44.4M including premium
The beauty of nature was the main inspiration for Georgia O'Keeffe. Painter amidst the circle of photographers led by her husband Alfred Stieglitz, she wanted to see everything from larger landscapes to tiniest details. From 1929 she regularly visited the wonderful site of Taos.
She is not a botanist but there is no need to be a scientist for being fascinated by the datura, a wild herb that is particularly abundant in New Mexico. Its trumpet flowers appear at the cool of the evening with subtle shades of colors on a white background. A powerful hallucinogen, this plant is locally called Jimson weed and most commonly Devil's snare.
Painted in 1932, Jimson weed - white flower No.1 is a beautiful portrait of a flower. Inspired by macrophotography, it is an invitation to enter full front into the intimate secrets of a disproportionately enlarged datura. This oil on canvas is measuring 122 x 107 cm, a large format for the artist at that time.
This painting is estimated $ 10 million, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 20, lot 11. It is deaccessioned by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe NM with the consent of the donor.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
She is not a botanist but there is no need to be a scientist for being fascinated by the datura, a wild herb that is particularly abundant in New Mexico. Its trumpet flowers appear at the cool of the evening with subtle shades of colors on a white background. A powerful hallucinogen, this plant is locally called Jimson weed and most commonly Devil's snare.
Painted in 1932, Jimson weed - white flower No.1 is a beautiful portrait of a flower. Inspired by macrophotography, it is an invitation to enter full front into the intimate secrets of a disproportionately enlarged datura. This oil on canvas is measuring 122 x 107 cm, a large format for the artist at that time.
This painting is estimated $ 10 million, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 20, lot 11. It is deaccessioned by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe NM with the consent of the donor.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1934 Suburbs for Sale
2013 SOLD 40.5 M$ including premium
The house is for Hopper the theme that ensures the continuity of civilization. It symbolizes the past by surviving after the move or death of its residents. The 1929 crisis could only exacerbate his reluctant vision of the modern world.
Hopper is the most famous car user in the history of art. He tirelessly revisits the same places to perform sketches which he then reworks in his workshop in the form of large oil paintings.
Painted in 1934, East Wind over Weehawken, 86 x 128 cm, shows houses viewed from a small crossing of streets in suburban New Jersey. This place should support life but the streets are empty. These houses are promoted to the rank of major characters in the drama and wait for who knows what.
In the foreground, a tall unsightly city lamp divides the picture as if it were the keeper of nothingness. Seeking other marks, we see a sign at the limit of readability announcing For Sale. The moment before or after can reveal life. Two very small spots on far left edge are characters. Or not. Mankind does not matter.
This painting is estimated $ 22M, for sale by Christie 's in New York on December 5.
POST SALE COMMENT
The pessimistic view of civilization expressed by Hopper in the 1930s is still relevant. This outstanding example of his art has been sold for $ 40.5 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
Hopper is the most famous car user in the history of art. He tirelessly revisits the same places to perform sketches which he then reworks in his workshop in the form of large oil paintings.
Painted in 1934, East Wind over Weehawken, 86 x 128 cm, shows houses viewed from a small crossing of streets in suburban New Jersey. This place should support life but the streets are empty. These houses are promoted to the rank of major characters in the drama and wait for who knows what.
In the foreground, a tall unsightly city lamp divides the picture as if it were the keeper of nothingness. Seeking other marks, we see a sign at the limit of readability announcing For Sale. The moment before or after can reveal life. Two very small spots on far left edge are characters. Or not. Mankind does not matter.
This painting is estimated $ 22M, for sale by Christie 's in New York on December 5.
POST SALE COMMENT
The pessimistic view of civilization expressed by Hopper in the 1930s is still relevant. This outstanding example of his art has been sold for $ 40.5 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
1934 Feininger's Violin charmed the City
2010 SOLD 7.3 M$ including premium
Lyonel Feininger, engaged in the major artistic movements of his time, spent many years in Germany. In this country he painted Der Rote Geiger (The Red Fiddler) that Sotheby's sells in New York on May 5.
He had been a caricaturist before being an artist. His giant violinist, whose realistic profile fits the cubist buildings of the city to dominate them, might seem like a trick of illustrator, but there is one annoying detail: the smile of the musician is too ecstatic.
Here's why. This work was painted in 1934, the year when political power is persecuting the "degenerate" artists related to the Bauhaus, where Feininger was a professor. The artist, also a violinist, tries to persuade himself that music can still help the threatened peace. This cheerful art is hiding a nightmare.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm, is estimated $ 5 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
This work important but a little too late got a very good price: $ 7.3 million including premium. This was not a foregone conclusion.
He had been a caricaturist before being an artist. His giant violinist, whose realistic profile fits the cubist buildings of the city to dominate them, might seem like a trick of illustrator, but there is one annoying detail: the smile of the musician is too ecstatic.
Here's why. This work was painted in 1934, the year when political power is persecuting the "degenerate" artists related to the Bauhaus, where Feininger was a professor. The artist, also a violinist, tries to persuade himself that music can still help the threatened peace. This cheerful art is hiding a nightmare.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm, is estimated $ 5 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
This work important but a little too late got a very good price: $ 7.3 million including premium. This was not a foregone conclusion.
