Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

FINE PAINTINGS TO HIGHLIGHT GROGAN’S DECEMBER AUCTION

On Monday evening, December 7th, Grogan and Company Fine Art Auctioneers and Appraisers will be conducting their December Auction, comprised of Fine American and European Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture and Fine Oriental Rugs and Carpets. The 150 lot auction will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will comprise only a choice array of Fine Art and Rugs.

Edward M. Bannister American painting highlights include a collection of works by renowned Rhode Island painter, Edward Mitchell Bannister. Featured amongst the seven paintings from a private Rhode Island collector, are Seaconnet River, Tiverton Rhode Island, a 12 x 20 inch oil on canvas, estimated at $30,000-40,000 and Fishing Folk, King Phillip Rock, Mount Hope, an 18 x 24 inch oil on canvas, also estimated at $30,000-40,000. Bannister was one of the most respected Rhode Island artist’s of the late 19th century and was the first African American artist to receive National recognition when he was honored as the only New England artist to win a medal (bronze) at the 1876 Philadelphia World Centennial Exhibition. Best known for his tonalist landscapes, Bannister was one to the founders of the Providence Art Club which was instrumental in the foundation of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Other American highlights include a colorful modernist still life, Spring Flowers, by Max Weber. Created in 1944, during Weber’s expressionist period, the 28 x 23 inch oil on canvas is expected to bring $20,000-30,000. Several fine New England works include a Ralph Cahoon oil on masonite titled Nantucket Fish Co., from a prominent Nantucket family, is estimated to bring $20,000-30,000 and Aldro Thompson Hibbard’s Mount Mansfield, Vermont, a 36 x 48 inch oil is one of the largest Hibbard’s to ever cross the auction block and is estimated to bring $15,000-20,000. The Four Masted Schooner ‘Marguerite’, by venerated 19th century American marine painter William Pierce Stubbs, is estimated at $8,000-12,000. The ‘Marguerite’ of Falmouth, survived a midnight collision in 1909 off Shinnecock Light, Martha’s Vineyard, but was later sunk by a German submarine in 1917, while in service in the Mediterranean during World War I.

European highlights include, The Mystical Marriage of St. Katherine, a 17th century Spanish Colonial School oil on canvas, estimated at $10,000-20,00, the painting is one of thirteen 17th and 18th century Spanish and Spanish Colonial Paintings from the Collection of Ambassador and Mrs. William L. Eagleton. Ambassador Eagleton, began collecting Spanish and Spanish Colonial paintings during his distinguished career both in the Foreign Service and with the United Nations. As one of the State Departments specialists on the Middle East, he served in Spain, Syria, Iraq, Mauritania, London, South Yemen, Algeria and Libya, retiring in Syria as the American Ambassador. His UN career included Vienna, Sarajevo and the Western Sahara.
In addition to paintings, the auction will include a collection of fine prints featuring the rare lithograph, Little Nude Model Reading, by James McNeill Whistler, estimated to realize $8,000-12,000 and Mary Cassat’s rare etching and aquatint, Nurse and Baby Bill (No. 2), estimated in the $10,000-15,000 range. Several bronzes by Emil Fuchs from the Brooklyn Museum of Art and several contemporary bronzes round out the sculpture offerings.

The auction exhibition is open to the public and will begin on Friday, December 4th and run through Monday, December 7th, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. The gallery is located at 22 Harris Street, Dedham, Massachusetts. A fully illustrated on-line catalogue is available at www.groganco.com.

For more information, contact the gallery at 781-461-9500.

Image: Lot 49: One of a selection of paintings by Edward M. Bannister from a private collection