Family Ties
Two collections descended through the families of the artists headline Grogan & Company’s November 11 sale
Two collections descended through the families of the artists headline Grogan & Company’s November 11 sale
During Grogan & Company’s annual Fall Auction on November 11, buyers will experience a unique family affair as two important fine art collections arrive at market.the first is an intimate grouping of four works from the
Wyeth family, and the other is the second offering of fresh to market watercolors, drawings and prints by Lyonel Feininger from the estate of his youngest son,t. Lux Feininger. Coming from a grandchild of N.C. Wyeth are four pieces by members of the esteemed American art family. Each painting has a familial connection, allowing for a personal touch and history to be felt. N.C.’S oil painting View of the Family
Home, Chadds Ford (est. $40/60,000) is a depiction, in thick, painterly brushstrokes, of the beloved family residence.two pieces by Andrew Wyeth also arrive to market: a watercolor of the Concord River in Massachusetts (est. $20/40,000) and a drybrush portrait of his studio partner and brother-in-law John Mccoy (est. $15/30,000). Henriette Wyeth’s oil portrait of her niece at age 21 will cross the block with a presale estimate of $5,000 to $8,000.
“Andrew gave the painting of the Concord River to his sister Ann Wyeth when she married artist John Mccoy,” says Georgina Winthrop, fine art director at Grogan & Company, adding that the painting is of a river the siblings lived on as children.
“They loved their time there and always looked back on those years. It was an adieu to their childhood… [Ann] composed a piece of music that will accompany it that was also titled Concord River.”
The portrait of John Mccoy, according to Winthrop, is a luminous painting that “captures Mccoy’s character so well.” She adds,“you can tell [Andrew Wyeth] knew the person he was painting, and it wasn’t a commissioned portrait or figure study. As much as it looks like Mccoy, the spirit comes through.”
In Grogan & Company’s Spring Auction, the first selection of works by Feininger from his son’s estate brought in more than $700,000 total.“i was really blown away by the response to the first offering of the Feininger works,” says Winthrop, adding, “The collection really spanned his whole career, and these are things his son chose to keep. Some said Merry Christmas, some were gifts, there was a very personal connection in a lot of the works.we didn’t know how the market would respond to so many at once, but everyone was excited and we’re thrilled to offer some more.”
Among the Feininger works in the fall sale is Three Ghosties from his “ghostie” series, which was created in the later years of his life.the piece, an ink and watercolor measuring just over 6 by 3 inches, has a presale estimate of $7,000 to $10,000.There also will be several of the artist’s earlier “natur-notizen” landscapes hitting the block.
Other highlights in the sale include
a large-scale portrait by Frank Weston Benston of Boston woman Hope Gaston Felton.the painting, estimated to achieve between $20,000 and $40,000, descended through three generations of her family after her husband commissioned the portrait. An Ogden M. Pleissner painting titled Lingering Autumn (est. $7/10,000) is a bit of an atypical example for the artist,winthrop says, noting that the work is a New England fall scene with a hunter in the background going into his home. Melvin Edwards, who is mainly known for his bronzes, will be represented by a work on paper that has an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000. The piece was a gift to curator Tom Leavitt at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell.