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Fine
Art 11: PART II CALIFORNIA ARTISTS AND SUBJECTS |
ANNA ALTHEA HILLS (California, 1882-1930). Rocks
and Surf near Laguna Beach (California), signed lower right; also signed,
titled and dated 1919 on verso. Oil on
board.
Framed, 14
in. x 18 in.
Estimate:
$15,000-$25,000
The following biographical materials
have been taken from Askart.com:
“Biography from Lawrence Beebe Fine Art:
Anna Althea Hills was born January
28, 1882 in Ravenna, Ohio. She studied
at the Chicago Art Institute; Cooper Union Art School in New York City; she
worked with Arthur Dow (1857-1922) and later studied at the Academie Julian in
Paris. While in Europe she studied with
John Noble Barlow (1861-1917).
In 1912 she moved to Laguna Beach,
California becoming a leading member of the Laguna Beach art community. She was an active member of the California Art
Club, held a membership at the Washington Watercolor Club and served at the
Laguna Beach Art Association as president from 1922 to 1925 and from 1927 to
1930.
Hills was highly regarded as an art
teacher and encouraged the study of the visual arts at the local public
schools. Captivated and inspired by her
new surroundings, she created atmospheric impressionist landscapes showing a
reverence and appreciation of nature. The subjects of her plein-air landscapes
varied from treescapes, the Laguna Beach coastline, Mission San Juan
Capistrano, the vast Southern California and Arizona deserts, Santa Ana Canyon,
arroyos and interior scenes.
Hills won the Bronze Medal at the
Panama-California Exposition, San Diego in 1915; the Bronze Medal at the
California State Fair, 1919; and the Landscape Prize at the Laguna Beach Art
Association, 1922, 1923.
She died at the early age of
forty-eight on June 13, 1930 in Laguna Beach, California.”
The foregoing biographical
considerations together with the following auction sales results for Hills’
work warrant presale estimates in the range of $15,000-$25,000.
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Title/Subject: The dancing sea, Mussel Rocks, Laguna Beach, 1923 Signed.
Oil on artist's board. 14 in. x 18 in. sold for $16,250 on 08/07/2012 at Bonhams
& Butterfields, San Francisco, CA
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“EDWIN MINOT DAWES
The sixth child of a grocery store
owner, Edwin Minot Dawes reported in an interview that his mother encouraged
him to draw pictures to “keep him out of mischief.” He was born at Boone, Iowa on April 27, 1872. In 1893 he moved temporarily to Denver,
Colorado, where he had difficulty making a living so he took a job making signs
for windows. Sometime later he returned
to Iowa and in 1896 he left Des Moines for Minneapolis where he joined his
father and brother Clarence in the business of manufacturing and wholesale
selling of baking powder. City
directories show Dawes lived in Minneapolis between 1892 and 1909. Meanwhile, Edwin continued to paint signs and
letter windows.
About the turn of the century a
friend persuaded Dawes to visit the Walker Gallery (now the Walker Art Center)
in Minneapolis where he was immediately inspired to study painting on his own. Although Dawes received no formal instruction,
he spent many hours analyzing the masters in the gallery; this was a course of
independent study that he pursued until 1908. At that time, the prominent Chicago art dealer
J. W. Young visited Minneapolis and came across Dawes working at an easel in
Nicholson’s Sign Shop. Marveling at his
large canvas entitled Burning Leaves, Young likened his style to
that of George Inness and offered to exhibit the work, an event eagerly
reported by the local newspapers. Apparently
it was Young who brought the painter Nicholas Brewer to see the work and the
latter expressed his amazement at Dawes’s ability. Painting in a tonalist mode, Dawes worked up
some of scenes from plein-air studies while others were from his imagination.
Also in 1908 Dawes first exhibited
in a public space: he received an Honorable Mention in a state competition for
his September Morning. Soon
he became active in the local art community. He was a charter member and treasurer of the
Attic Club of Minneapolis, a group that frequently took sketching excursions in
the surrounding countryside. In 1911,
Louis Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway, commissioned Dawes to
paint scenes of the picturesque Glacier National Park. Some works from this period reveal that Dawes
was already influenced by impressionism: his works show a concern for light and
atmosphere, as well as a spontaneous application of pigment. Dawes and his wife spent the summer of 1912
with the tonalist painter William Lathrop in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Lathrop provided Dawes with many stylistic
insights. Dawes also met Charles Rosen
and Edward Redfield, the latter clearly the leader of the New Hope group of
Pennsylvania impressionists. From there,
Dawes went to New York to experience the museums and galleries. Henceforth, his palette became higher in key
and he applied brushstrokes of fatter pigment.
In the spring of 1913, when America
was bewildered by some of the art at the Armory Show in New York, the
comparatively conservative Dawes was accepted on the jury of the Minnesota
State Art Society and he received a gold medal for Channel to the Mills (Minneapolis
Institute of Arts). This canvas reveals
more of a tonalist than impressionist palette yet there is exemplary skilled
brushwork. Dawes used short staccato
strokes of limited hues in rhythmic, swirling passages. The large geometric forms of the skyline are
diffused in shimmering light, their plasticity mitigated by an
impressionist-derived technique. Magically,
this image transforms Minneapolis from a sleepy Midwestern city into a vibrant
and active, industrial urban environment where man-made forms loom as
majestically as those of nature. While
this work proves the artist’s versatility, others are not as sophisticated. An oil, Willows in Spring was
accepted for the annual exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In the spring of 1914, Dawes was one
of many artists who were notified that their pictures accepted by the jury of
selection of the National Academy of Design were not to be exhibited (see
Allied Artists of America). In the
following year he painted the University of Minnesota Art Museum’s Itasca:
Origin of the Mississippi. This
modest oil on masonite is a perfect example of tonalism tinged with
impressionist elements. Dawes traveled
west to execute a commission to paint various scenes of the Grand Canyon for
Louis W. Hill. Also in 1915 Mr. and Mrs.
Dawes moved to New York during what would become the most prolific period of
his career. Then Dawes purchased a
mining company in Loveloch, Nevada (1918), which drained most of his energy.
Later Dawes went to California and
set up a studio in Glendale and painted in the Los Angeles area. At a one-man show at the Kanst Gallery his
work was well received by the critics. Distinct
traces of the California Broad Style appeared in his work. One reviewer wrote, “His late paintings are
done with bold broad strokes, there is more vigor, more mastery, perhaps, but
in some cases, the work had lost a little of its charm.” (unidentified
newspaper clipping, Scrapbook of Maryann Shrode Irani, San Rafael,
California). Evening and Trees by a Stream (both
ca. 1930) are examples of his late work (University of Minnesota Art Museum). In 1938, Mrs. Dawes passed away and Dawes
returned to painting full time. His
style, however, had grown stale and it was too late for him to return to the
profession. After his death in Los
Angeles on March 26, 1945, Edwin M. Dawes was more remembered for his success
in the mining of gold and silver than for his career as a painter.
SOURCES:
Ness, Zenobia B. and Louise
Orwig, Iowa Artists of the First Hundred Years. Wallace-Homestead
Co., 1939, pp. 59-60; Coen, Rena Neumann, Painting and Sculpture in
Minnesota 1820-1914. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976, p.
133; Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall and Lyn Smith, Dictionary of Art and
Artists in Southern California before 1930 [1975]. Glendale, CA: 1984,
p. 64; Hughes, Edan Milton, Artists in California 1786-1940. San
Francisco: 1986, p. 119; University of Minnesota, American Paintings
and Sculpture in the University Art Museum Collection. Minneapolis: 1986,
pp. 84-86; Coen, Rena Neumann, Minnesota Impressionists. Afton, MN:
Afton Historical Society Press, 1996, pp. 35-36. Edwin M. Dawes essay
by Tim White published April 26, 2003.
Submitted by Richard H. Love”
Based on historical auction sales
results, this magnificent and impressionistic view of the Grand Canyon is by
far the best Dawes' paintings to have ever come up for sale. The foregoing considerations and the following
auction records warrant the conclusion that presale estimates in the range of
$1,000-$2,500 are reasonable and justifiable.
Title/Subject:
Landscape in Pastel Tones Signed. Oil on canvas. 19.75 in. x 232.63 in. sold
for $918 on 07/10/2010 - 07/11/2010 at Clars Auction Gallery, Oakland, CA
Title/Subject:
Lupines on a Hillside Signed. Oil on canvas. 25.50 in. x 30.50 in. sold for $2,016
on 03/21/2006 at Matthew's Galleries, Lake Oswego, OR
Title/Subject:
Autumn Lake Signed. Oil on artist's board. 16 in. x 20 in. sold for $1,000 on 06/07/2003
at 06/07/2003 Treadway/Toomey, Oak Park, IL
Title/Subject:
Autumn Landscape Signed. Oil on canvas. 16 in. x 20 in. sold for $1,100 on 09/09/2001
at Treadway/Toomey, Oak Park, IL
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Photographic Image Not Available Title/Subject: Landscape Signed. Oil on canvas. 17.50 in. x 21.50 in.
sold for $1,540 on 10/22/1996 at John Moran Auctioneers, Altadena, CA
Title/Subject: Wildflowers along the Path Signed. Oil on canvas. 16 in.
x 20 in. sold for $1,210 on 07/31/1991 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco,
CA CHRISTIAN VON SCHNEIDAU (Swedish/California,
1893-1976). Panoramic Impressionist Vista of the Grand Canyon, signed lower
left. Oil on canvas. Framed, 14 in. x 18 in. Estimate:
$2,000-$3,000
This painting was executed in the
1950’s when von Schneidau spent 2 years in Alaska, painting portrait studies
of Eskimos, among other subjects. During
his lifetime, Von Schneidau exhibited at many prestigious venues and won numerous
awards and prizes. Per Askart.com:
This panoramic vista of the Grand
Canyon is one of Von Schneidau’s most impressive landscape paintings ever
offered at auction. The foregoing
considerations, including the above biographical information and the
following auction sales records warrant the conclusion that presale estimates
of $2,000-$3,000 are reasonable and justifiable.
Title/Subject:
Boats docked at pier Signed. Oil on canvas. 18 in. x 22 in. sold for $4,000
on 11/27/2010-11/28/2010 at Kaminski Auctions, Beverly, MA
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JOHN MARSHALL GAMBLE (California, 1863-1957). Landscape
of a meandering stream at low ebb, executed c. 1890s, signed lower
left. Depicts meandering stream with
semi-arid banks in summer, amidst wind-blasted trees under roiling clouds. Oil on canvas. Framed, 16 in. x 24 in.
Estimate: $30,000-$60,000
PROVENANCE:
Montrose Galleries, Bethesda,
Maryland, early 1980’s
The following biographical materials
have been taken from the Askart.com website:
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“Biography
from The Redfern Gallery: |
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John Gamble was from a family where the father worked for
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and when John was a teenager he moved
with his family to Auckland, New Zealand. At age 20 he moved to San Francisco and
began art training at the School of Design under Virgil Williams and Emil
Carlsen. After further training in
Paris at Academie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin-Constant, he
returned to San Francisco and opened a studio. When his
studio and most of the city went up in flames in 1906, he relocated to Santa
Barbara and remained there for the rest of his life. Gamble did no commercial art work and earned
his living throughout his career from the sale of his paintings. For 25 years he served as color consultant
for the Santa Barbara Board of Architectural Review. MEMBERSHIPS: San
Francisco Art Association Santa
Barbara Art Association American
Federation of Arts Foundation
of Western Artists EXHIBITIONS: California
Midwinter International Expo, 1894 Mark
Hopkins Institute, 1898, 1906 Alaska-Yukon
Expo, Seattle, 1909 (gold medal) San
Francisco Art Association, 1916 Stendahl
Galleries, LA, 1938 Golden
Gate International Exposition, 1939 PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: California
Historical Society Oakland
Museum Crocker
Museum, Sacramento Shasta
State Park Museum
of Art, Auckland, New Zealand Fox
Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara (murals) SOURCES: Hughes,
Edan Milton, Artists in California:
1786-1940 (San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989)” |
This painting was executed extremely
early in Gamble’s career, a period from which works rarely surface for sale. It is a handsome and complex composition
featuring somewhat wind-blasted trees, a detail made clear by the stream at low ebb and semi-arid banks under
roiling clouds. It must have been
painted in summer, and is almost certainly a California scene. It is executed in a relatively realistic
manner, but foreshadows the compositions, subjects, and impressionistic style
and palette of Gamble's later works.
A
meandering trail or dry/low-water stream bed as the central focus of his
paintings was a hallmark of many of Gamble’s compositions throughout his career. The next phase of Gamble's career retained
the realism and green, almost Barbizon, palette in his depiction of trees, but
transitioned to a softer technique. Too,
his coloring of flowers began to reflect his interest in Impressionist pastel
coloring, which signals Gamble's mature style.
Please see auction sales results for Gamble below.
Title/Subject: Wild Flowers, Santa Barbara Signed. Oil on canvas. 19.75
in. x 29.63 in. did not sell on 09/12/2009-09/13/2009 at Clars Auction Gallery,
Oakland, CA, but had presale estimates of $60,000-$80,000, which almost
certainly caused the consignor, in consultation with the auctioneer, to
establish a relatively high reserve, which caused the painting to be bought in.
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Title/Subject: Wildflowers Along a Santa Barbara Path Signed. Oil on
canvas. 18 in. x 24 in. sold for $54,050 on 06/08/2004 at Bonhams &
Butterfields, San Francisco CA
Title/Subject: Wild Buckwheat near Ortega Signed. Oil on canvas. 20 in.
x 30.10 in. sold for $145,500 on 10/28/1999 at Christie’s, Los Angeles, CA |
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The foregoing considerations and
following auction sales results warrant the conclusion that presale estimates
in the range of $30,000-$60,000 are reasonable and justifiable.
Title/Subject:
Bush lupine and poppies, sand dunes, Monterey Signed. Oil on canvas. 18 in. x 24
in. sold for $36,250 on 11/21/2011 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco
CA
Title/Subject: Wild Heliotrope and Poppies Signed. Oil on canvas. 12 in. x
16 in. sold for $39,650 on 11/23/2009 at Bonhams & Butterfields, San
Francisco CA
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