The following
description for has been prepared entirely by the current owner, Roberts S.
Fastov, Esq., and, at the
collector’s request, has not been edited by Sloans & Kenyon
Note 1) The following Woodward biographical materials are
taken from the Askart.com website:
"During the late 19th Century in
New Orleans, Ellsworth and his older brother William Woodward were two of the
most influential figures in Southern art. Ellsworth was born 1861 in Seekonk,
Massachusetts, but the two brothers made New Orleans their home (around 1876)
and devoted themselves to promoting Southern culture and art as artists,
teachers and administrators.
Ellsworth
studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design, and later in the studios of
C. Marr, Samuel Richards, and Richard Fehr in Munich. He began teaching at
Tulane, serving as assistant professor under his brother, William, then became
a professor of art, and eventually director.
The
brothers were instrumental in the organization of Newcomb College. Ellsworth
accepted a position as a professor of art at Newcomb in 1885, a year after
William had joined the faculty. In 1890 Ellsworth was promoted to the first
Dean of the Newcomb School of Art, a position he maintained for forty
years.
Under
Ellsworth Woodward's leadership as dean, the newly established Newcomb Art
School in New Orleans developed a program that served as both an educational
and business enterprise for young women. The school focused on principles of
drawing, painting, design, and crafts (embroidery, metalwork and china
painting). The pottery department, established by Ellsworth and William,
produced the internationally recognized Newcomb Pottery. The Woodwards
emphasized the unique regional characteristics of Louisiana by insisting on the
use of local flora and fauna for motifs in the prevailing Art Nouveau style and
the use of clay from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
A
dominant and active member of the art community, Ellsworth served as an
influential trustee at the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art (today the New Orleans
Museum of Art), founded the Natchitoches Art Colony in Cane River Parish,
Louisiana, served on international jury for the St. Louis Exposition of 1904,
and became a member of the International Union of Fine Arts and Letters of
Paris. He received a gold medal for the New Orleans Art Association, published
the art and literary magazine Arts and Letters with fellow artist Bror
Wikstrom, and painted allegorical murals for the criminal courts building at
Broad Street and Tulane Avenue. In 1934 President Roosevelt appointed him to
the directorship of the Gulf States Public Works of Art Project.
Although
he painted in oils and made etchings, Ellsworth preferred watercolors and in
1936 the Fine Arts Council established a prize in his name. Both Woodward
brothers found inspiration in the coastal areas of Louisiana and
Mississippi."
Note
2) The highest auction price ever paid for a Woodward painting was entitled
" View of Old Newcomb Chapel"
(14" x 10"), which
brought $17,825 on 10/31/2004. The Woodward view of the garden pool that is up
for auction is considerably larger at 20" x 15", than the View of Old Newcomb Chapel" (14" x 10"). Such
Woodward view
of the garden pool is much larger than any of Woodward
paintings set forth below from Askart.com. It is also by far Woodward's best
and most vigorous painted Impressionist view and most colorful and vibrant of
any of such Askart.com reported paintings. The following Askart.com records
regarding Woodward sales warrant the conclusion that the presale estimate of
$15,000-$25,000 is reasonable and justifiable:
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Title: "Courtyard" |
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Title: French Quarter Courtyard |
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Title: Camas Pond |
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Title: Shrimp Boats |
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Title: Bay St. Louis |
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Title: View of Old Newcomb Chapel |
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Title: Newcomb Chapel |
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Title: The Pond |
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