BENSON BOND MOORE (WASHINGTON, D

AN AUCTION SALE OF PART OF A LARGE COLLECTION OF WORKS OF ART EXECUTED BY BENSON BOND MOORE (WASHINGTON, D.C./FLORIDA 1882-1974), WHO WAS A LEADING WASHINGTON, D.C. IMPRESSIONIST LANDSCAPE ARTIST, PAINTER OF BIRDS AND WILDLIFE AND PRINTMAKER OF THE EARLY 20^TH CENTURY, WHICH ARE FROM A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE ARTIST'S ESTATE, WHICH MR. FASTOV PURCHASED IN 1987 FROM MARY MOORE, MOORE'S SISTER-IN-LAW AND FROM OTHER SOURCES

1. The following Moore biographical materials are taken from the website of Dawson Gallery, now of Stevensville, Maryland.

“Benson Bond Moore, landscape and animal-portrait painter, and etcher, was born in Washington DC and lived there for seventy years. He became a noted painter of scenes of nature, and his style early in his career showed the Barbizon School influence but later became more Impressionist and less Tonalist. His snow scenes were especially popular.

He was raised in the art world, learning framing and restoration from his father, who did this type of work for leading political figures in the nation's capital city.

Benson studied at the Linthicum Institute and at the Corcoran School of Art with Edmund Messer, Richard Brooke and Max Weyl, teachers who were part of the late-nineteenth century landscape school.

In 1902, he began work with the Maurice Joyce Photo-Engraving Company in Washington D.C., and there he worked with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell by making drawings to develop hearing aids for the deaf. He also did drawings for Dr. Emile Berliner, inventor of the graphophone, and for the Smithsonian. He taught etching both privately and in the art school of the sculptor Clara Hill.

With Charles Seaton, Winfield Clime and Edwin Cassedy, he became a founding member of an informal group of Washington painters who called themselves "The Ramblers Sketch Club." Together with others, many of them "Sunday painters," they roamed the surrounding countryside, painted and then critiqued each other's work. In 1920, the group evolved into the respected Washington Landscape Club that included many big-name art figures and with whom Moore often exhibited.

He belonged to more than forty arts organizations and was a founding member of The Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington D.C., which held its inaugural exhibition in 1931 at the Corcoran. He had many one-man shows, a highlight being in 1928 at the Corcoran Gallery with his etchings, drypoints, and lithographs.

From childhood, he had sketched animals, often at the National Zoo, and in later years he did over 3700 illustrations of animals in the newspaper, "The Evening Star's" series entitled "Nature's Children." He also did numerous paintings for the Smithsonian that were reproduced in their "Scientific Series."

He also did much restoration work, including paintings by Thomas Moran and paintings in the rotunda of the Capitol. This activity occupied him primarily from the 1940s, and in the early 1950s, after his wife died, he moved to Sarasota, Florida. There his sister-in-law cared for him as his eyesight increasingly failed, but he painted almost to the end of his life, November 1, 1974.

Source:
Stephanie A. Strass. "The Landscapes of Benson Bond Moore." Exhibition Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland 1996

Per Askart.com, among the museums holding Moore art in their collection are the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

2. Mr. Fastov presents some of his perspectives on Benson Bond Moore.

First, on Moore's close relationship with August H. O. Rolle, while they were alive.

Second, why, through the scholarship of Professor William Gerdts, one of America's leading art historians and a connoisseur of a wide variety of fine American art, Rolle and Moore have, in effect, been "joined at the hip" as the two leading Impressionist landscape painters of the early 20^th century in Washington, D.C..

Third, Moore's importance as a very fine Impressionist painter, who modified his style of Impressionist painting c. 1925-1935 from orthodox, classic American Impressionism, to a style of Impressionism, which was sui generis and unique to Moore. At this auction, virtually all of Mr. Fastov's Moore's art being offered is of this sui generis Impressionist style, as it evolved from his 1925-1935 transition from orthodox, classic Impressionism into Moore's mature sui generis style, that he manifested in his paintings in the 1950's. Virtually all of the Moore landscape paintings being offered at this auction date from the 1950's, with two very notable exceptions, Lots 9 and 10, respectively, "A Branch Of The Anacostia River With Snow-Covered Banks In An Industrial Area In D.C., c. 1920" and "The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920" both of which are painted in Moore's orthodox, classic Impressionist style, and which Mr. Fastov believes are superior as Impressionist art, as he favors Rolle' style of Impressionism, which, as Professor Gerdts, has noted, is akin to the style of Edward Redfield, a leader of the New Hope school of Impressionism, in his general laying on paint on the canvas in a more architectonic manner, often with a relatively thick impasto, like Redfield and other New Hope school painters. Lot ???, Moore's "The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920" is as close to Rolle's Impressionist style of painting as Moore ever achieved. However, his inclination to realistic tight draftsmanship, arising from his early and consistent practice of making very realistic prints, as manifested in the contours of the boulders in Rock Creek in "The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920"; however, Moore's very subtle use of numerous different light pastel shades of paint, to, in effect, create the contours of the rocks and other landscape aspects of the painting, other than the tree leaves, but with artistic inventiveness and license is the purest form of Impressionist painting, and most esthetically appealing. However, Moore's deep green coloring of the tree leaves in the background of this painting differs from Rolle's mature Impressionistic style, in which he would dilute various shades of green with light and white pigments. Also compare, for example, Moore's brushwork, which remains relatively realistic with the relatively free and flowing brush work and total use of pastel impressionist coloring in Rolle's "Boys Skinny Dipping In The Potomac," c. 1922-1925, which is lot ???? in this auction. However, the rest of this Moore painting, particularly Moore's depiction of the water in Rock Creek, which is done with very Impressionistic pastel coloring, manifesting a mixture of primary colors with other light and white pigments, and in an architectonic layering of paint with some relatively high impasto, in a manner that that is very similar to both Redfield's and Rolle's Impressionistic technique.

This is why Mr. Fastov believes that "The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920" is a Moore tour de force of American Impressionism and, in fact, is superior as an Impressionist work to any Moore painting that has been offered at auction and is listed and illustrated in Askart.com.

The other c. 1920 Moore work that is being offered at this auction, Lot ?????, "A Branch Of The Anacostia River With Snow-Covered Banks In An Industrial Area In D.C., c. 1920" is also a an excellent Impressionist painting, as it portrays a favored American Impressionist subject, winter scenes depicting snow interacting with the landscape in numerous Impressionistic ways: (1) Moore's studding the river water with small pieces of ice and snow to create an eddying and movement effect, but, at the same time, using light glazing on the rest of the water to give the river an almost translucent character; (2) on the right snow-covered river bank, Moore's leaving significant outcroppings of rock and earth at the base of the bank, which has had some, but not a great deal of day time exposure to the melting rays of the sun, while leaving the left river bank, which obviously is not subjected to any of the direct melting rays of the sun during daytime, almost totally blanketed with snow; (3) Moore's softly and subtly dotting the top rungs of the telephone poles and the projections on the side of the buildings on the right with snow, while leaving the roofs and other top features of the buildings covered with a relatively light and even blanket of snow, because the height of the telephone poles and the buildings causes the wind to remove some of the fallen snow, unlike the flat land below, which has thicker and denser blankets of snow; and (4) Moore's similar subtle treatment of the placement of snow touches on the tree trunk and branches on the tree in the left foreground. All of the foregoing is a product of Moore's keen eye for realistic detail in nature, but the effect and manner of painting is clearly Impressionistic. In addition, Moore's sky depicts a grey winter day, but softens the effect of the bitterness of the grey sky by using thin, wispy glazes of an almost lavender color. As there are no white clouds or sunlight poking through in this totally grey sky, the snow on the ground, the buildings, telephone poles, the river, and the tree show no glint of reflected brightness or shininess at all. Moore's interest in and portrayal of the effect of the sky and whatever lighting capacity such sky has on the landscape are classic hallmarks of Impressionism, and is an excellent Impressionist winter painting. Generally speaking, Moore's winter scenes bring higher prices at auction, than paintings depicting spring, summer and fall subjects, even though Moore's fall and spring subjects are very fine paintings. There are no Moore summer paintings, as he suffered from Rose Fever, which precluded him from painting outdoors in the summer. During summers in his studio, he would concentrate on making large, finished landscape compositions based on his plein air sketches done in the other seasons, and working on his marvelous prints, including his truly superior portrayals of birds and animals, and his Durer or Altdorfer-like landscapes, many with anthropomorphic trees.

Fourth, Mr. Fastov will discuss how an art collector should view, appreciate and value Moore's Impressionist paintings painted early in his career embracing orthodox American Impressionist and his subsequent sui generis, truly unique style of Impressionism

Regarding Mr. Fastov's first perspective, Rolle and Moore became very close friends, after they joined the "Ramblers," which consisted of Washington, D.C. area lovers of the outdoors and landscape painters, which traces its roots to 1913, when Charles Seaton and Winfield Scott Clime, both artists, met while on separate painting excursions. The only extant written account of the Ramblers history, painting philosophy and painting excursions, that has surfaced, is contained in the Log Book of the Ramblers of 1917, of which Mr. Fastov owns Rolle's copy, which is primarily an interesting type written chronicle of the Ramblers' various painting trips to different sites in the Washington, D.C. area between April and July 1917, each trip chronicled by a different member of the nine man group, that were active in the Ramblers in 1917, including Rolle and Moore. This Log Book is very interesting, as it sets forth each artist's perspectives on the trip he wrote about, and what he and his fellow artists did, and, to varying extents, set forth each artist's artistic philosophy and reasons for loving to spend a weekend painting plein air landscapes.

The Ramblers evolved into a formal organization with the name of the Landscape Club of Washington, D.C. or, as it was more commonly referred to, the Washington Landscape Club, in 1919, when Rolle was elected its first President. In 1919, the Club also established a headquarters and studio at 1221 Fifteenth Street NW, where the Club members displayed their artwork and held meetings. In 1986, the Club became the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, which is planning to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of its founding in 2013, and also relatively recently admitted women as members in 1993. The Society’s history as set forth on wslp.com and states: “It is not known when the Club's first constitution became effective, but in 1928 a document presented as a revision of the constitution appeared in the historical record. Of particular note is Article III which stated: "The membership shall consist of active and honorary artist members, all men, the active membership to be limited to 40." The rationale for excluding women is said to have been centered on the rigors of painting on location and the difficulty of traipsing over the rugged countryside, which were deemed too arduous for the fairer sex.” A variant of the foregoing statement was published in a Landscape Club statement issued c. 1928. In assessing what today would be considered a sexist statement, it should be borne in mind that, to the best of Mr. Fastov’s recollection, every extant photograph of the Landscape Club male members on a weekend painting trip to the hinterlands of or painting in Washington, D.C., in rustic landscape settings in the teens and twenties, depicts them all wearing formal business suits, some with vests, which reflects the conservative mores of the time and is not inconsistent with this sexist policy position, which put women on a pedestal and as being entitled to male protection from the rigors of painting in the “rough,” great outdoors. The Society currently has 40 members, per the 1928 Constitution. Mr. Fastov was selected by the Club members to a attend a dinner in 1993 at the Washington Arts Club and to be the main dinner speaker to present a talk on the history of the Landscape Club to help the Club mark its 80^th anniversary. The Society of Landscape painters notes on its website that: "Among the early Ramblers were August H. O. Rolle and Benson Bond Moore, who would later become prominent in Washington art circles," and that "Rolle's very substantial influence on the course of Club activities continued for many years. Except for the year 1925, he was the Club's president from 1919 to 1932."

Rolle and Moore continued throughout their lives to share painting trips together with other members of the Landscape Club throughout the D.C. area ranging from more distant trips to Harper's Ferry and the Eastern Shore of Maryland to more local D.C. venues, like Rock Creek. Rolle and Moore's close friendship is tangibly manifested in the portraits both painted of each other, which Mr. Fastov owns and Moore's teaching Rolle how to etch and make prints. They held a November, 1924 joint print exhibition at Venable’s, a D.C. art gallery.

Regarding the second perspective discussed above of why, through the scholarship of Professor William Gerdts, one of America's leading art historians and a connoisseur of a wide variety of fine American art, Rolle and Moore have, in effect, been "joined at the hip" as the two leading Impressionist landscape painters of the early 20^th century in Washington, D.C.. Mr. Fastov acquired approximately 150 Moore oil paintings in January 1987 from Mary Moore, Moore's sister-in;-law, who was heir to Moore's estate, when Professor William Gerdts wrote Mr. Fastov, requesting that he provide him with photographs of Rolle's and Moore's paintings, to include in his projected monumental 3 volume work, Art Across America. Professor Gerdts had previously written Mr. Fastov to provide him with a photograph of a Rolle painting, for inclusion in his American Impressionism, that was published in 1984, and was hailed as the best and definitive work on this topic and retains such high status today. Professor Gerdts was inspired to contact Mr. Fastov for this purpose, as he had seen some of Mr. Fastov's Rolle paintings at a Corcoran Gallery of Art exhibition, entitled "Washington On The Potomac" in 1982, in which the work of a great number of early Washington, D.C. landscape artists was exhibited. In his landmark, trail blazing American Impressionism (1984), Professor Gerdts discussed only 12 practitioners of Southern Impressionism, illustrating in color works by only 6 of these Southern artists, including Rolle and Moore, whose art Professor Gerdts had also seen at the Corcoran Gallery exhibition. Rolle and Moore were the only artists, whose work was in such exhibition, that Professor Gerdts discussed and illustrated in American Impressionism. Professor Gerdts’ chose to illustrate in color Rolle’s "Early Spring Good Hope Hill [ D.C.]" as plate 305 at p. 240 and Moore's "On The Upper Potomac," as plate 306 at p. 240, in American Impressionism. At p. 240 of American Impressionism, Professor Gerdts, after, in effect, noting the absence of meaningful Impressionist artists in Washington, D.C. at the turn of the century, he observed: "In 1913 the Landscape Club was founded to promote regional work, and this seems to have led to some tentative results in the Impressionist manner by members such as Benson Moore and August Rolle. Rolle’s Brunswick, Maryland is painted in a fairly orthodox Impressionist style, while Moore's winter view On The Upper Potomac of 1924 (plate 306) is more related to the broader, less divisionist effects of Redfield and the New Hope group.” In this book, Professor Gerdts discussed approximately 350 American Impressionists of the very late 19th and early 20th Centuries and others affiliated or interested in American Impressionism and illustrated in color in this very large and lengthy book only 204 Impressionist paintings. Gerdts discussed the Impressionists active in various regions in the U.S., including the South (pp. 201-261). He concluded at p. 240: "For reasons that are not yet clear, Southern artists seldom experimented with Impressionism, nor were collectors in the area attracted to it; and Northern artists who worked in the South rarely were of an Impressionist persuasion." Rolle and Moore were 2 of 12 Southern Impressionist artist exceptions found by Professor Gerdts, which he discussed at pp. 240-243, 6 of whom, including Moore and Rolle, as previously noted, he illustrated in color in those pages. Thus, these Moore and Rolle paintings, were illustrated in the voluminous American Impressionism in color, along with 202 other paintings from artists of all sections of the country, as well as the artists of national repute, such as Childe Hassam and Mary Cassatt, of the approximate total of 350 American Impressionist artists that Professor Gerdts discussed in American Impressionism.

Professor Gerdts included at pp. 361-365 a discussion of both Moore and Rolle and very large color illustrations of Moore's The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920 (3/4 of a page), as Plate 1.359 and Rolle's Wharf, Leonardtown, Maryland, c. 1930 (a full page), as Plate 1.358 in the 422 page, Volume I (of a total of 3 Volumes) of Art Across America, Two Centuries of Regional Painting. (Emphasis added)," in which, Professor Gerdts discussed artists, who he selected, in effect, as the best artists in each State of the United States for the past two centuries. Moore and Rolle were 2 of 21 major Washington, D.C. artists that Professor Gerdts selected, analyzed in depth and illustrated at pp. 341-365, of Volume 1 of Art Across America. In effect, Gerdts selected Rolle and Moore and 19 other Washington, D.C. artists out of approximately 2,700 artists active in D.C. during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. See the approximately 2,700 DC artists profiled in the late Virgil McMahan's biographical dictionary "The Artists of Washington, D.C. 1796-1996, (Emphasis added),” including both Moore and Rolle

At pp. 361-365 of Volume I, Professor Gerdts observed:

Impressionism did appear in the landscapes of several Washington painters of the early twentieth century. One of these was August H. O. Rolle from Minnesota, who settled in Washington in 1900 as a forestry expert with the Bureau of the Census. He studied at the Corcoran School with Messer, Brooke, and Moser, emerging as a first-rate landscape painter. "Wharf, Leonardtown, Maryland, a scene at the mouth of the Potomac River, is painted with a high key colorism unusual for him; many of his finest works are winter scenes with paint laid on in a more architectonic manner, reflecting the aesthetic of the Pennsylvania Impressionists, particularly Edward Willis Redfield. Indeed, Rolle devoted himself to the Potomac River Valley with much the same enthusiasm that Redfield did to the Delaware River.

A more complete and orthodox Impressionism was practiced by Benson Bond Moore, one of the few artists discussed here who was actually born in the city of Washington. Like Rolle he studied with Messer and Brooke at the Corcoran School and also with Max Weyl. Moore was a painter, a teacher, a painting conservator, and a prodigious etcher; he also illustrated nature books, magazines, and, for twelve years Nature's Children, a column for the Washington Star. His landscape work, most of it painted in the Washington area, is probably as close to orthodox Impressionism as a Washington artist ever got. The Washington landscape painters who emerged in the 1910's, such as Rolle, Moore and [William Posey] Silva, were devoted to the local landscape, as is apparent in Moore' Rock Creek view. The modern landscape coterie coalesced in the Landscape Club of Washington, a very active society that was organized in 1913. Rolle was the president for most of the Club's first two decades, and his admiration for Redfield is clearly indicated by Redfield's membership, the only non-Washington artist so included (Emphasis and bold face added)."

Thus, given Gerdts' prestige and high reputation as an American art historian and a very knowledgeable art connoisseur, the long-enduring success of American Impressionism; and his incredible depth of scholarship manifested in and success with Art Across America, he has joined Rolle and Moore at the hip and made them the leading Impressionist landscape painters of the early 20^th century in Washington, D.C. and leading Southern practitioners of Impressionism.

Mr. Fastov never met or spoke with Professor Gerdts, until he spoke with him on c. 9/23/2012 in response to Professor Gerdts' telephone call to Mr. Fastov, that resulted from Mr. Fastov's e-mail of 9/19/2012 to Professor Gerdts asking him certain questions concerning a possible attribution of a painting to a 19^th century American artist. Mr. Fastov has made the foregoing observations to make clear to the reader that he had no "in" or improper relationship with Professor Gerdts with regard to either of Gerdts’ decisions to discuss Rolle and Moore in the fashion that he did in these two Gerdts’ books and his requests to Fastov to reproduce a Rolle photograph in American Impressionism and to reproduce a Rolle and Moore photograph in Art Across America.

Regarding Mr. Fastov's third perspective discussed above of Moore's importance as a very fine Impressionist painter, who modified his style of Impressionist painting c. 1925-1935 from orthodox American Impressionism, to a style of Impressionism, which was sui generis and unique to Moore, and his fourth perspective on how an art collector should view, appreciate and value Moore's Impressionist paintings painted early in his career embracing orthodox American Impressionist and his subsequent sui generis, truly unique style of Impressionism, Mr. Fastov wants to make clear that, notwithstanding his belief that Rolle was the leading Washington, D.C. area Impressionist landscape painter, of the early 20^th century, that Moore was a close second. Knowledgeable and intelligent collectors should understand and appreciate the fact that Moore's pre-c. 1925-1935 classical, orthodox Impressionist style is as good as it gets as excellent classical, orthodox American Impressionist art.

Moreover, Moore's sui generous, unique Impressionist style that he shifted to during 1925-1935 and reached its apogee in the 1950's has a lot of artistic merit and value that should be appreciated and valued by collectors for itself. This Moore style is truly sui generis. No other 20^th century American artist painted in this Moore style or came close to doing so. The components of Moore's sui generis, truly unique Impressionist style has the following components, which differ from much of the techniques of orthodox Impressionism, as follows. If the reader carefully evaluates Moore's work from the 1950's, that are for sale at this auction, he or she should discern the following. First, Moore's sui-generis style abandons, to a significant extent, the use of thick impasto, a hallmark of many American Impressionist artists, including Rolle. In Moore's 1950's work, he has changed his technique by laying down a very thin layer of base coat pigments, and his subtlety in coloring is achieved through the use of a minimal amount of impasto or the use of thin glazes on top his thin base coat. Second, his coloring schemes and technique has abandoned, to a very significant extent, the use of paler pastel colors, and does not mix in a significant amount of lighter and white pigments to achieve such pale pastel coloring, by which the traditional American Impressionists obtained the subtle, subdued pastel pigmentation. Instead, his palette consists of strong primary colors, mixed with and changed by other strong colors, with occasional dilution of the strength of these colors with a minimum amount of light colors and white paint mixed in; e.g., when he paints light blue skies. Third, Moore's penchant for realistic representation of landscape features, which is present in even his two early orthodox Impressionist works that are being offered at this auction, is now manifested full blown in many of his 1950's works. There is none of the fluidity in the brushwork and intentional modification of key aspects of Moore's depiction of landscape features, such as trees, to serve traditional Impressionist "artistic concerns and purposes." Indeed, Moore paints trees, their curves, twists and turns very tightly and meticulously to achieve apparently an underlying artistic motivation or concern, which is to, in effect, render such trees almost as if they are anthropomorphic in their shape. As noted previously, the root of Moore's goal of portraying trees in such a fashion probably had its roots in his early training in and continuous use of this almost anthropomorphic depiction of trees in his landscape etchings, based on the work of artists such as Albrecht Altdorfer and Albrecht Durer. See, e.g., Moore's "October Woods, Catharpin, Va. 1955;" "March Hillside, Rock Creek Park, D.C.;" "The Wane of Winter, Upper Marlboro, MD, 1953;" "Trees and Rocks, Newhall, Va.;" "Oak In Autumn, Alexandria (Virginia);" and "Trees And Rocks, Marshall, N.C.."

However, there are basic considerations with which a knowledgeable, sophisticated and esthetically sensitive art collector should view and evaluate Moore and his 1950's sui generis works of art. First, to the best of Mr. Fastov's knowledge, there was no other artist, who painted in the same style and technique as more. He was, in short, unique and, a sui generis artist. So the collector is looking at a very rare art form, when he or she is looking at and evaluating a Moore 1950's work of art. Bad art can also be rare too. But this is not the case with Moore. Notwithstanding Mr. Fastov's immediately preceding comments on the basic aspects of this Moore sui generis, unique style and its deviations from orthodox American Impressionism, such style can still, at bottom, be considered excellent and very esthetically appealing, because Moore achieves some startling, tremendously interesting and very esthetically appealing results with his 1950's palette and primarily very thin brushwork. There is no doubt that the manner in which Moore paints his 1950's skies is Tonalist in nature. In addition, Moore's work remains Impressionist in a very fundamental sense. Almost all of Moore's 1950's paintings demonstrate a significant attempt to deal with and portray the differing impacts of a variety of types of sunlight and sky on the landscape's features, the greensward, the trees, the bushes, the flowers, boulders, etc. This is a classic feature and focus of Impressionism. The fact that his pigments are not pale pastels of orthodox Impressionism, in most instances, his color sense is such that he is able to depict very interesting and esthetically appealing atmospheric effects. See, e.g., Moore's strong yellow cast to his sky and on the landscape features on which the sky impacts in "In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia" or an almost pale, almost glassy ice blue sky in "March Hillside, Rock Creek Park, D.C." Finally, Mr. Fastov is very attracted to Moore's incredibly detailed, almost anthropomorphic rendering of trees. He marvels at the incredible detail with which Moore sometimes renders tree bark and tree knots and their curves, twists and turns. He hopes that some collectors will share his appreciation of this characteristic of Moore's 1950's works. All of these characteristic are present, in varying degrees, in Moore's 1950 works that are offered below. Mr. Fastov leaves it to the reader to decide whether or not to view, analyze and appreciate the manifestations of the above-described Moore characteristics in these paintings, and hopes that a sufficient number of readers will appreciate one or more of these 1950 paintings and bid vigorously on such paintings, and will be successful.

As to the presale estimates, Mr. Mr. Fastov believes that irrespective of Mr. Fastov's positive views regarding both Rolle and Moore, Professor Gerdts' above-described actions and observations should most definitely influence collectors of Washington, D.C. art and American and Southern Impressionist art to give Rolle and Moore their just due, the amount of attention and respect to which they are entitled; and to pay commensurate value for their art work, which should begin to approach paying the prices for more famous Impressionist artists, such as Edward Redfield. This auction gives such collectors a first-time, excellent and unprecedented opportunity, in terms of the number of very high quality Rolle and Moore works offered in a single auction, to pick and choose from very large collections, indeed, smorgasbords, of Rolle and Moore's art and to bid very bid vigorously on and buy some very fine works of art by Rolle and Moore, that Mr. Fastov has purchased and, enjoyed very much, as a knowledgeable and esthetically sensitive art collector for many years. Mr. Fastov has largely retained the bulk of his estate purchases of Moore's and Rolle's art over a 40 year period, commencing with his first purchase of a very large portion of Rolle's art from Rolle's son-in-law, Colonel Augustus Goodyear, in Washington, D.C. in 1972 and continuing purchases throughout the 1970's and his purchase of approximately 150 Moore paintings from Mary Moore, Benson Bond Moore's sister-in-law in January 1987 in Sarasota, Florida. Now he is prepared to attempt letting his collection be dispersed for reasonable compensation to a wide variety and number of knowledgeable, wise and esthetically sensitive collectors of fine American Impressionist Art, so that they can experience the pleasure and joy of owning one or more works by Rolle and Moore.

The presale estimates for Moore, reflect all of Mr. Fastov's above previous observations, including those in the immediately preceding paragraph and regarding the merits of Moore as a very fine artist. The sad fact is that the Washington auction houses have done virtually nothing prior to this auction to advise prospective purchasers of any information, such as Mr. Fastov has provided above regarding Moore and in other passages in Mr. Fastov's introduction to his Rolle offerings. The fundamental facts, which these auction houses have failed to advise and press with vigor upon the prospective auction house buyers and collectors, is: (1) a rationale and explanation of the very esthetically appealing nature of Moore and Rolle works of art; (2) these two artists are clearly the 2 leading Washington D.C. Impressionists of the early 20^th century and 2 of the 12 leading Southern Impressionists of the early 20^th century, as selected by Professor Gerdts in American Impressionism; (3) and that Rolle and Moore were selected by Professor Gerdts out of more than 2,000 Washington, D.C. artists of the past 2 centuries to be 2 of the 21 Washington, D.C. artists for inclusion in Art Across America, which means, at least from Professor Gerdts' standpoint, that Rolle and Moore are 2 of the 21 most important Washington artists of the past 2 centuries. The purpose of the foregoing is to significantly increase the respect, understanding and appreciation of Moore's art, as well as Rolle’s art, by art collectors and buyers and to cause such buyers and collectors Moore bid on and pay the prices, that they are legitimately entitled to bring at auction.

The California auction houses have promoted and made its early 20^th century Impressionist artists favored and collected not only by Californians, but by sophisticated collectors from all of the United States, which has raised the value and auction prices for these California artists significantly. Washington, D.C. area auction houses have not done so. In this auction, Sloans & Kenyon is attempting to use this very highly detailed and lengthy new catalogue format to achieve what California auction houses have already achieved and what has not been hitherto accomplished by the other Washington, D.C. area auction houses.

Mr. Fastov is impressed with the prices obtained for Moore's work by some Southern auction houses, such as Burchard Galleries, Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida on 2/19/2006, some of which were:

Description: Description: Burchard Galleries Inc - Hillsborough River, Florida

Title/Subject: Hillsborough River, Florida Signed. Oil on artist's board. 14 in. x 16 in. sold for $13,000 on 02/19/2006 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Description: Description: Burchard Galleries Inc - Hillsborough River State Park

Title/Subject: Hillsborough River State Park Signed. Oil on artist's board. 14 in. x 18 in. sold for $7,000 on 02/19/2006 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Mr. Fastov believes that these prices obtained by Burchard Galleries Inc. have direct relevance to the presale estimates for this offering of Moore landscapes and bird paintings. Note that each of the Burchard Galleries Inc. landscape sales were painted in Moore's sui generis and unique post 1925-1935 style and technique, as are all of the 1950's Moore landscapes offered in this auction, and that the two bird paintings sold by Burchard Galleries Inc. are painted in the same very precise and almost photorealistic style as Moore painted the 3 bird paintings offered in this auction sale. It should be noted, however, that Burchard obtained lower prices for Moore’s Washington, D.C. area paintings, probably affected by the relatively low prices obtained by Washington, D.C. area auction houses. Washington, D.C. area auction collectors and buyers, as a group, have some responsibility for the low prices obtained by the Washington, D.C. area auction houses for Moore’s paintings. Such low prices result from the logical conclusion that at each Washington, D.C. area auction of a Moore work, there were never two bidders, who were sufficiently knowledgeable about Moore's above claims to fame and respect, to drive the bidding to more appropriate price levels. This is directly attributable to the failure, as noted above, of the Washington, D.C. area auction houses to properly discuss and promote the historical significance and relevance of Moore (and Rolle) as the best Washington, D.C. and leading Southern Impressionists and landscape painters. Compare, for example, the sale by Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C. of Moore’s “Evening on Sarasota Bay, Florida” Signed. Oil on artist's board. 16 in. x 20 in. for $10,000 on 04/21/2007, post the Burchard Galleries Inc. sale of 2/19/2006, with the much lower results that Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C. generally obtains for Moore’s Washington, D.C. area paintings, per a review of Askart.com of Moore auction records at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers. In this regard, note the continued success of Burchard Galleries Inc., in obtaining better results for even Moore’s Washington, D.C. area paintings (below) than the Washington, D.C. area auction houses. See, e.g., Burchard Galleries Inc., sale of Moore’s “Upper Potomac Spring Landscape” Signed. Oil on canvas. 22 in. x 24 in. for $8,750 on 1/21/2007. Mr. Fastov was aware of these considerations and that it was to his economic advantage to consign the Moore paintings to Burchard Galleries Inc.. However, he decided that he wanted to give Washington, D.C. area collectors an opportunity to consider what he had to say about Moore and his historic significance as one of the two best Washington, D.C. Impressionist and landscape painters of the 20^th century; to respond positively to Mr. Fastov’s views; and have an opportunity to select from the approximately 40 Moore paintings that he has consigned to Sloans and Kenyon; and bid on and to pay fair prices for his Moore paintings.

As to Mr. Fastov's relatively few direct sales of Moore's art, he has encountered certain Washington, D.C. area art collectors who were sufficiently knowledgeable of Moore's true significance and economic value, so that they were willing to pay Mr. Fastov a fair price for the Moore works of art, that they purchased from him. Mr. Fastov has equaled and exceeded relatively significantly most of the prices obtained at Burchard Galleries, Inc. for comparable pieces. Thus, there is no incentive for Mr. Fastov to give presale estimates, based on the Askart.com sales records of unfairly low prices obtained for Moore's art by Washington, D.C. area auction houses.

However, on the plus side there have been past Moore sales results, while inadequate, but which provide a basis for setting the low estimate on the Moore painting lots set forth below on the basis of size and the best price results for a given size, except with regard to "The Rapids, Rock Creek, c. 1920," and "A Branch Of The Anacostia River With Snow-Covered Banks In An Industrial Area In D.C., c. 1920," for which auction records reproduced below are the basis. Mr. Fastov notes that a lowest basis for calculating such low estimates is based on and affected by the prices obtained for the very smallest Moore paintings of less than 8" x 10", which are the following: a 7" x 8.50" @ $1,000; 5" x 7" @ $1,100; 6" x 9" @ $1,800; 4" x 5.70" @ $950; 5" x 7" @ $900; 5.70" x 8.20" @ $900; 5.70" x 7.70" @ $1,000; and 9" x 6" @ $800. The most significant implication of these numbers arises from the 6" x 9" size painting @ $1,800, which means that any size larger than 6" x 9", but which the prices obtained for such larger sizes is less than $1,800, such larger sized painting is given a low estimate of $1,800, at a minimum. See the next sentence text dealing with 9 7/8" x 7", etc. and the 10" x 7", etc. sizes, which are all assigned the $1,800 presale estimate derived from the 6" x 9" size that sold for $1,800. Based on Askart.com records below, the following low estimates will be based on the size of the painting and the highest sales price obtained for that sized painting, per the Askart.com sales price records below, and applied to any Moore painting that is offered below having that size, as follows: for 7 ¾" x 7 ¾" size @ $1,100; 9 7/8" x 7" or 9" x 9" or 9" x 9 1/4" size @ $1,800;10" x 7" or 10" x 8" or 8" x 10" sizes @ $1,800; 8 ¾" x 11 ¾" size @ $2,900; 16 ¼" x 8" size @3,000; 11" x 14" or 14" x 11" or 10" x 14" or 13 ¾" x 14" or 12" x 16" or 16" or 12" or 14" x 18" or 18" or 14" sizes @ $4,000; for 16" x 20" or 20" x 16" or 22" x 24" sizes @ $10,000. However, Mr. Fastov has decided to put a higher estimate than usual, based, in part, on the above Burchard Galleries, Inc. results. to test whether the bidders at this auction are going to be responsive to Mr. Fastov assessments of what would be a reasonable return for him on the sale of a Moore painting. In this regard, Mr. Fastov has an agreement with Sloans & Kenyon that there will be, at a minimum, a second auction sale from Mr. Fastov's very large art collection, if Mr. Fastov decides to go forward with it. In this regard Mr. Fastov has approximately 100 additional Moore paintings, that he will or will not consign such paintings to a second sale, depending on the Moore selling price results of this auction sale. Thus, if the reader is seriously interested in acquiring another Moore painting from this second 100 painting Moore smorgasboard, he or she will decide to be prepared to attempt to bid, if necessary, up to the high estimate to acquire a Moore painting in this sale. The auction records of other relevant Moore sales follow.

Title/Subject: Egret at Sunset Signed. Oil on artist's board. 16 in. x 12 in. sold for $2,233 on 10/11/2008 - 10/12/2008 at Neal Auction Company, Newton, NC

Description: Description: Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers - OLD TREES, NORTHWEST BRANCH, D.C.

Title/Subject: Old Trees, Northwest Branch, D.C. Signed. Oil on artist's board. 22.50 in. x 19.70 in. sold for $3,600 on 04/19/2008 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.

Description: Description: Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers - WILLOW IN WINTER, FOXHALL, D.C.

Title/Subject: Willow In Winter, Foxhall, D.C. Signed. Oil on artist's board. 13.50 in. x 17.70 in. sold for $4,000 on 04/19/2008 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.

Description: Description: Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers - Winter Morn, Rock Creek Park

Title/Subject: Winter Morn, Rock Creek Park Signed. Oil on canvas. 22 in. x 24 in. sold for $4,200 on 12/01/2007 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.

Description: Description: Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers - Benson Bond Moore (American 1882-1974)

Title/Subject: Untitled Signed. Casein on artist's board. 12 in. x 8.75 in. sold for $3,200 on 09/15/2007 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.

Description: Description: The Potomack Company - LANDSCAPE

Title/Subject: Landscape Signed. Oil on canvas. 24.50 in. x 29.50 in. sold for $4,000 on 04/28/2007 at The Potomack Company, Alexandria, VA

Title/Subject: Evening on Sarasota Bay, Florida Signed. Oil on artist's board. 16 in. x 20 in. sold for $10,000 on 04/21/2007 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.

Title/Subject: On Sarasota Bay, Evening Signed. Oil on artist's board. 9 in. x 12 in. sold for $2,900 on 02/18/2007 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Title/Subject: Evening, Tallahassee, Florida Signed. Oil on artist's board. 14 in. x 11 in. sold for $4,000 on 02/18/2007 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Title/Subject: Near St. Augustine Signed. Oil on canvas. 5 in. x 7 in. sold for $1,100 on 02/18/2007 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Title/Subject: Goliath Heron Signed. Oil on artist's board. 14 in. x 10 in. sold for $3,250 on 02/18/2007 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Description: Description: Charlton Hall Galleries, Inc - Potomac at Four Mile Run

Title/Subject: Potomac at Four Mile Run Signed. Oil on artist's board. 6 in. x 9 in. sold for $1,800 on 02/03/2007 at Charlton Hall Galleries, Inc., West Columbia, SC

Description: Description: Burchard Galleries Inc - Summer on the Anacostia, D.C.

Title/Subject: Summer on the Anacostia, D.C. Signed. Oil on artist's board. 9 in. x 12 in. sold for $1,500 on 02/19/2006 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Description: Description: Burchard Galleries Inc - Old Virgina Road

Title/Subject: Old Virginia Road Signed. Oil on artist's board. 10 in. x 12 in. sold for $2,000 on 02/19/2006 at Burchard Galleries Inc., St. Petersburg, FL

Description: Description: Sloans and Kenyon - At Skyline Drive, VA

Title/Subject: At Skyline Drive, VA Signed. Oil on canvas. 10.70 in. x 14 in. sold for $1,600 on 05/07/2004 at Sloans and Kenyon, Bethesda, MD

Description: Description: Sloans and Kenyon - The Potomac at Chain Bridge

Title/Subject: The Potomac at Chain Bridge Signed. Oil on artist's board. 4 in. x 5.70 in. sold for $950 on 03/20/2004 at Sloans and Kenyon, Bethesda, MD

Description: Description: Sloan's Bethesda - Winter Afternoon, Abingdon, VA

Title/Subject: Winter Afternoon, Abingdon, VA Signed. Oil on artist's board. 5.70 in. x 8.70 in. sold for $900 on 09/10/2001 at Sloans, Bethesda, MD

Description: Description: Sloan's Bethesda - Sunset Near Eastern Branch, Benning-DC

Title/Subject: Sunset Near Eastern Branch, Benning-DC Signed. Oil on artist's board. 5.70 in. x 8.20 in. sold for $900 on 09/10/2001 at Sloan's, Bethesda, MD

Description: Description: Sloan's Bethesda - Steeples of Georgetown from Foxhall

Title/Subject: Steeples of Georgetown from Foxhall Signed. Oil on artist's board. 5.70 in. x 7. 70 in. sold for $1,000 on 09/10/2001 at Sloan's, Bethesda, MD

Title/Subject: Winter Morning at Glencarlyn, Virginia Signed. Oil on artist's board. 9.50 in. x 11.25 in. sold for $950 on 09/25/2010 at Weschler's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Washington, D.C.