AUGUST HERMAN OLSON ROLLE. (Minnesota/Washington, D.C., 1875-1941). SUMMER DAY, NEW MEXICO, signed lower right and signed and titled on an exhibition label of the Arts Club of Washington, D.C. on stretcher and estate stamped on stretcher. Circa 1935. Oil on canvas.
See Mr. Fastov's extended supplementary text here, which he had originally intended to be used solely as a prefatory essay for all of the Rolle works of art, that he prepared, without assistance/supervision/ editing/proofing from Sloans & Kenyon, specifically for this auction of a very large collection and smorgasbord of a wide variety of beautiful Impressionist landscapes by August Herman Olson Rolle (`Washington, D.C. 1875-1941). Such essay contains detailed Rolle biographical information and an extensive analysis of why Rolle is properly regarded as the leading Washington, DC Impressionist landscape painter of the early 20th century. This is predicated initially on the fact that Rolle and Benson Bond Moore were the only 2 D.C. Impressionist artists and 2 of only 12 Southern Impressionists selected by Professor William Gerdts, for inclusion in his very popular, scholarly, well-written, trailblazing book American Impressionism, published in 1984, which is still in print and selling well, and Rolle's unsurpassed Impressionist brushwork and freely imaginative coloring; diverse landscape subjects and compositions; his impeccable and highly sensitive depictions of the impact of light, shadow and weather of the 4 seasons on different kinds of water, land, buildings, trees, etc.; and other artistic components of his style, that he produced continuously throughout his life in the Impressionist style from c. 1905-1941 in the Potomac River Valley, the Washington, D.C. area and other locales. Mr. Fastov also discusses the high respect in which he was held by D.C. art community, as evidenced by his election and long time service as President of 2 of the 3 leading D.C. art organizations of the early 20th century, The Landscape Club of Washington, D.C. (1919-1932, except 1925) and the Washington Watercolor Club (1930-1937). Finally, Mr. Fastov discusses the economic value of Rolle's art. - Framed, 22 in. x 24 in Estimate $20,000-25,000
Note: Rolle was a member and Chairman of the Arts Committee and of the Board of Governors of the Washington Arts Club, which was a D.C. cultural mecca, founded in 1916. Lectures, concerts, art exhibitions, cultural talks and member musicals, sketches, dances and dinners were key functions at the Arts Club at the James Monroe 4-story, double width Georgian house. Rolle exhibited at the Arts Club frequently and was given a one man exhibition by the Arts Club. When the Arts Club was founded, the only art museum and non-commercial exhibition space was the Corcoran Gallery of Art. On October 12, 1941, 3 days after Rolle died, Ada Rainey stated in a Washington Star Arts Club exhibition review, without manifesting her knowledge of Rolle's very recent death: "'Sand Dunes, Ocean City, Md.' by A. H.O. Rolle has a subtle sense of the beauty of the swirl of the sand along the coast. It shows the sensitive observation of the artist in a most delightful manner. Rolle has always been sensitive to the quiet or serene beauty of nature in her poetic moods."
