BENSON BOND MOORE. (Washington, DC/Florida, 1882-1974). EVENING ON THE UPPER POTOMAC, signed lower left and titled on verso. Oil on board - Framed, 8 in. x 10 in. Estimate $1,800-3,800
To see Mr. Fastov's extended introductory essay that he solely prepared, without assistance/supervision from Sloans & Kenyon, specifically for this auction of a large collection of beautiful Impressionist landscapes by Benson Bond Moore (Washington, DC/Florida, 1882-1974) click here to view supplemental information for this lot. Such essay contains Moore's biographical information and an extensive analysis of why Moore is properly regarded as the second leading Washington, DC Impressionist landscape painter of the early 20th century. This is predicated initially on the fact that Moore and August Herman Olson Rolle (Washington, DC 1875-1941) were the 2 DC 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 Moore's classical American Impressionist style, up through c. 1925 and his post c. 1925 evolution into a truly unique form of Impressionism, not practiced by any other American artist, in which almost all of the Moore works being offered at auction by Sloans and Kenyon were painted. Mr. Fastov discusses both Moore's first and second phases Impressionism, focusing primarily on the characteristics of the second phase of Moore's oeuvre. This phase is characterized by Moore's painting in the thinnest layers of paint, with virtually no impasto; diluting his primary pigments with light colored paints, not the white paint favored by classical Impressionists; and his depiction of anthropomorphic trees, sometimes in truly spectacular fashion, in his landscapes, which was inspired by the prints of 16th century printmakers, like Albrecht Durer, which is readily understandable, as Moore was also an excellent, classically trained printmaker, and his prints also depict trees in this manner. Mr. Fastov discusses how Moore spent his life up to c. 1950, focusing almost exclusively on the Potomac River Valley, the Washington, DC area, but started painting all over the South, including Florida, to which he moved from DC to Sarasota, Florida. Finally, Mr. Fastov discusses the economic value of Moore's art .
