Catalog: Sold Items: Fine Art (179)

“The Love Letter” by A.V. Hugenett 1902 oil on canvas of a beautiful young woman holding a love letter and a bouquet of flowers. Signed and dated top right in excellent condition measuring an impressive 30x40 inches framed in a toned gold frame some minor restoration overall size approx. 40 x 50 inches. A stunning decorative painting would make a fine addition to any collection.

Impressionist oil painting of an Italian coastal village signed lower right "Luigi Bertolingrande" (1912-1965), a highly regarded 20th-century Italian Impressionist artist. Oil on canvas laid on masonite board in excellent condition. Unframed.

Beautiful Egyptian street scene an Original oil painting on board signed lower right measuring approx. 20 x 24 in excellent condition. Biography LEONID GECHTOFF, 1883-1941 

Leonid Gechtoff was born in Odessa, Russia, in 1883, an only child of parents already in their forties and not particularly well off financially.  After his art school training in Russia, where he probably first met his close life-long friend David Burliuk, he and his parents fled from their homeland when he was in his twenties, rather than have him face possible conscription into the army. Cairo proved to be a haven for several years and Gechtoff painted many city and genre scenes of Egypt in his heavily impastoed style, bringing him acclaim in the Orientalist-enamored European art world as well.

Gechtoff always felt most influenced by the work of Vincent van Gogh, however, and this led him to travel to Holland where Dutch-born van Gogh painted in his early years, though not in the colorful later style Gechtoff most admired. There he established good connections which led to gallery shows in Amsterdam, and at one he met his future Russian-born wife Etya while she was on vacation from her pre-medical studies in Germany. Her family was well-to-do and supportive of the young couple, so they were able to wed and settle in Holland initially for about a year, around 1917. Several Alpine landscapes indicate painting trips in more mountainous parts of Europe too. Both Leonid and his wife were fluent in several languages.

The Gechtoffs soon moved to Indonesia, then a major South Pacific colony under Dutch control, hoping that the warmer climate would be better for Etya's health. The lush volcanic landscapes were strongly appealing to the artist as well. They lived in Java for about two years, in 1918 and 1919, and enjoyed traveling and collecting throughout the region during painting trips.

By 1920 they were living in Manila, and in early 1921 they planned a visit to see two of Etya's brothers in Pennsylvania later that year.  Once in America, the Gechtoffs found themselves persuaded to stay and settle in Philadelphia, with both becoming US citizens.  Leonid's major patron and benefactor was either a member of the family of Dutch-born philanthropist Edward Bok or Bok himself. Along with inclusion in various group exhibitions, his work was featured in a solo show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in the early 1930's.

Gechtoff had achieved substantial success throughout the 1920's from his landscape paintings near his home in Philadelphia, and had also purchased a summer home on Cape May, New Jersey, where he painted many coastal scenes.  Unfortunately, he made large investments in the stock market in the latter years of the decade, and these disappeared almost overnight in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The family now included young Sonia, born in 1926, and soon her sister, born in 1933.

With their fortunes in decline, like so many artists in the Depression of the 1930's, they sold the Cape May house but still were able find suitable rentals at the shore for their summer sojourns, and otherwise still lived in downtown apartments in Philadelphia. Gechtoff's works began to depict wintry landscapes along with his bright rocky seascapes and still lifes.

Gechtoff continued vigorously painting in his vivid and distinctive style, a blending of post-Impressionism and expressionism, until his health became a problem in 1940, with the stress of high blood pressure and complications. He died in 1941 at the age of 58. His widow later moved to San Francisco and ran an influential exhibition space in San Francisco called the East-West Gallery, while daughter Sonia became a well-known artist currently living in New York City. 
Gechtoff is listed in the Archives of American Artists, part of the Smithsonian Institution.

A fine original antique photograph of the Oxford tennis team photo by J Soame stamped lower right framed and archival matted image approx. 11 x 14 inches.

James Everett Stuart sunset glow Mt. Hood Oregon from near Portland. Oil on canvas signed lower left and dated Jan 11, 1917 signed and titled priced and dated on reverse. A fine example of this highly regarded American artists work measuring 12x18 inches in good all original condition some minor age cracking framed in a contemporary gallery frame measuring overall 20x26. A fine example of this great American artists work.

A painting Sunset Glow Mt. Hood sold for $12,000 at Santa Fe Art auction 11/14/1998 lot no. 121

Biography

Born in Bangor, Maine, James Everett Stuart became known for his panoramic landscapes from Maine to California to Alaska to the Panama Canal, but especially of the American West with focus on Northern California and Oregon. Reportedly he painted more than 5000 paintings during his lifetime and originated a method of painting on aluminum and wood with a special adhering process that he thought made his work quite durable but proved not to be so. He also wrote on the back of most of his paintings His parents took him to California at the age of eight, and the family settled in San Francisco where he attended the public schools and studied art with Virgil Williams, Raymond Yelland, Thomas Hill, and William Keith at the San Francisco School of Design. His early work was dramatic California landscape including the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and in style the works were moody and mysterious and suggestive of the French Barbizon School. He first traveled to the Northwest in 1876, and in 1881, he opened his studio in Portland, Oregon and from there traveled throughout the West and East Coast and into Mexico. Subjects included Yosemite as well as California missions and adobes. He painted landscapes whose sales ultimately were financially remunerative and which established his reputation. Of those years, he expressed that he much preferred being in the park to studio painting, but he stopped visiting in 1889 and instead traveled to Alaska and the Coastal Range. During much of the 1890s, he lived in Chicago, but in 1912 returned to San Francisco until his death in 1941. There, from his studio near Union Square, he was highly successful and popular among his peers, underscored by his membership in the Bohemian Club. Many of the owners of old homes in California have his paintings on the wall, suggestive of a time of grandeur. One of his paintings is in the White House, and his work is in the historical societies of Oregon, Washington, and Montana.

A fine original Oil painting on canvas board signed lower right by Professor Starcce. Sailing boats in harbor in original frame.

Fine Hudson River School painting of a couple picnicking along the banks of the Hudson the gentleman fishing. Signed lower left S. H. Thurston and 19th century New York artist. Oil on canvas measuring 22 x 29 inches.

A fine original oil painting a Portrait of the thoroughbred Race horse Portlaw by Guy Crosley c. 1930 measuring 18 x 24 in excellent condition. Exhibited at the Historical Korner & Wood galleries of Cleveland. A fine decorative painting would enhance any decor.

A beautiful original oil painting of a young girl reading oil on board signed upper right and dated 1918. Exquisite detail and light a masterpiece by this famed artist. A fine addition to any collection. Biography

A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Van Soelen trained in art at the St. Paul Institute from 1908 to 1911, and then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1911-1915. The Pennsylvania Academy awarded Van Soelen a Cresson Traveling Scholarship which enabled him to tour and study in Europe in 1913 and 1914. Shortly after launching his art career back in the United States, Van Soelen headed west, seeking relief from tuberculosis. After spending time in Utah and Nevada, he settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1916. Working as a commercial illustrator, he also began to sell his fine art paintings. To acquaint himself with the people and landscapes of New Mexico, Van Soelen spent time in the small towns and ranches of the region. Early on, scenes of ranch life became his favorite subjects. Van Soelen married Virginia Carr in 1922 and the couple moved to Santa Fe before permanently settling in nearby Tesuque, New Mexico in 1926. Van Soelen's reputation grew rapidly throughout this time, but like other New Mexico's easel painters, most of his customers were in the East. In the 1930s he established a second studio in Cornwall, Connecticut to be closer to that market. Van Soelen painted in a detailed, realistic style with a slightly muted palette and strong draftsmanship. Though most famous for his ranch-life genre paintings, he also painted landscapes and formal portraits, and produced several popular lithographs on cowboy themes. In 1938 Van Soelen won a mural commission for the Post Office in Portales, New Mexico. He was a Fellow of the National Academy and exhibited in various juried exhibitions including the National Academy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Chicago Art Institute. In 1960 he was named Honorary Fellow in Fine Arts by the School of American Research.

A beautiful oil painting on board signed lower left of a Dramatic landscape. Titled on the reverse Twilight glow and with the University of Nebraska Museum label with inventory number 1029 Attributing this painting to Blakelock and a partial museum exhibition label. Measuring 6 x 8 inches framed in a quality presentation frame 13 x 15 inches overall. This is an absolutely stunningly powerful image by this renowned artist.

Biography

Born in New York City, Ralph Blakelock earned a reputation for nocturnal, misty scenes, especially moonlit landscapes, large oak trees, and Indian encampments. He also did a small number of floral still lifes. His work has a mysterious quality, which some associated with the type of music he habitually played on the piano during interludes from his painting. Towards the end of his career, his paintings became increasingly haunting, a reflection of his insanity brought on by horrible poverty and his inability to support his family of nine children. He was both a late exponent of the Hudson River School of painting and also of the American West. He also foreshadowed the romantic, visionary, and modern tendencies that marked the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. This romanticism, especially of escapism, was increasingly pronounced towards the end of his career. Blakelock was the son of a prominent English-born, New York physician, and first took medical studies, but his love of music and art led him away from medicine. He graduated from the College of the City of New York, studied briefly at Cooper Union, and at the Free Academy of the City of New York. In 1867, he first exhibited at the National Academy of Design to which he was ultimately elected, after he was incarcerated for insanity. During this time, he painted a series of New York City scenes, primarily of un-glamorous areas such as his work, Shanties, New York City. He also painted in Hudson River Style and was in locations that included the Adirondacks and the White Mountain. It is thought he learned this style during his brief and only art education at Cooper Union. Primarily self taught, he declined his father's offer to pay for more extensive art schooling, and instead, at age 22, embarked on a three-year (1869-1972) horseback tour of the West. He lived with plains Indians, painting pictures of their villages, and traveled and painted through the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas. In San Francisco and Oakland, he painted city scenes, the tree landscapes, and coastal views, and then he headed south to Mexico. These western paintings were also in the Hudson River style, although they were rough and more painterly. Returning to New York, he developed what became his signature expression: quiet, moody, nocturnal scenes accented with bright colors depicting light, and trees silhouetted against the sky. He had a labor-intensive technique, which was building up of multi layers of thick paint, scraping some away, and "adding more to build a complex tonality". (Zellman 420) It is said that his real travels were introspective from which he created these moody, dark landscapes, and they did not satisfy the current public taste for uplifting Hudson River style painting. Ahead of popular taste, his work was overlooked, and crooked dealers took advantage of him. With the desperation of trying to support his huge family, he sold his work cheaply. Ironically, many years after his death, his work became so valuable that forgers, including a dealer who changed the signature on canvases of Blakelock's artist daughter, Marian, to that of her father, sold paintings at very high prices by using his signature. Norman Geske, Director Emeritus of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska, became the authenticator of Blakelock's work, and has seen many, many illegitimate so-called Blakelocks. Under Geske's direction, a catalogue raisonne has been published that classifies paintings with Blakelock's signature into three categories according to their degree of perceived authenticity. In 1899, the artist had a mental breakdown and spent the last twenty years of his life in an asylum in Middleton, New York. He died on August 9, 1919. However, his work had already begun increasing in value, and by 1916 was bringing as high as $20,000. Of Blakelock's career, Norman Geske wrote: "Considered in the context of American landscape painting in the second half of the nineteenth century, Ralph Albert Blakelock can be seen first as a late exponent of the Hudson River School, second as a highly personal contributor to the painting of the American West, and third and most important, as part of the romantic, visionary, and modern tendencies that marked the turn of the century."(16)

A beautiful original oil on canvas board signed lower left and titled on reverse "Pirates Cove" in excellent all original condition with original frame measuring 20 x 24 inches. BIOGRAPHY Born in Los Angeles, CA on Oct. 1, 1881, the son of Esiquia and Miguel de Villa. His parents came to Los Angeles from Baja California in 1846 when the area was still part of Mexico. Raised in an artistic milieu, his mother was an amateur singer and his father an artist with a studio on the Plaza. Villa studied locally under Louise Garden-MacLeod at the School of Art & Design in 1905, and later taught there after studying for one year in England and Germany. He established a studio in Los Angeles and worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for the Santa Fe Railroad for 40 years. He died in Los Angeles on May 7, 1952. Equally facile with oil, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal, he produced scenes of the Old West, Indians, missions, and the Mexican vaqueros. Villa's most famous work is the emblem of the Santa Fe Railroad, The Chief. Exh: Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909; PPIE, 1915 (gold medal for mural); Royar’s Frame Shop (LA), 1934; El Paseo Inn (LA), 1935; Foundation of Western Art (LA), 1935; Ebell Gallery (LA), 1937; Associated Artists (LA), 1941. In: Citizen's Trust & Savings Bank, LA (mural); LACMA; Fort Worth Museum; Santa Fe Railroad; New Rialto Theatre, Phoenix, AZ (mural); Orange Co. (CA) Museum.

A beautiful modernist composition oil on paper by Harold Christopher Davies a well listed California modernist The Provenance is from the estate of the artist and Hoover Gallery of San Francisco. Measuring approx. 12 x 15 inchesA fine example of this artists work. Harold Christopher Davies was a painter with whom art came first and commercialism last. Though he was a remarkably passionate and somewhat prolific artist, he resisted gallery representation until the age of eighty-four, just one year before his death. Davies began his formal art education at the age of fourteen, enrolling in the Corcoran Art Institute in Washington, D.C. Later he continued his studies at the San Francisco Institute of Art. An abstract expressionist, his style was directly influenced by Cezanne, Gorky and de Kooning. Being a man of intense dedication to his art, he kept extensive notebooks and sketchbooks in which he developed his own artistic and aesthetic philosophy, often through his candid critiques of other artist’s works. Painting, for Davies, was not a means of earning his living. Though he exhibited frequently at various local colleges and museums, he never sought public recognition of his talent. He believed fame compromised the integrity of an artist’s work. Davies earned his living as a businessman, eventually owning and operating his own chemical company. He lived a life of balancing his monetary obligations with the true love of his life: painting. After living in a variety of cities around the United States, Davies moved to Inverness, California in 1969 where he was free to devote all his time to his art. MEMBER: Oakland Art League San Francisco Art Association Huntsville (Ala.) Art Association EXHIBITED: San Francisco Art Association, 1921-1931 Oakland Art Gallery, 1931 Birmingham Museum, 1951 Southampton Museum, 1959 University of Long Island Museum, 1964 Parrish Art Museum, 1964, 1966, 1967 Hoover Gallery (San Francisco), 1975 Fresno Art Center, 1976 (Solo) Haggin Museum 1982 Huntsville Museum, 1982

"Summer at the 18th Pebble Beach "

A fine original watercolor painting of Pebble Beach Golf course Carmel California by James March Phillips a renowned California watercolorist. Measuring approx. 12 x 20 inches in excellent condition beautifully framed.

biography

James March Phillips was born in Fresno California in 1913. His art career began in the 1940's while attending Jean Turner Art Academy in San Francisco where is studied under such prominent artists as Louis J. Rogers, Alfred Owles, and J. Paget Fredricks. His paintings were sold in numerous galleries in the west during the 1940's and 1950's. In recent years his paintings have become quite valuable and have reached prices as high as $13,000 at San Francisco auction house Bonhams Butterfields. This is one of a pair please view the other listing of the 7th hole Pebble Beach.

A fine impressionist painting of a soccer game goal save initialed lower right A.P. Oil on canvas measuring Approx. 36 x 40 in excellent condition framed in a quality gilt frame. Provenance: the estate of the artist. Biography SIMONPIETRI, Alfred H. (1916-2001). Painter. Born in Puerto Rico on June 20, 1916. While serving in the Army during World War Two, Simonpietri was in a plane crash. After the war he settled into a home in the Sunset District of San Francisco where he remained until his demise on December 2, 2001. A talented artist, he created hundreds of paintings, mostly nudes and still lifes. Biography provided courtesy of Edan Hughes Author Artists in California 1850-1940

Original Russian impressionist painting by Emil Hirschfeld signed lower left oil on canvas measuring 11 x 18 inches in good condition some age craquelure a beautiful atmospheric seascape. Emil Benediktoff Hirschfeld 1867-1922 Born in Odessa in 1867, the Russian painter lived thirty years in Concarneau France. In with the broad sweep of foreign artists in the late nineteenth he came out to meet the French realist painting, deeply influenced by Courbet, he spent time in Munich and Paris He arrived in Concarneau in 1891. Here he established a successful career know for his picturesque maritime paintings. He exhibited at the Salon of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Hirshfeld died prematurely at the age of 54 years, his legacy lived on in his art represented in many private and museum collections worldwide.

A beautiful original oil painting by renowned California impressionist Angel Espoy oil on canvas signed lower right.In very good condition. An investment quality art work. Biography Known for paintings that evidence his great love of the sea, Angel Espoy did work that includes seascapes and maritime subjects; however, he was also an accomplished painter of California's rolling hills of poppies and lupines. He was born in Villa Nueva, Spain on October 2, 1879. He left home at age eighteen to work as a first mate in the Spanish merchant marines. While in that capacity, he acquainted himself with every detail of the clipper ships he later painted. His desire to paint took him to Barcelona where he studied with Joaquin Sorolla. Following his father's tobacco interests in the Philippines, he made many trips there at the turn of the century. Two years were spent in Havana where he began to earn his living as an artist by painting designs on furniture. Destitute, he made his way to New York City in 1904. After a return to his native land, he moved to San Francisco in 1914. There he supported himself for seven years making cartoons for movies while painting on weekends with Manuel Valencia, Carl Jonnevold, and John Califano. In 1922 he moved to southern California and from that time was able to subsist by the sale of his paintings. Espoy died in Seal Beach, CA on January 31, 1963. He was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association and exhibited at Barker Bros Galleries in Los Angeles. Works held: Los Angeles City Hall; Oakland Museum; Loyola University. Source: "Artists in California, 1786-1940" by Edan Milton Hughes

A fine original oil painting on canvas by Clifford Park Baldwin titled "A Sailing Sunday" . Measuring 16 x 20 inches in a quality gallery frame.

Biography

Painter, illustrator. Born in Cincinnati, OH on Feb. 14, 1889. Baldwin moved to southern California in 1911 and had homes in Montrose and Carlsbad. He studied painting locally with Jean Mannheim, Paul Lauritz, and George Demont Otis. While on the staff of the Southwest Museum from 1933-41, he illustrated the books Gypsum Cave and Navajo Weaving. Baldwin died in Oceanside, CA on July 3, 1961. Member: Painters & Sculptors of LA; Carlsbad-Oceanside Art Club. Exh: Eagle Rock Artists, 1931. In: Southwest Museum (LA). Eagle Rock Sentinel, 10-2-1931; CA&A; AAA 1933; Sam; SCA; AAW; WWAA 1938-62; WWPC 1951.

A beautiful painting by this highly recognized early California painter depicting a wooded landscape with cows and oaks. Done in a impressionist style oil on board signed lower left. Measuring approx. 10x12 inches framed in a one of a kind custom carved and gilt frame 16.5 x 19 inches overall. A fine example would make a nice addition to any collection.

Biography

Carl Henrik Jonnevold (1856-1955) was born in Norway on June 1, 1856. He immigrated to the United States in the 1880s and is known to have painted in the Northwest before moving to California in 1887. Settling in San Francisco, he maintained a studio at 1617 California Street. He was a self-taught painter except for brief study in the galleries of Paris in 1908. While in France, he was greatly influenced by the Barbizon painters and their dark palette. Returning to California, he continued to paint the beauty of northern California in the Barbizon style. Often working in late afternoon when shadow prevails, he produced hundreds of attractive tree and meadow scenes which he exhibited in local galleries. By the time of the stock market crash in 1929, Jonnevold was poverty stricken and living alone at his small studio at 560 Kearny Street. In that year he was sentenced to two months in jail for aiming a gun at his landlord. Jonnevold disappeared from San Francisco about 1930. A letter at the Oakland Museum gives his date of death as June 9, 1955 but does not state where. Member: San Francisco Art Ass'n. Exhibited: Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (bronze medal); California State Fairs (premiums). Works held: Oakland Museum; California Historical Society; De Young Museum. Courtesy Edan Hughes