Old-Fashioned

Paintings by Grandma Moses, Thomas Moran and Andy Warhol headline the American Art auction at Bonhams Skinner

September 21

Skinner Auctioneers
63 Park Plaza
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Bonhams Skinner’s American Art sale on September 21 kicks off the auction house’s line-up of fine art auctions this fall. Highlighting the sale are two folk paintings by Grandma Moses (Mary Robertson Moses) (1860-1961) from the mid-1940s. These works have been in private hands since that time, passing from the original purchasers to Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut.

Grandma Moses (1860-1961), May, Making Soap, Washing Sheep, 1870. Image courtesy Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com. Estimate: $70/90,000

Grandma Moses was known for her charming, old-fashioned depictions of rural life, set in the rolling landscapes of farm country. Her painting May, Making Soap, Washing Sheep, 1870 has been featured in multiple exhibitions, the most recent being Grandma Moses: A Retrospective Exhibition Celebrating the 160th Anniversary of Her Birth. The piece is estimated to sell between $70,000 and $90,000. Another highlight by Moses is Beyond the Lake, which has a presale estimate of $50,000 to $70,000.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Ingrid Bergman with Hat from the series Three portraits of Ingrid Bergman. Image courtesy Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com. Estimate: $40/60,000

A major work in the sale is Thomas Moran’s Long Island painting Three Mile Harbor, expected to fetch $40,000 to $60,000. His paintings of the East Hampton area are generally smaller in scale and more pastoral in spirit, as seen in Three Mile Harbor.

“We [also] have as ‘Attributed to N.C. Wyeth’ a very dynamic and bright, unsigned oil of two square rigged ships under sail on the open sea,” says Elizabeth Haff, specialist of American and European works of art at Bonhams Skinner. “In the traditional vein, there is a Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910) oil of a woodland brook, two small Blakelocks and several works by Otto Anton Fischer (1882-1962). We have at least one, and hopefully two, lovely still lifes by Levi Wells Prentice (1851-1935), and a sweet [Frederick William] MacMonnies (1863-1937) bronze Bacchante and Infant Faun (16 inches high), which is always a favorite.”

Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910), Brook in the Woods, oil on canvas. Image courtesy Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com. Estimate: $3/5,000

Additional lots to be on the lookout for include two works by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Ingrid Bergman with Hat from the series Three portraits of Ingrid Bergman and General Custer from the series Cowboys and Indians, both with estimates of $40,000 to $60,000; as well as a more modern take on fishing presented in two paintings by Joseph Francis Kernan(1878-1958), estimated to sell between $30,000 and $50,000 each.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), General Custer from the series Cowboys and Indians, 1986. Image courtesy Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com. Estimate: $40/60,000