Recent Arrivals

Insights into historic American artwork newly available from galleries and dealers around the country

James Gantt (1911-1984), Child in a Midwestern Landscape, 1940. Egg tempera on board, 17½ x 14 in., signed and dated: lower right

James Gantt (1911-1984)
Child in a Midwestern Landscape

One of Lincoln Glenn Gallery’s newest acquisitions is a powerful James Gantt painting. Gantt was a painter, printmaker and muralist known for art that captured life in the rural Midwest. Born in Lawrence, Kansas, his father was a lawyer who did not practice but opted to work on the railroad instead, where he developed a drinking problem. After moving frequently as a child, his parents eventually divorced and he went to live with an aunt in Kansas City, Missouri. At 16, he set out on his own, traveling the country, working on farms, in restaurants and even as a circus performer and movie stuntman.

He received his first formal art training in 1933 at the Dallas Art Institute, where a professor helped him get a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There he became a student of Thomas Hart Benton, with whom he shared a rural background and love of jazz. Benton’s influence is apparent in this work, which descended in the family of a San Francisco publisher, who collected in the 1940s. Regarding this painting, the artist’s daughter, Briane Lawler, wrote, “The subject matter of your painting reflects my father’s propensity for presenting minority figures with dignity, as well as an admiration for the contributions of hard-working people. The painting’s background packs in details reminiscent of the technique he used working on mural projects.”

Lincoln Glenn Gallery has set an asking price of $20,000.

Lincoln Glenn Gallery
126 Larchmont Avenue
Larchmont, NY 10538
t: (914) 315-6475
www.lincolnglenn.com

Allan Clark (1896-1950), Charmion, ca. 1927. Bronze, teal green patina with parcel gilt, 141⁄8 x 8¼ x 3¾ in, signed on base: ‘ALLAN CLARK / No. 4 (edition)’. Inscribed on base: ‘ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N – Y –’

Allan Clark (1896-1950)
Charmion

An exceptional example of collaboration between artist and foundry, Charmion is lost-wax casting by Allan Clark that was recently acquired by Graham Shay 1857. The work was executed at the Roman Bronze Works Foundry in New York City during the first quarter of the 20th century. It displays exquisite modeling and detail, combined with a lustrous color patina and parcel gilding to the hooded falcon, resting upon the outstretched arm of the lithe figure. Charmion was a trusted servant and advisor to Cleopatra VII of Egypt and held an important position in Cleopatra’s trusted circle.

Allan Clark enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied under Albin Polasek, who sparked a love of sculpture in the young student that prompted him to turn away from painting. After serving in the Navy during World War I, Clark received a number of successful exhibitions and important commissions, leading to his admittance into the National Sculpture Society as one of its youngest members in 1919. The following year, he relocated to New York and began studying under Robert Aitken. In 1924, Clark embarked on a three year tour of the Far East, visiting and studying the arts in Japan, Korea, China, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma, among other nations. His stylized modeling reflects the influences of the art and architecture he studied in his travels. Upon his return, the works he produced while traveling were exhibited at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, making Clark the first living artist to receive a solo exhibition at the museum. He settled in New Mexico in 1929 and established a studio there, where he would produce Southwestern works and integrate himself into the Santa Fe arts community.

Graham Shay 1857
17 E. 67th Street, No. 1A
New York, NY 10065
t: (212) 535-5767
www.grahamshay.com