Market Report

What we’re hearing from galleries and auction houses across the country.

Raphaël Chatroux
Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists Freeman’s Auctions

Freeman’s specializes in selling works by Pennsylvania impressionists. It is also the only house in the country to host sales dedicated to the movement twice a year. At the moment, the market is robust, and in a way, healthier than it was at its historic peak in 2004 to 2005. Then, the market relied on a few forces, whereas the appeal for the New Hope School now reaches far more collectors. While most collectors remain close to Philadelphia and live in the tristate area in general, we have noticed more interest coming from elsewhere in the country, especially out West, as well as Florida. A younger crowd has also proved to be impactful in the successes associated with this collection niche, as they are eager to start their American art collecting journey through the prism of Pennsylvania Impressionism, which allows the perfect compromise between a regional school (which emotionally speaks to locals) and the wish to own top-quality works by artists recognized on a national level.

Every artist in the New Hope School is known for a specific type of technique and composition, which therefore tend to sell very well when appearing on the market. For example, while Edward Redfield is mostly celebrated for his large springtime scenes set along the Delaware River, with a lush impasto and a vigorous brushwork, Fern Coppedge sells best through her colorful winter compositions made of geometric houses nestled in snowy Bucks County. Collectors of George Sotter’s oils, in turn, would naturally veer towards his romantic nocturne landscapes…Daniel Garber seems to be the most consistent artist of the school, with works regularly selling for or above $100,000—he regularly painted highly poetic and light-infused landscapes set in the fall or spring near his cottage of Cuttalossa, in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.

Freeman’s can be credited for the emergence of Fern Coppedge on the secondary market, as it was one of the first houses to ever include her work in an auction. In general, Freeman’s has also supported and advocated for the works of the women artists associated with the group (for whom it holds world auction records), such as Mary Elizabeth Price, Paulette van Roekens, Constance Cochrane and Susette Keast. In recent years, Freeman’s has notably made a push for works by Emma Fordyce MacRae, an American artist born in Vienna who lived in New York City and exhibited with The Philadelphia Ten collective—a women-only group that exhibited together between 1917 and 1945 in order to create more opportunities to show their work in a male-dominated art world.

Freeman’s Auctions
2400 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 www.freemansauction.com