Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Mrs. Harris Whittemore and Baby Helen, 1898. Pastel on paper, 23 x 19 in. Estimate: $300/500,000
In addition to quintessential works representing the genre, Freeman’s brings a broad range of American art to their twice-annual American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists sale on December 3, that spans the late-19th century to nearly 1980.
Artists of note include Hudson River School landscapist Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908), ex-pat painter Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Pennsylvania Impressionist Martha Walter (1875-1976), New Hope School artist Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), California Impressionist Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971), sporting artist Edmund Henry Osthaus (1858-1928) and Henry Koerner (1915-1991).
Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908), Monhegan Cliff, Maine, ca. 1896. Oil on canvas, 30 x 63 in., signed and dated bottom left. Estimate: $80/120,000
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), Winter in New Hope, 1934. Oil on canvas, 18 x 20 in., signed bottom right. Estimate: $50/80,000
“The true highlight of the sale is a large-scale painting by realist Koerner entitled The Station,” says Freeman’s fine art specialist Raphael Chatroux of the piece that was also selected for this issue’s cover. “It comes to auction for the first time ever, all the way from the private collection of Dr. Robert Craig, a personal friend of the artist whom he met when he moved to Pittsburgh in 1952. Executed in 1978, the work is as poignant as Koerner’s earlier compositions, and encapsulates the tension and ambiguity that often characterize his best works.” The piece, estimated to fetch between $250,000 and $400,000, depicts Bahnsteigdach Hadersdorf-Weidlingau, a railroad station in Vienna that Koerner admired for its impressive turn-of-the-century architecture. The platform serves as the stage for the coming and going of numerous travelers and trains, in the midst of what might be the air of holiday excitement. In the center of the scene is the stationmaster, with his back toward the viewer, who seems to have orchestrated, and is now conducting, this ballet of ordinary life. “At first glance, The Station appears to be a mundane snapshot of everyday life in an urban setting, but upon closer inspection, it becomes an image full of uneasiness,” says Chatroux. “As in many of his works, Koerner here plays with scale to suggest anomaly: the stationmaster is clearly oversized. He dwarfs the figures surrounding him, especially the passengers shown exiting the station through the underground staircase, who appear like figurines.” The work was significant to the artist, indeed one of his favorites, and it travelled to Vienna in 1997 for the artist’s grand international retrospective.
Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971), White Peacocks with Datura. Oil on canvas, 23½ x 29½ in., signed bottom center. Estimate: $40/60,000
Another highly anticipated lot is Mrs. Harris Whittemore and Baby Helen, executed by Mary Cassatt in 1898. The pastel portrait has been given a high estimated value of $500,000 and is exemplary of her signature mother and child compositions. In the early 1890s, Harris Whittemore and his father, John Howard Whittemore met and formed a life-long relationship with Cassatt, ultimately collecting roughly 75 of her works. In 1898, during Cassatt’s first trip back to America after 25 years abroad, she visited the Whittemore family for a commission of family pastel portraits, including the present work, Mrs. Harris Whittemore and Baby Helen.
The tenderness of the piece is amplified through the soft quality of the pastel, while the artist’s affinity for detail is present in the hair and facial features.
Martha Walter (1875-1976), The Shallows. Oil on canvas, 18 x 15 in. Estimate: $25/40,000
This season, Freeman’s is also steward the deaccession of several American works from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, including a panoramic view of Monhegan Island, Maine. Created by Alfred T. Bricher in 1896, the piece is one of the largest examples to ever come to market, and is expected to achieve between $80,000 and $120,000.
Emblematic of the Pennsylvania Impressionist style is Fern Isabel Coppedge and her Winter in New Hope. Her talent for capturing the distinct winter light and her delightful use of color is embodied in the painting. “Freeman’s has a strong market for Pennsylvania Impressionists, and of the works on offer this season, Fern Coppedge’s Winter in New Hope is set to allure many collectors,” says Chatroux. “Not only because the artist is one of the most sought-after members of the New Hope School, who constantly bring solid records but also because this particular example comes from the Coppedge’s own family.” It was a wedding gift from the artist to her sister, Margaret Effa Kuns in 1934, the same year it was executed. The work features a quintessential view of a country village nestled in the snow, traversed by a turquoise flow of river winding between the colorful houses. Atypical of Coppedge’s work, the landscape features a figure, that of a woman, walking along the snowy banks, ostensibly from the general store back home.
Henry Koerner (1915-1991), The Station, 1978. Oil on canvas, 61 x 50 in. Estimate: $250/400,000
Two other impressive female artists have lots in the sale, including a piece by Jessie Arms Botke that showcases her favorite subject matter—peacocks—this time with datura flowers; and Martha Walter’s The Shallows, which Chatroux would not be surprised to sail past it’s high estimated value of $40,000. “Given the continual rise and yearning for works by women artists, we expect The Shallows, a bold view of bathers seen at sea rather than on the beach, and another by Isabel Bishop to do very well.”
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