I was waiting for the art auction at Freeman’s Auctioneers to end after about two hours, tired, when up on the video screen flashed a lovely painting with a dark face smack in the middle. From where I sat, it looked like a hodgepodge of colors and forms.
The auctioneer had stumbled over the names of several of the artists – many, in fact, were unusual – and this was was no different. The piece was an oil on masonite called “Man with Melon,” created by a Haitian artist named Jacques Enguerrand Gourgue. (Click on the photo above for a larger view.)
The painting was striking. I perked up. I had not heard of this artist before. Most of the Haitian paintings I see at auction are done for tourists – street or village scenes with men and women in bright colors.
This one was different. It had the look and feel of someone who had taken his time to paint, to create a mood and to present a people that he knew. After the auction, I searched for it on the walls, examined it closely, and found it to be even more awesome. It was a man’s head topped by a floppy hat and scarf. Below him was a bright green melon sliced to expose its yellow ripe pulp.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, I did not get a bid number beforehand so I could not bid. But I did not come to the auction to buy. I came to find out the value of two head studies by Philadelphia artist Julius Bloch that I had bought earlier this year at one of my favorite auction houses. Several “portrait studies” by the artist were for sale. (Artwork above are Bloch’s studies from the Freeman’s auction.)
The Gourgue paintings were among more than 400 lots of artwork on hand last week at Freeman’s Auctioneers and Appraisers in Philadelphia. The auction included paintings, lithographs, serigraphs, photographs and even ceramic plates.
The auctioneer started the bidding on Gourgue’s “Man with Melon” at $700, and there was only one bid. The auction catalog had estimated it at $600 to 800. A much larger painting by Gourgue called “Village Scene” went for $1,700. It had been estimated at $500 to $800.
Either of those pieces would have looked gorgeous on my wall.
Through Googling, I found out that Gourgue was considered one of Haiti’s premier artists. He was born in Port-au-Prince around 1930 or 1931 (his birth year was listed as both on several websites), and died in 1996. According to several websites, he exhibited a work called “The Magic Table” at the Museum of Modern Art at age 17, and the piece is in the museum’s permanent collection. This working paper from Princeton University in 2006 mentioned that the museum purchased the artwork, the first Haitian painting by a major museum, in 1948. Gourgue painted Haitian life, folklore and religion.
Finding Gourgue was indeed a joy, but I was not so lucky in learning how much my Bloch studies were worth. The auction catalog had estimated that they would sell from $200 to $800 per lot. (Artwork at left is by Louis Kahn, mentioned below.)
I sat through more than 300 lots before the auctioneer got to #313, the lot number for “Four Portrait Studies” of three men and a girl by Bloch. I was primed and ready. The auctioneer asked for a $100 bid. Nothing. He asked again. Nothing. And again. Finally, he passed.
Lot #314 were four portrait sketches of two men (one with his hand on his chin) and a girl. No bidders. The final study was a series of small pen and ink heads drawn on blue paper. No bidders.
I was disappointed, but I’m assuming this was not the right group of people for Bloch. There were only about 15 to 20 of us in the room, and a handful of people bidding by phone or over the internet. This doesn’t mean my Blochs are worth nothing; it only means that they did not appeal to this group of buyers.
Block notwithstanding, I found the sale at Freeman’s to be an interesting one. Most of the items were original prints: lithographs, serigraphs, etchings. There were a large array of original classical works from the 1900s, many described as “Follower of …” or “Style of …” or “Attributed to … .”
I even saw some names that I recognized from art auctions at one of my favorite auction houses: Edmund Darch Lewis (“Landscape with Fisherman,” $1,400), Caesare Ricciardi (“Waves Breaking the Shore,” $400). (Artwork above is by Emlen Etting, mentioned below.)
I also found the prices reasonable. The least expensive print went for $100. Several times during the auction, a dealer – who seemed to be a regular – shouted out a starting bid of $100 to pieces that the auctioneer was trying to sell for $200 or more. Once, the auctioneer said, “Can’t do it,” but the dealer insisted. Finally, the auctioneer began to ignore his outbursts.
I don’t go to Freeman’s often, but this was the first time I’d heard anyone shout out a bid. That happens at the auction houses I attend because most of the stuff (not necessarily the artwork) is junk, but this was the venerable Freeman’s.
The highest item in the auction was Frank Weston Benson’s “Marsh Gunner,” which sold for $4,000. A large number of the paintings got no bids.
Here is a sampling of pieces and prices (excluding the auction premium of 25 percent, which you can see here):
Thomas Hart Benton. “Sunday Morning.” Lithograph. $2,700. One of my favorites.
Julius Bloch. “Tired Travelers.” Lithograph. $200
Marc Chagall. “Paris L’Opera.” Lithograph. $0
Joan Miro. “Oiseau Devant Le Soleil.” Lithograph. $1,500
Alexander Calder. “Calder’s Circus.” 16 lithograph-set. $700
Walter Williams. “Summer #1.” Linocut. $650
Red Grooms. “Charlie Chaplin.” Monoprint. $1,500
R.C. Gorman. “Female Figures.” Ceramic vase. $500. (The vase is at right.)
Faye Swengel. “Young Girl in a Chair.” Oil on board. $850
Juan Gil Garcia. “Cuban Landscape.” Oil on canvas. $750. There were three of his paintings in the auction. Another of my favorites. (One of his landscapes is above, right.)
Louis Kahn. “Two figures on a Shaded Street.” Crayon on paper. $2,000. This provoked a bidding war. Afterward, one of the bidders mentioned that he had bidded it up to $1,900 but dropped out. He assumed that he was bidding against a Kahn family member who wanted it badly. On the video screen, the piece looked like a large work of art; it was actually 8″ x 11″. (A photo of the painting is above.)
Emlen Etting. “Gloria.” Oil on canvas. $2,200. Another striking work of art. “Look at the colors,” said the auctioneer, noting that it was one of his favorites. The lot came with three study photographs of Etting’s Gloria for the painting. The bidding was heated, coming in $500 increments. (A photo of the painting is above.)
Miriam Tindall Smith. “22nd and Pine Street Drugstore.” Oil on canvas. $2,300. This was a street scene in Philadelphia. (Artwork is below.)
Raymond Saunders. “Untitled.” Silkscreen with paper collage. $0. The auctioneer started the bidding at $650.
Carol Summers. “Palm Tree.” Woodcut. $150
