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A selection of recent advertisements with leading publications

White Mountains, NH (Mount Madison)

Dr. Edward Ruggles (New York, 1817?-1867)
Circa: 1860
Size: 4 3/4" x 6 5/8" (sight) | 8 1/2" x 10 1/2" (frame)

A fall view of Mt. Madison from the Androscoggin River, (Mt. Washington is the hump to the right). Ruggles captures the famous fall foliage of New England and a beautiful light as it comes through some clouds and hits the mountain. Ruggles was a successful Brooklyn doctor who retired from practice to become a painter. His small, luminescent paintings were known as "Ruggles' Gems." He was a family friend and physician to Walt Whitman.

MORE INFO...

Maine Antique Digest, August, 2013


HONORING MEMORIAL DAY

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
Circa: 1945
Size: 15" L x 9" W x 13" H

This complex folk art carving depicts the historic event captured by the Rosenthal photograph (though the men do not exactly follow the composition of the photograph). Six men are individually carved (well four, the last two are conjoined at the pelvis) with great detail to the uniforms and a sense of the action. The carver had a fine understanding of proportion and working in the round - it works from every angle - the whole has tremendous energy. A most remarkable folk art sculpture of an important event in American history.

• SOLD

Maine Antique Digest, June, 2013


James W. Washington, Jr.: Stone Mason

The son of an African American Baptist minister who was run out of town by the Ku Klux Klan and never to be seen again, and a deeply religious and supportive mother, James W. Washington, Jr. (1909-2000) knew from an early age that he had something unique within him—that his abilities and imagination would manifest and take him away from the segregated and oppressive environs of Gloster, Mississippi.

Washington's spirited, but quiet carvings are often seen as a cross between two other direct carvers; the African American Folk Artist William Edmondson (1874-1951) and American sculptor John Flannagan (1895-1942). Washington felt that it was the spirit of God that he drove into stone to bring it to life. Edmondson thought his work was driven by the hand of God, while Flannagan felt that direct carving or taille directe, ensured vitality to the final carving. Improvisationalists know that something too studied may be proficiently academic, but often void of life. Therefore, Washington took right to the chisel—life starts with a spark—like a hammer's first blow against granite!

CONTINUE READING...

Antiques & Fine Art, 13th Anniversary Issue 2013


FROG

William Rogers. (Darien, GA, 1865-1952)
Wood
Circa: 1930
Size: 8 1/4" L x 3 1/16" D x 3" H

Rogers was a Southern, African American preacher. An important work of African American folk art sculpture. It is interesting to note that the work was created as a (non-utilitarian) work of art versus something derived from a utilitarian form (vessel, cane, utelsil, etc).

Illustrated: Wadsworth, MISSING PIECES; Vlach, THE AFRO-AMERICAN TRADITION IN DECORATIVE ARTS

Exhibited: Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA, 1977; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1978.

• SOLD

Antiques & Fine Art, 13th Anniversary Issue 2013

George Washington Enamel Snuffbox / "Republicans Are Not Always Ungrateful"

Circa: 1825
Size: 2 3/4" x 1 7/8" x 1"

Exceptional English enamel box with Washington portrait on the cover and interior with eagle and shield framed by the phrase, "Republicans Are Not Always Ungrateful." Quite a rare American political snuff box.

The motto relates to a land grant voted on by Congress and bestowed onto Lafayette during his 1824-25 visit to America.

The Magazine Antiques, September / Octobert 2012

• SOLD

Lake Winnipesaukee

John Samuel Blunt (1798-1835)
Dated: 1822
Size: 21" H x 26" L (sight)

Exceptional rendering of the bucolic New Hampshire lake from the Portsmouth, NH painter. Though Blunt painted portraits for commission, his true skill and passion comes through in these hard to find landscapes.

Paintings by John Samuel Blunt are in many fine private and public collections, including the American Folk Art Museum, New York; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA; and the Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH.

Maine Antique Digest, August / Antiques & The Arts Weekly, July20

• SOLD


Great Lakes Woodlands Reductive Elm Effigy Ladle

Circa: 1760-80
Size: 7" OAL; (bowl) 5" W x 4 1/2"

A personal all time favorite piece of small scale sculpture. This enigmatic carving imparts power and purpose. It has an assured and refined form that reminds us of the Modernist work of Brancusi.

Illustrated and discussed: Powers, Steven S. North American Burl Treen, Brooklyn, NY, 2005, p. 164

Antiques & Fine Art, Spring 2012

• SOLD


Cast Iron Head with Exposed Brain

Medium: Iron, Lead & Glass
Circa: 1840-60
Size: 4 7/8" H

From the front we observe a cast iron head with a naively sculpted nose, mouth and deeply set eye sockets inset with glass marbles. From the side and back we are surprised to see an exposed cavity set with a cast and chased lead brain. The purpose (if there is any) is unknown—best guess is that it relates to phrenology (though the brain has no markings or divisions).

Illustrated and discussed: Maresca, Ricco, American Primitive, Alfred A. Knopf, 1988, p. 101

• SOLD

Antiques & Fine Art, Spring 2012


PAINTED TRAMPART APOTHECARY CHEST

Circa: 1890
Size: 21" H x 12 5/8" W x 3 1/2"Deep"

Twelve drawer apothecary chest of dramatic form with the most exceptional and complex green and yellow painted surface.

The Magazine Antiques - March/April 2012

• SOLD


The 'Washington' Lafayette Presentation Gold Button

Circa: 1825
Size: 13/16" (20mm)

One of the original long lost 'Washington' buttons, made by Leavenworth, Haydon & Scovill of Waterbury, CT. From a set made from a single nugget of North Carolina gold and presented to General Lafayette in 1825 to commemorate his service during the Revolutionary War and his friendship with George Washington. This is the only known example in private hands.

Antiques & Fine Art, 12th Anniversary Issue, 2012

• SOLD


Exceptional Folk Art Seascape: Maine Island

Circa: 1875
Size: 18" x 24" (sight) | 24" x 30" (frame)

A single hilly Maine island within a Milton Avery-esque composition with vibrant waves leading to a private beach.
J. Marsching, NYC artist board label on back.

Antiques & Fine Art, 12th Anniversary Issue, 2012

• SOLD


Southern Folk Art Keepsake Box

found in South Carolina
Circa: 1930
Size: 9 1/2" H

Book form box carved in high relief on all sides with a man and woman holding hands, black cat, woman holding a compact mirror, initials 'WB' and the cartoon characters, Mutt & Jeff.

Antiques & Fine Art, 12th Anniversary Issue, 2012

• SOLD


George Ohr

Breast / Buttocks
Circa: 1897
Size: 7 3/8" l x 5 1/2" h x 6 3/8" d

The Magazine Antiques, Jan/Feb 2011

• SOLD