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Artist
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Title | Thumbnail |
Notes old |
Media |
Signature status |
| Ida Nash Gordon |
Floral Still Life |
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SOLD
This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 11/18/2017 along with the following gallery comments:
Ida Gordon painted her whole life but her artistic career is largely defined by her last twenty years which she spent in Nashville, IN. Her resolve was (as distilled): to paint beauty. This is characterized largely by her floral works -- loose, evocotive and yes -- beautiful. Today's piece is a very nice, large example. It's been conserved and is in perfect condition. The older frame is a little goofy but suits the piece well.
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Oil on Canvas |
Signed Lower Right |
| Ruthven (Holmes) Byrum |
Autumn Lane |
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SOLD
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This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
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Original frame; Cleaned and conserved
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 11/10/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Ruthven Byrum spent most of his life in Anderson, IN though much of his output consists of tonalist (almost luminous) Smoky Mountain landscapes. Today’s piece gets after the tonal luminism though the setting is unclear. A beautiful autumn landscape, recently cleaned and housed in the original hand-carved, hand-leafed frame.
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This painting will appear in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art taking place Sunday April 8, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
"Click here":https://www.invaluable.com/catalog/sbnab2u53c for online catalog and pre-sale bidding.
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Oil on canvas |
Signed lower left |
| Wilbur Meese |
Barn and Silos |
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 11/24/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Ah, the retail chaos of Black Friday. We had shoppers throwing punches over 5x7 rug and the self-checkout system is completely down so it's an abbreviated edition today ;-). We've featured Meese a lot this Fall. He painted almost exclusively in watercolor and the settings were often Winter, where that 'negative' white space features so prominently. And today's example is just that -- a winter watcolor employing Meese's typical love of structure. Nicely framed and presented. Have a safe conclusion to your Thanksgiving weekend! |
Watercolor on Paper |
Signed Lower Right |
| Joseph Tomanek |
Floral Still Life with Statuette |
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SOLD
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This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 12/1/2017 along with the following gallery comments:
Joseph Tomanek maybe considered the third mosy important painter of the Indiana Dunes, after Frank Dudley and John Cowan Templeton. And while the Dunes were certainly part of his output, unlike Dudley (and less so, Templeton), it was not his singular focus. Today's work is a wonderful floral still life. It's in excellent condition (recently cleaned and conserved) and housed in the original hand-carved frame. |
Oil on Canvas |
Signed Lower Left |
| Rob O'Dell |
Desolate Barn |
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SOLD |
Gouache on Paper |
Signed Lower Right |
| Rob O'Dell |
Resting |
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Gouache on Paper |
Signed Lower Right |
| George Baum |
Brown County Landscape |
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Oil on Canvas |
Signed Lower Left |
| Adolph Robert Shulz |
Brown County Barn |
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This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
This painting was featured in our weekly email on 12/15/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Adolph Shulz was originally from Delevan, WI and was associated with Chicago artists at the turn of the 20th century. He was also one of the first artists to ‘adopt’ Brown County as fertile painting grounds. Shulz and his very gifted artist-wife, Ada began visiting Brown County in the early 1900s, returning continuously until they moved there permanently in 1917. He enjoyed a long career and life in the Brown County hills. Shulz was and is one of the most sought after painters to have been associated with Nashville. As an artist, he was in love with the unvarnished, naturalized landscape and this often informs the subjects of his work. For instance, rather than a barn or farmstead as a subject, Shulz featured something more indigenous, like a majestic sycamore. Today’s example, Brown County Barn (our title) deviates from the unadorned subject matter and features a local barn (that’s seen better days, like so many then and now!). Though Shulz apparently never considered the notion, this ‘hand-of-man’ effect on the subject matter resonates with collectors of today. It speaks to both the natural landscape and the humanity of the subject. People simply identify better when humanity’s work is also on display. Like all Shulz’ work, it has a very airy, luminous feel. Part of that reflects the time of day with the sun setting and providing all those high-key orange tones. It’s housed in a hand-carved frame that’s surely original to the piece (and very nicely done). Based on the frame and the signature style, I’d estimate the date of creation for this painting to be c. 1925. The painting was cleaned and conserved and is in very good condition for the age with no in-painting. The frame was de-oxidized and the original leaf finish (with much of the red clay showing) looks rustic and beautiful. The frame could be re-leafed and brought to more dazzling effect. Personallly, I like the rustic look of the original finish. Brown County Barn would feature beautifully in any Indiana art collection. |
Oil on Canvas |
Signed Lower Right |
| Floyd D. Hopper |
Winter's Day |
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This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
This painting was featured in our weekly email on 9/22/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Floyd Hopper was a Herron graduate and was part of the American Regionalism school of artists. Early works were very similar in character to those of Thomas Hart Benton. By the 1960s he had moved on to work almost exclusively as a watercolorist. And that remained his medium of choice until the end of his career. He was a longtime resident of Noblesville, IN and often his work captured solitary Midwest scenes including farmsteads and rail yards. Today’s painting, Winter’s Day (artist’s title) is a nice example. It’s large – a ‘full sheet’ watercolor depicting an old farm gate. This is a true watercolor – the white areas of the painting (the negatives) are indeed the untouched white paper. It’s a very architectural affair, which I think is reflected in the best of his work from the watercolor period. Impressively large with a nice frame and double mat – ready to hang. |
Watercolor on Paper |
Signed Lower Right |
| Wilbur Meese |
The Bridge |
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 9/29/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Wilbur Meese spent much of his working life as the art director for Eli Lilly & Company. His artistic output, as a result, was limited by his day gig. His body of work is almost all watercolor and falls into two categories. The first is the methodically precise ‘Victorian Gothic’ work that features an exacting, stylized rendering of homes and barns surrounded by round-top trees. These pieces were often reproduced as signed prints as well. His more ‘traditional’ style of watercolor landscapes often are set in winter and widely utilize the ‘negative’ (the white paper) as a field of snow. Today’s piece, The Bridge (artist's title), is interesting as it falls between the two. It’s not a fantasy, as his Victorian stuff is. Yet it’s extremely precise and well-ordered and contains multiple layers of background, drawing the viewer in. I believe this is the Washington Street bridge over the White River (as seen w/ Chris Newlund in our G2 collateral, below). A really well-executed piece of Indianapolis subject matter by Wilbur Meese. |
Watercolor on Paper |
Signed Lower Right |
| Edmund Brucker |
Delaware Street Underpass |
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Acrylic on Canvas |
Signed lower left |
| Carl Woolsey |
Wintry Brook |
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SOLD
This work was featured in our 2nd Annual Curated Sale of Historic Indiana Art, April 8th, 2018 at the Indianapolis Art Center.
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 10/6/17 along with the following gallery comments:
This is a bit of a yarn…
By way of quick background, Carl Woolsey spent many of his painting years in Martinsville, IN. However, from 1927-1934 he relocated to Taos, NM. Very impressed by the work of Walter Ufer, he studied and painted with Ufer and generated some spectacular pieces which met critical and commercial success. In addition to Ufer, Victor Higgens, Ernst Hennings and several others were part of the Taos scene at that time. By 1934 with the depression in full bore, Woolsey came to struggle with sales and returned to Martinsville.
Carl’s brother Jean Woolsey was a frame maker and went to Taos with Carl, establishing a framing business. His original hand-carved frames are often mated with Carl’s paintings.
To vastly digress…
I’ve owned property in Brown County (near Helmsburg) for about 18 years. I drive down there like 20-30 times a year. I play golf. I drive by the Martinsville Golf Club every time I go down.
Despite looking at it through the car glass a thousand times, I hadn’t played the Martinsville Golf Club
until a couple years ago. On that occasion I made a point of meeting Mr. Carmichael, who’s owned the course since the late 1960s and has lived on the property his entire life. Having heard Woolsey lived on the course property, I wanted to hear what Mr. Carmichael knew
He told me Carl Woolsey lived in a house about where the fifth green is currently located. He also said that the club used to own five or six of Woolsey’s paintings. I surmised that some were probably given in-kind, for the lodging.
Today’s piece, Wintry Brook (artist’s title) came to us from Bow, New Hampshire where it was discovered on the fourth floor of an apartment building that was being renovated. Unloved, it was almost overlooked and thrown out!
After it arrived we began conservation and work on the frame. In the meantime, I had an image on my phone and on a recent trip to Brown County, stopped by the Martinsville Golf Club again to speak with Mr. Carmichael. Working like he does every day of golf season at 81 years old, I tracked him down watering the 17th green. I showed him the image on the phone and asked, ‘With this brook, so similar to the beautiful brook that runs through the Club property and knowing Woolsey was on the property – could the setting of Wintry Brook be right here?’. His answer…: ‘Maybe’. He speculated the distant building could be the Carrol’s barn and kicked it around some more. But ultimately, we left it at ‘maybe.’
Carol Woolsey’s Taos paintings often depict brilliant, almost alien-looking winterscapes. I love that he takes a very similar look to Wintry Brook -- a rare painting featuring Martinsville subject matter. The hand-carved, original frame was almost surely created by brother Jean Woolsey. It’s beautiful in and of itself. In restoration of the frame, we applied a blue clay layer underneath 12K white gold leaf and top-finished that to a slightly warmer tone. The package, together, is a rare and stunning example of both Jean and Carl Woolseys’ work.
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Oil on Canvas |
Signed Lower Right |
| George Jo Mess |
Eve |
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Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| George Jo Mess |
Summer Solitude |
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Ed. 2/100 |
Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| George Jo Mess |
Tropical Flower |
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Ed. 3/50 |
Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| Louis Oscar (L.O.) Griffith |
Winter Hills |
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Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| Kenneth Reeve |
Winter Nocturne |
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Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| Paul Turner Sargent |
Brown County Creek |
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This painting was featured in our weekly email on 10/13/17 along with the following gallery comments:
Paul Turner Sargent was from Charleston, Illinois and spent his entire life as a bachelor painter/teacher living on the family farm. The University of Eastern Illinois (in Charleston) has an extensive Sargent collection. The artist began traveling to Brown County to paint in 1920 and continued painting there throughout his career. Today's work, Brown County Creek (our title), is a cute little painting and very representative. It's housed in the original frame (that we're currently re-finishing); the painting has been cleaned and it is in perfect condition. |
Oil on Board |
Signed Lower Right |
| Frederick Polley |
Brown County with Figures |
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Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
| Varaldo Guiseppe (V.J.) Cariani |
Musician |
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Etching |
Signed Lower Right |
