Artists’ estate originals selling without reserves
An etching titled “Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake” by Winslow Homer is one of 457 lots in Myers Fine Art’s March 13 auction, which features many fresh-to-market artworks from the estates of several New York artists and novelists.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Seldom does an auction come along that checks off all the boxes on an art collector’s wish list: a sale offering fresh works by desirable artists not often seen in the marketplace, all with unimpeachable provenance and with very few having auction reserves. Such is the case with Myers Fine Art’s connoisseur’s selection to be auctioned on Sunday, March 13. Almost all of the recently discovered art will be making its first-ever public appearance in the 457-lot sale.
Many of the original paintings and other artworks in the auction came directly from the estates of New York artists and writers, including the Sagaponack, N.Y., estate of novelist and 2008 National Book Award winner Peter Matthiessen. Among the premier paintings previously displayed in Matthiessen’s Long Island residence is a signed Willard Leroy Metcalf (American, 1858-1925) oil-on-canvas titled Summer Night. The 24- by 23-inch painting is dated 1908 and depicts an old two-story house amid foliage and trees beneath a starlit sky (estimate $20,000-$30,000).
A Maynard Dixon (Californian, 1875-1946) oil-on-canvas titled Mountain Juniper Sierra Nevada Mountain depicts an encampment of covered wagons below a craggy, sun-drenched mountain with the wagon master on horseback in the foreground. Executed in 1944, the painting is expected to make $40,000-$60,000.
A signed Frank W. Benson (American, 1862-1951) watercolor painting titled The Ponter is artist-signed on a Milch Galleries New York label. The 19- by 25-inch impressionist artwork depicts a water scene with a man and dog navigating the rushes as a flock of ducks flies off toward the horizon ($20,000-$30,000).
Sourced from the same estate as the Benson, a Winslow Homer (American 1836-1910) burnished etching titled Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake is offered. It is artist- signed at lower left with the date 1889 and pencil-signed and numbered 66 at lower right. Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake is the only composition that Homer created expressly for a print, and it may be his final etching. Lifetime impressions of Fly Fishing rarely come up for sale and are seldom seen ($25,000-$35,000).
Myers’ March 13, 2016 Fine Art, Paintings, Prints, Sculpture & Books Auction commences at noon ET (clocks move forward one hour for Daylight Saving Time at 2 a.m. March 13), at 1600 4th St. North, St. Petersburg, Fla. All forms of bidding will be available, including live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers and Invaluable. For additional details, contact 727-823-3249 or auctions@myersfineart.com, or visit www.myersfineart.com.
