Theodore Earl Butler

(American, 1861–1936)

Sailboats, Upper Bay, New York

, 1917

oil on canvas

signed T.E. Butler and dated (lower right)

32 x 39 3/4 inches.

Property from a Florida Collection

This lot is located in Chicago.

This painting will be included in Patrick Bertrand's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Theodore Earl Butler. We are grateful for his assistance cataloging this lot.

Provenance:

Estate of the Artist

Jean Marie Toulgouat, the Artist's grandson

Art Giverny, Oakland, California

Purchased from the above by the present owner, 1994

Exhibited:

(probably) Schwartz Gallery, New York, February 21 - March 21, 1921

Lot note:

Composed of shifting blues, greens, and pinks, Sailboats, Upper Bay, New York, 1917, masterfully conveys the kinetic quality of water juxtaposed against a fog-filled New York City. Rather than focusing his attention on the mass of skyscrapers on the southern tip of Manhattan, Theodore Earl Butler concentrated on the combined effects of water, reflection, light, and color playing off the white-tipped waves that appear to splash dynamically around the detailed three-masted ships in the foreground. The artist used a variety of brushwork, with smoother strokes for the sky, haze, and tall buildings that act as a foil to the strong, curving strokes used for the flickering water and clear lines of the ships. The effect dissolves all shapes in space uniformly, creating a filmy, chromatic atmosphere that shimmers and flickers across the luminous canvas. A very similar composition, also titled Sailboats, Upper Bay (location unknown), was executed by the artist the same year.

Butler had previously depicted the New York Harbor in other artworks, when he returned to the United States in 1900 after the death of his wife, Suzanne Hoschedé in 1899. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, the artist moved to Paris in 1885 to study. In 1888, he accompanied his friend and fellow artist Theodore Robinson to Giverny to join the community of American Impressionists who lived in the area to near Claude Monet. Under the influence of one of the original impressionists, Butler began to paint garden scenes and studies of figures posed outdoors, using loose strokes with a brightly colored palette. It was also through Monet that Butler was introduced to Suzanne, the older artist’s stepdaughter and favorite model. Butler also met Blanche Hoschedé, Suzanne’s sister, who painted Jardin en fleurs (Les rosiers) (Lot 15), also included in the present sale and which comes from the same collection.

The drastic change between the bucolic landscape of Giverny and the dramatic hustle and bustle of New York clearly inspired the artist. He had lived in New York before moving to Europe and the city had changed greatly in the intervening time. Butler was only to stay for six months, but during that time he produced some of his most acclaimed artworks. Like these earlier views of New York, the present work is done in Butler’s particular combination of impressionist colors and brushwork with postimpressionist abstract, flattened forms and patterning. The uniqueness of his imagery did not go unnoticed. An article published in the New York Times, March 21, 1921, mentioned the city subjects painted by the artist, “…the latter carrying the honors. It would be hard to find a more beautiful views of the city in the warm afternoon light.”