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American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
|
- Sale 2780
Live
| Philadelphia
Dec 3 | 2:00 PM EST
Live
| Philadelphia
Sale 2780
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
Estimate$25,000 – $40,000
Edwin Lord Weeks, explorer, expatriate, and renowned American Orientalist, has long been celebrated for his views of India, North Africa, and the Middle East. Weeks traveled extensively throughout his career, capturing the rich colors, intricate details, and cultural tapestry of the cities and sites he visited. His works romanticized and idealized distant lands, frequently presenting a Western perspective on what was then believed to be picturesque, exotic, or mysterious.
The result of Weeks's travels was a near encyclopedic account of landscapes, architecture, and everyday life. Juxtaposing meticulous attention to detail with a keen sense of place, he animates his scenes by way of intricate compositions and a measured palette. His depictions of streets, spaces, and architectural landmarks–from the unassuming to the grandiose–generally eschew sentiment and stereotype and, instead, champion authenticity and cultural richness.
Alongside its technical proficiency and aesthetic appeal, there is an ethnographic value to Weeks’s output. His oeuvre, then, approximates a kind of visual anthropology; he documents the diversity of society, from a quiet street scene, as in the present work, to bustling markets and bazaars, among other subjects. Weeks was not only attracted to external beauty—the rhythmic façades of monumental and vernacular architecture, for instance—but to the spirit of a region that fascinated him and his contemporaries deeply.
The Artist.
The Estate of the Artist.
American Art Galleries, New York, sale of March 15-17, 1905.
Private Collection, Rhode Island.
The unlined canvas in good original condition. Small, ¾-inch diagonal tear bottom center right (within first/left-most ground floor window inside entryway), patched with clear tape verso. UV light reveals inpainting corresponding to this tear, and to another horizontal line, approximately ¾-inches in length just above the first, near top of the same window. Possible old repair at far upper left, between top of windows and frame, with few additional touch-ups scattered throughout, occasionally corresponding to minor indentations or other stress to canvas. Areas of yellow-green varnish appear within entrance vestibule lower right and within lower left foreground, noticeable only under UV light. See Specialist photos for details.
For more information on this Lot, please contact Raphael Chatroux at [email protected]
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To request further details about this lot, please email [email protected]
Please email [email protected] for any additional information or questions you may have
