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American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
|
- Sale 2105
Live
| Philadelphia
Dec 8 | 2:00 PM EST
Live
| Philadelphia
Sale 2105
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
Estimate$15,000 – $20,000
Provenance:
Private Collection, Maryland.
Freeman's, Philadelphia, Sale of June 3, 2018, Lot 145.
Acquired directly from the above sale.
Private Collection, Illinois.
Literature:
Les and Sue Fox, Fern Coppedge 1883-1951: One Woman's Struggle for Equality in the Art World, Cincinnati, 2021, no. CGF-31, p. 224, illus.
Lot Essay:
The present lot depicting a calm harbor with fishing boats may not be of Gloucester Harbor, as indicated by the title, but rather a waterway in rural France. The summer of 1925, Fern Isabel Coppedge traveled to Europe, where she painted scenes in Austria and Czechoslovakia, as well as two significant paintings of Venice. Before she returned to Pennsylvania, the artist stayed in Paris while she awaited her voyage home from Cherbourg, France, on the S.S. Lancastria. The stretcher of the painting bears an inscription in the artist's hand, 14 rue Beaujon/Windsor Hotel. At this address stands a Hausmann-inspired hotel, which, when it debuted in 1907, was called Hotel Windsor (it is now the Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe).
However, it is unknown if or when Coppedge may have traveled from Paris to Normandy to paint, or why she wrote the address of a Paris hotel on the stretcher. In email correspondence with Les Fox, co-author of Fern Coppedge 1883-1951: One Woman's Struggle for Equality in the Art World, he agrees that the scene was likely at least inspired by or painted in France, based on the inscription and the buildings seen along the white cliffs of the distant shoreline, which do not appear to be those of Gloucester. As the artist does not appear to have kept any journals, at this time the subject will remain an art historical mystery.
Minor deposits of surface dirt and dust, with pinpoint brown stains along the upper edge; canvas is edge lined; artwork was recently conserved by Baumgartner Art Restoration to repair a tear along the center left edge, with an expert repair on the canvas reverse, under the stretcher bar; localized craquelure in the upper right corner and in center left; drying craquelure in the darker green pigment of water under the boats. Under UV light, inpainting in area of repaired tear, in center left; inpainting to top edges of sails in center boats, scattered small strokes of inpainting throughout. Additional images available upon request.
Framed: 27 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.
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Adam Veil
VP, Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
