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Collect: American and European Art
|
- Sale 6385
Live
| Philadelphia
Dec 9 | 10:00 AM EST
Live
| Philadelphia
Sale 6385
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
Estimate$3,000 – $5,000
Proceeds from the painting’s sale will directly support Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity. They fund vital research that seeks to revolutionize the way we treat, diagnose and prevent the diseases that cause dementia. The charity is accelerating progress towards a cure, and, with your support, they will not stop until everyone is free from the heartbreak of dementia.
Provenance:
The Artist
The Estate of the Artist
By descent in the family of the Artist
Private Collection, United Kingdom
Lot Note:
While MacRae painted multiple still lifes and portraits over a long career, landscapes appear to be the most prominent category in her entire oeuvre. She painted scenes from her home city of New York and throughout the U.S., but her frequent visits to Switzerland, England, France, and Italy provided rich material for her brush.
In this atmospheric landscape inspired by Emma Fordyce MacRae’s travels to Switzerland, the artist’s characteristic technical process is clearly evident. MacRae began by sketching her compositions over a gesso ground using soft pencil or black chalk. Traces of this underdrawing remain subtly visible beneath the surface, a hallmark of her style that adds structural clarity to the forms. She then applied blocks of color up to the outlines of the underdrawing, layering thick paint using a dry brush or palette knife to build up the scene.
In this work, her method of painting over a rough surface, namely Masonite, allows underlying colors and the white ground to peek through, particularly across the mountains and sky. This creates a chalky, mottled effect that lends the image an aged, fresco-like appearance—once described by a critic as evoking “the spots from which the color has fallen off” of old murals. This visual texture became a trademark of MacRae’s landscapes.
The unlined canvas is in generally good condition. Canvas is slightly loose on stretcher, minor areas of undulation present at edges, most notable across bottom edge. Softening present at edges of the work. Light soiling present at extreme edges where work is under frame. Light craquelure present in areas of built up paint but in stable condition. No apparent issues under UV. Additional images available upon request.
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Please email [email protected] for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.
To request further details about this lot, please email [email protected]
Please email [email protected] for any additional information or questions you may have
