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An Artistic Tour of the State of New York

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As the last days of summer pass and autumn fast approaches, New York City residents frequently escape to the countryside for a chance to see the leaves change colours. Likewise, it’s a perfect time of year for the country dweller to make a trip into the city when many of the tourists have gone home. From the oceanfront views of the Hamptons and Coney Island to the woodsy environs of Woodstock and the Catskills, the state of New York has a lot to offer the weekend traveller.

American Art
6 October | New York

An Artistic Tour of the State of New York

  • Thomas Moran, East Hampton, 1916. Estimate $150,000–250,000.
    In East Hampton, Moran has portrayed a rim of dark clouds hovering over the horizon line, with rain still falling in the distance, below a blue sky, which appears through sunlight-infused clouds. In the undulating dunes and1 autumnal foliage, Moran reflects this alternation of light and shadow to exhibit the effects of the light filtering through the clouds and bring a spiritual dimension to the painting. The site has been identified by Phyllis Braff, coauthor of the Thomas Moran Catalogue Raisonné, as a view just to the west of the Maidstone Golf Club.

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  • Oscar Bluemner, A Double-Sided Preparatory Drawing for Circles of Washington Square. Estimate $5,000–7,000.
    The present work is a double-sided study for Oscar Bluemner's Circles of Washington Square, the largest oil painting he ever completed. From looking at this study, we can experience the artist's methodical creative process. The gridlines, a remnant from his earlier career as an architect, would have been used to help him transfer the composition to the canvas.

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  • Thomas Birch, Castle William, New York Harbor. Estimate $30,000–50,000.
    The present work depicts a view from the southern tip of Manhattan looking toward Staten Island, showing Castle William to the left. Castle William was built on Governor's Island in 1811 and was used to help fortify the harbor during the War of 1812. A similar view of New York Harbor by Birch , painted in 1827, is in the Museum of the City of New York.

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  • George Benjamin Luks, Church - Old Chatham Berk. Hills. Estimate $6,000–8,000.
    In the mid-1920s, George Luks purchased a farm house near Old Chatham, New York in the Berkshire Hills. He would retreat there in the summer months, frequently painting the residents and landscapes of the nearby villages.

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  • Jasper Francis Cropsey, Lake George, 1866. Estimate $30,000–50,000.
    Painted in 1866, the present work is executed in Cropsey's signature, luminist style. Cropsey specialized in fall scenes, earning him the nickname "America's painter of Autumn."

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  • Leon Kroll, Appletrees, Woodstock, 1922. Estimate $20,000–30,000.
     Leon Kroll first visited Woodstock in the summer of 1906 to study at the Byrdcliffe art colony. In 1920, Kroll returned to Woodstock, as it was a popular destination for artist's to spend the summer. In Kroll's autobiography, A Spoken Memoir, he describes hosting dinners for fellow artists who would summer in Woodstock, including the Henris, Bellowses, and the Speichers.

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  • Guy Carleton Wiggins, Wall St In Winter. Estimate $60,000–80,000.
    One of the great American Impressionists, Guy Carlton Wiggins has become synonymous with scenes of New York City in Winter. He became famous for his lively, snow covered depictions of the city early on, with his painting, Metropolitan Tower, being purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1912. Landmarks of New York, such as Wall Street, Trinity Church, Washington Square Park, and 5th Avenue are among his most enduring subjects.

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  • David Johnson, A Scene at Ramapo, New York. Estimate $20,000–30,000.
    The first railroad line in Rockland County, built in 1841, ran from Ramapo to Piermont. At the extreme left of this painting, you can see a train car with steam entering the picture plane.

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  • Thomas Worthington Whittredge, Scene on the Upper Delaware, State of New York. Estimate $50,000–70,000.
    With regards to the present work, Anthony F. Janson states that, "The essential qualities of his style are demonstrated by a group of landscapes along the Delaware River, which lies southwest of the Catskills, just beyond the Shawungunk River. The masterpiece among these paintings is Scene on the Upper Delaware, State of New York . . . In it the intuitive apprehension of light receives its most radiant expression of all Whittredge's paintings. He uses a myriad of small, pointed brushstrokes to suggest forms through the sparkling play of colored light across the landscape, which achieves an extraordinary range of visual effect surpassing anything he had painted before. Light becomes the expression of an immediate, yet profoundly lyrical response to a visual impression. The serene naturalism evinces an unusual receptiveness to nature, which the artist allows to speak directly through his innately poetic sensibility." (see Anthony F. Janson, op. cit., p. 131)

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  • Francis Augustus Silva, Early Moonrise, Coney Island. Estimate $40,000–60,000.
    Francis Silva, a second generation Hudson River School painter, is best known for sunset scenes with luminist, atmospheric effects. The present work provides a glimpse of Coney Island before the boardwalks and amusement parks. In Early Moonrise, Coney Island, Silva has produced a tranquil scene with the moon rising out of the haze of the sunset as the waves gently lap on the beach.

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