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Leave the Winter Behind with These Lush Visions of Spring

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In the middle of winter, Sotheby’s American Art Online sale (9-23 January) offers a much-needed escape with a selection of verdant landscapes and sumptuous floral bouquets to remind us that Spring is just around the corner. Click ahead to glimpse eight greenery-infused artworks. 

American Art Online
9–23 January | Online

Leave the Winter Behind with These Lush Visions of Spring

  • Robert M. Kulicke, Flowers In Vase. Estimate $2,000–3,000.
    Philadelphia-born artist Robert Kulicke painted intimate and delicate still lifes such as Flowers in Vase, while building a career as innovative and influential frame maker in New York. After studying painting under Fernand Léger in Paris, Kulicke went on hiatus from painting for a number of years, deeming his works too small for contemporary tastes. A 1957 framing job reinivograted his painting, however, when he was hired to frame over 300 Giorgio Morandi paintings for an upcoming exhibition. Struck by the critical enthusiasm for Morandi's elegant, small-scale works, Kulicke was inspired to return to his own practice.

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Harry Leslie Hoffman, Bermuda. Estimate $2,000–3,000.
    Artist Harry Leslie Hoffman lived and worked amid an artist colony based in the coastal town of Old Lyme, Connecticut. To escape the harsh New England winters, Hoffman and his wife, the artist Beatrice Pope, often travelled to warmer locales including Savannah, Georgia, and the Bahamas. In the 1920s, Hoffman ventured to Bermuda with the naturalist William Beebe. In the present scene from the island, Hoffman’s brisk brushstrokes suggest a windy day with the the turquoise of the sea viewed through a thicket of trees which seem to be swaying in motion. 

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Joseph Stella, Cut Flowers. Estimate $10,000–15,000.
    Italian-born Joseph Stella is known for his vivid, powerful, and often metaphysical artworks. A singular artist Stella engaged with Cubist and Futurist aesthetics to create a personal style of dynamic lines and bold colours. In this early and intimate still life of 1910, Stella’s distinctive colour choices are on display. A central black bloom is offset by bright white flowers and vase alongside bold terracotta and green hues.

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Theophile Schneider, Gull Rock, Monhegan, Maine. Estimate $2,000–3,000.
    The monumental beauty of Gull Rock has captivated many generations of artists. Located on Monhegan, a small island nearly ten miles off of the coast of Maine, the landscape is both peaceful and majestic. Here Theophile Schneider captures the rocks, sea and sky in subtly variegated colours that suggest a serene and sunny day.  

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, Shinnecock Dunes. Estimate $500–700.
    British-born artist Rhoda Holmes Nicholls was an accomplished watercolourist and exhibited extensively in England and Italy before moving to the United States with her husband the painter Burr H. Nicholls. Nicholls taught at the William Chase School in Shinnecock, Long Island, in New York. In the present work, she renders the island's famous dunes in pale and muted planes of greens, blues, and tans and with the grey-blue sky suggestive of an early spring morning.

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Alfred Henry Maurer, Tartarian Cherries. Estimate $20,000–30,000.
    New York artist Alfred Maurer was among the first American painters to incorporate the influence of European modernist aesthetics into his paintings. Maurer met Henri Matisse through Leo and Gertrude Stein in Paris and was influenced by Matisse’s bold Fauvist palette. Matisse's influence is evidenced in the present work's vigorous and vividly hued depiction of ripened cherry trees. 

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Robert M. Kulicke, Flowers. Estimate $800–1,200.
    This graceful painting of roses in a small white vase is a delicate reminder of spring. Hues of white, grey, pink and red cascade upon one another creating a peaceful, subtle harmony. 

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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  • Henry Martin Gasser, Maine Coast. Estimate $10,000–15,000.
    Born in Newark, New Jersey, Gasser is best known for scenes of the working-class industrial life of his native town. In the present work, however, Gasser has turned his attention to the rugged coast of Maine. A dramatic scene, a darkened house sits atop a deep-green cliff that juts into the sea. The painting is a testament to Gasser's inventiveness as a colourist with the sky rendered in white, green, and black hues, while the water is a remarkable combination of teals and Prussian blue marked by white crests of foam. 

    American Art Online
    9–23 January | Online
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