Soulis Auctions Shines Spotlight On Giants Of American Regionalism Art Movement
Oct. 14 Sale Features Important Thomas Hart Benton Works With Family Provenance
October 13, 2023
Pride in homegrown artists whove gone on to achieve success on the national or international stage is what spurred the meteoric rise of what is termed Regionalist art. Perhaps no other part of the country has embraced the Regionalist art movement with more fervor than the Midwest, leading to the theme of Soulis Auctions Saturday, Oct. 14, event. The 320-lot Fine and Decorative Arts Sale is highlighted by original works created by luminaries of Midwest Regionalist and Kansas City art, including The Big Three of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood. Americas heartland is where painter, muralist, printmaker and art educator Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) was born and spent most of his life. He also studied in Paris, lived in New York City for 20 years, and summered on Marthas Vineyard for half a century, all experiences that broadened his artistic horizons. Benton was a champion of Realism whose initial opposition to the Modernist movement seemed untenable, but in the early 1920s, Benton reconsidered and opted to explore the new style. That sea change in Bentons career is embodied in an associated pair of artworks in this sale as one lot. His mixed-media painting on board, executed ca. 1922, is titled Benton Family on South Beach. The 13.75-by-9.5-inch work served as the study for a much larger (53-by-33-inch) textile which he envisioned his wife, Rita, embellishing with needlework. The linen panel was never fully stitched, thus leaving much of Bentons original composition visible. The study was exhibited in 1990-91 and published in Henry Adams reference, Thomas Hart Benton: Drawing from Life. Commenting on the study and its ultimate realization in large format on linen, Adams observed, This is clearly quite a unique and personally significant piece from a pivotal moment in Bentons artistic development. Both the painting and unfinished needlework come from the family of the Bentons close friend, Ann Constable, and will be offered as one lot with a pre-sale estimate of $60,000-$90,000. The auction also includes several 1930s large-format, low-edition lithographs signed by Benton, with estimates in the $2,000-$20,000 range, as well as a portrait by Margaret Brisbane (American, 1901-70), which the Bentons commissioned in 1934 and, through photo-documentation, are known to have displayed in their home. It depicts Rita Benton with the couples young son, T.P., and is consigned by a gallery owner who acquired it directly from the Thomas Hart Benton Trust. A signed Arthur Kraft (Kansas City, Mo., 1922-77) WWII-era mural, measuring 5-by-7 feet, is especially noteworthy because it pre-dates by several decades the period during which Kraft became widely recognized as an Expressionist. To the best of my knowledge, this mural, which is a stark depiction, in a Realistic style, of the struggles brought on by WWII, has never before been recorded. Because it is so early, and because it was painted in a style not previously connected to Kraft, we believe it will be of great interest not only locally but also at a national level, said Soulis Auctions owner and auctioneer, Dirk Soulis. Two landscapes by Birger Sandzen (Swedish/American, 1871-1964) that have been held in an institutional collection for 102 and 93 years, respectively, are among the sales top highlights. Both are listed in the Sandzen Memorial Gallerys card catalogue and are consigned by a rural Kansas library that acquired them directly from the artist. Sandzen viewed his paintings as nature studies, and, as he wrote in a letter to his brother, he strived for the simplest possible means of expression. In other words, every brushstroke had meaning. His 1921 oil-on-canvas titled Smoky River is a quintessential example of that approach, masterfully portraying a verdant waterside scene with light and shadow in counterpoint to lush, languid trees. The artist-signed work is estimated at $60,000-$90,000. Like Smoky River, the second Sandzen oil is from the artists desirable Middle Period. Titled Golden Aspens, the 1929 depiction of aspen trees alongside a lake displays a robust palette of intense colors applied in high relief. The librarys acquisition of Golden Aspens was reported in the June 12, 1930, edition of The Lindsborg (Kans.) Progress, which noted that members of the institutions art association had had their hearts set on purchasing the painting ever since it was exhibited the year prior. Soulis will offer the artwork with an $80,000-$120,000 estimate. The auction is full of high-quality art and decorative goods of all types, including Tiffany Studios and other lighting, palace-size and other Persian carpets, fine silver, French art glass, Asian arts, and hundreds of paintings and pencil-signed prints from several popular genres, including Modern and Southwestern. Soulis live auction will commence at 11 a.m. CT/noon ET on Saturday, Oct. 14. The address is 529 W. Lone Jack Lees Summit Road., Lone Jack (suburban Kansas City), Mo. All forms of remote bidding will be available, including live via the internet through LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable or Bidsquare. To reserve a phone line, leave an absentee bid or obtain additional information about any item in the auction, call 816-697-3830 or email dirk@soulisauctions.com. All images courtesy of Soulis Auctions.
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