$480,000
American School, 19th Century Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, Flowers, and a Cornucopia. Unsigned, possibly the work of Joseph Proctor, who reportedly was a black artist working in New York in the mid-19th century. Oil on canvas, 41 1/2 x 43 1/4 in., in original painted molded wood frame. Condition: Relined, scattered retouch to repaired tears, stable craquelure. Provenance: Formerly in the collection of the late James Mitchell, Atlanta, Georgia. Literature: American Naïve Paintings, Deborah Chotner et al., National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1992, shows a similar still life gifted by Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch (catalogue #1966.13.7, pp. 483-485). In the notes to the entry for that still life, the present lot is illustrated (as fig. 2) and discussed. According to Betty Bagshaw of Richard A. Bourne Co., Hyannisport, Massachusetts, where this painting was previously sold, a Connecticut collector contacted the auction house to tell them that she had a nearly identical painting, hers signed by a Joseph Proctor. The collector said that Proctor was a black artist living in New York City about 1860.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2013-03-03
