$59,250
Leander Allen Plummer II (New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1857-1914) Striped Bass Fishing. Signed and dated "L A Plummer 1911" l.r. Carved and stained pine panel "relief painting," 35 1/2 x 62 in., accompanied by the artist's brass-bound mahogany box containing his woodcarving tools, four of which bear the artist's initials carved on the handles. Provenance: By Descent through the family of the artist. Note: Leander Plummer was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His father was one of the incorporators of the successful New Bedford Cordage Company. Initially working as a mining engineer, Plummer changed direction in 1883, when he decided at the age of twenty-six to pursue art, and spent the next four years studying at the Academie Julian in Paris. Plummer returned to the United States with his artistic training to paint the wildlife he observed as a fisherman and sportsman in the New Bedford area. Eventually, he experimented with woodcarving and found he had a great aptitude for detailed naturalistic sculpture and combined his painting and woodcarving skills in creating "relief paintings"; his words for deeply carved wood reliefs that he stained with pigments he devised to create a life-like appearance. Plummer's panels became popular among fishermen and sportsmen, and by 1906 he had orders for approximately forty to fifty relief paintings. Among the many works Plummer executed, he considered the one offered here his masterpiece.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2009-06-07
