Painting by Childe Hassam will headline Shannon's fine art auction on Thursday, Apr. 25, in Conn.

MILFORD, Conn. - April 12, 2013 - PRLog -- (MILFORD, Conn.) – An exceptional painting by the renowned American Impressionist Childe Hassam (1859-1935) is just one in a last-minute flurry of important consignments slated for auction on Thursday, April 25th, by Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers, located at 354 Woodmont Road in Milford. Internet bidding will be facilitated by Artfact.com.

   The Hassam work – executed in 1920 and titled The East Hampton Elms, 57 inches by 72 inches – is one of three monumental paintings that the artist created in his lifetime. It is the expected top lot of the sale (est. $400,000-$600,000). A smaller version of the same painting, also completed by Hassam in 1920, sold for $884,000 in 2006.

   Certainly the names will be familiar to art aficionados and collectors: William Glackens, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Birger Sandzen, Martha Walter, Arthur Dove, Dale Nichols, George Tooker, Otis Kaye and Andrew Wyeth, to name a few. A full catalog is on view at www.shannons.com.

   A major painting by William Glackens (Am., 1870-1938), a primary member of the group of eight known as “the Ashcan School,” will cross the auction block. Bathers, 16 inches by 22  inches, fresh from a private collection, is estimated at $300,000-$500,000.

   A previously unrecorded work by Birger Sandzen (Colo./Kan., 1871-1954), titled Riverbank With Cedars, Rockport, Mo. (est. $80,000-$120,000) had been in the private hands of a single family since it was purchased directly from the artist in 1928. It is inscribed “Lindsborg, KS” on the reverse. Sandzen was a Swedish-born landscape artist, engraver and lithographer.

   A painting titled Tea Party, by the well-known Philadelphia Impressionist Martha Walter (Am., 1875-1976), carries a pre-sale estimate of $50,000-$75,000. Walter specialized in light-hearted and colorful beach scenes, especially of Gloucester, Coney Island, and Atlantic City.

A fresh to the market work by Dale Nichols (Am., 1904-1995), titled The Sentinel, is estimated at $40,000/$60,000. Nichols is often named as the “fourth” Regionalist painter, along with Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Stuart Curry.
A rare untitled painting by George Tooker (Am., 1920-2004, $40,000/$60,000) is offered from a private collection. Tooker’s haunting images evoke a sense of spiritualism and poetry.

   The names Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein need no introduction. The Pop Art icons are renowned and highly collected. Three color offset lithographs by these two giants (two of them by Lichtenstein) will be sold. The Lichtensteins are Crak! (est. $8,000-$12,000) and Crying Girl (est. $15,000-$25,000). The Warhol is Liz (Liz on Red), $12,000-$18,000, and should create spirited bidding.

   Fans of the trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) painting technique will not be disappointed. Three trompe l’oeil works by Otis Kaye (Am., 1885-1974) will come up for bid. They are Three Bills and a Theatre Stub, 11 inches by 13 inches, (est. $15,000-$25,000); In God We Trust, 8 inches by 9 ¾ inches, (est. $8,000-$12,000); and A Fifty Dollar Bill on the Bank of Augusta, 1890, 4 ¾ inches by 8 inches, (est. $10,000-$15,000). Another trompe l’oeil artist, Nicholas Brooks (Am., 1840-1904), will also be represented, with Still Life With Violin, Bow and Sheet Music (est. $20,000-$30,000). The 28 inch by 17 inch painting is signed and dated 1903.

Shannon’s is entering the Chinese contemporary art market in this auction with five paintings by Cao Dali (Tsao Tali, b. 1934). Several works by Cao Dali have previously sold at auction, including a 1985 oil on canvas that brought $686,675 in 2011 in Shanghai, China.

Shannon’s is always strong on Modernism and this auction won’t disappoint collectors. There are 11 works by Rolph Scarlett and good representations by Arthur Dove, Alexander Calder, Claire Falkenstein and Marino Marini, to name a few.

The Hudson River School, a longtime favorite for the auction house, has wonderful selections by Jasper Cropsey, David Johnson, William Hart and William Trost Richards.
European selections are led by a Venice canal scene by M. Rico Y Ortega ($40,000/$60,000), two girls skipping rope in the park by Henri Lebasque ($50,000/$75,000) and a monumental painting of a London genre scene by Thomas Armitage, direct from the collection of George McGovern, at $25,000/$35,000.

    Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. To consign a single piece of artwork, an estate or an entire collection, you may call them at (203) 877-1711; or, you can e-mail them at info@shannons.com. To learn more about Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and the Apr. 25 auction, please log on to www.shannons.com.
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