FEBRUARY 2020
“Winter” (1906) Private Collection
From the time I began doing Parrish exhibits in the early 1970’s in the San Francisco Bay Area, I would plan carefully so they would take place during the week between the football Pro-Bowl game and the Super Bowl itself. Yes, dear friends, besides being a Parrish enthusiast, I have also been a San Francisco 49ers football afficionado.
Nothing much has changed in that regard in the ensuing years. I’m still a Parrish devotee as well as a San Francisco 49ers fan. GO 49ERS!
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In this day and age of political and economic uncertainty and discord, it is refreshing to find the art auction markets active and flourishing. Witness these four hugely important Parrish paintings which appeared at auction in November. I have enjoyed helping the auction houses of Christie’s and Sotheby’s with the background and provenance (ownership) information for these four paintings. See below for the results of one auction, which demonstrates that the Parrish art market is alive and well, and that important MP originals with solid provenances will quickly sell.
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- The Mill Pond. 1945. Private Collection.
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- Cleopatra. 1917.
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- Study for Scribner’s Poster. 1897.
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- Aucassin Seeks For Nicolette. 1903.
The Millpond was done in 1945 and appeared as the Brown & Bigelow summer calendar for 1948. Sold at the Sotheby’s auction November 19th for $2,420,000, which was far, far above the high pre-auction estimate of $800,000.
Cleopatra was done in 1917 for use as the Crane’s Chocolate Candy box top decoration. Sold at Sotheby’s for $2,300,000, which again was way above the high pre-auction estimate of $1,200,000.
The study for a poster for Scribner’s Magazine was early in Parrish’s career, in 1897. Even this relatively minor Parrish study sold for $225,000, almost double its pre-auction estimate of $120,000.
Aucassin Seeks For Nicolette was used as the frontispiece in color for the July 1903 issue of Scribner’s Magazine. And finally, this painting was also successfully sold at Sotheby’s, at a sale price of $350,000
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Original Parrish Art For Sale
We thought our readers might enjoy viewing an interesting example of Parrish’s early art, and which is now available for purchase at a very reasonable price.
An original full sized 1896 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts show poster in an excellent state of preservation. By “full sized”, the poster dimensions are a huge 28″ x 44″. This particular poster has been personally autographed by Parrish himself, which is very rarely seen and hard to come by. Ludwig Catalog item #47.
Autographed 1896 Show Poster
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In regards to our 2020 exhibit of Parrish originals currently for sale, please view all the paintings, watercolors, and drawings by clicking on the Art for Sale link above.
Contact Alma Gilbert for the full catalogue and price list: agilbert@almagilbert.com
