More than Lehman Brothers

The Philadelphia Inquirer revels in the works of art on offer at Freeman’s next weekend. The national and international press are paying attention to the next installment of Lehman Brothers art on offer. But, in truth, there’s nothing there to get excited about. The 200-lot sale has more than 60 lots from European artists, followed by the Lehman works. The Inquirer picks it up from there:

The next 100 lots, of American paintings and sculpture, include many of the works by well-known artists, and with top presale estimates, notably two river scenes. The Raritan by John Folinsbee has a presale estimate of $80,000 to $120,000 and Autumn on the Hudson by Jasper Francis Cropsey has a presale estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.

But there are noteworthy items by other artists. Along with two landscapes by William Langson Lathrop, After the Storm and Martha’s Vineyard Pasture (each $12,000 to $18,000), are a dozen paintings by Lathrop’s friend and collaborator, the painter and teacher Henry Bayley Snell that have low-four-figure presale estimates. […]

The auction winds up with just over two dozen works by artists who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, notably Daniel Garber’s 36-by-44-inch oil-on-canvas Quarries at Byram. Garber (1880-1958), who studied at PAFA from 1899 to 1905, painted the work in 1907, but it remained in his studio in Bucks County’s Cuttalossa Valley until July 1985, when it was discovered by the current owner, according to its catalog description. It has a presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000, the auction’s highest.

Two other PAFA-trained Pennsylvania impressionists are represented. Lime-Kiln Pike, Pa., by Edward W. Redfield (1869-1965), signed and dated ’96, when the pike was a narrow, perhaps unpaved, country highway, has a presale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.