Leading both days of the sale at $45,000 was “Mi Favorita Cigar Factory” by Mario Sanchez (Florida, 1908-2005), Key West, Fla., carved and painted wood-relief plaque, 31 by 21 inches ($20/30,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
BUFORD, GA. — Slotin Auction closed out the month of April with a two-day sale of 736 lots, in an auction the firm titled Self-Taught Masterpieces. It included, among others, self-taught art, outsider art, Southern folk pottery, antique and anonymous works, contemporary art, international art and new discoveries. A white glove auction for the firm, the two days of sale earned $1,547,606.
“We’ve been in the business for 30 years — specializing in this focused genre of self-taught art, so many of the buyers have been with us quite some time,” explained co-owner Amy Slotin, of the firm’s bidding pool. “Seventy percent sold online — mostly from the US, but 15 countries were represented, including a nice regular group of buyers from France, Switzerland, Canada and the UK. We had a strong base of folks bidding live on the phone as usual as well.”
Day one served up the highest price, $45,000, for Mario Sanchez’s (Florida, 1908-2005) “Mi Favorita Cigar Factory,” a carved and painted wood-relief plaque. According to catalog notes, Sanchez “was a Cuban-American folk artist from the Key West cigar-making neighborhood known as ‘Gato’s Village.’” The street scene from Gato’s Village, which was estimated between $20/30,000, “sold to a bidder on the phone— appropriately from Key West, Fla.,” explained Slotin, “The Key West collectors are fierce fans of their hometown artist.”
“Bayou Boats” by Charles Eugene Shannon (American, 1914-1996), oil on canvas panel, 22½ by 21½ inches framed, signed, floated to $31,250 ($3/5,000).
Other important and high-earning works on the first day included “Bayou Boats” by American Socialist, realist and professor Charles Eugene Shannon ($31,250); Mexican self-taught artist Martin Ramirez’s “Caballero” ($28,125) and “Bird In Flight,” a circa 1939 graphite on found cardboard work by Bill Traylor ($24,375).
Interestingly enough, Shannon and Traylor were connected, according to Slotin. She explained, “I found the Charles Eugene Shannon particularly interesting. We had Bill Traylor in the auction and Charles Shannon is an artist in his own right, but also the person who discovered and promoted the work of the former slave, working on the street corners in Alabama, Traylor. Steve [Slotin, owner] paired them on the same page in the catalog (I argued against this), and the serious collectors loved it. In the end, one buyer (from Alabama) purchased both pieces, keeping this historically significant pair together, and he is thrilled.”
Kentucky-born artist William Hawkins had two works sold, leading with “Woman Work House,” an enamel on found panel with provenance to Keny Galleries in Columbus, Ohio. The circa 1979-80 work also was also exhibited at the Figge Art Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art and was part of the 2018 retrospective for the artist at the Mingei Museum of San Diego. After 25 competing bids, it was sold to a bidder in New York for $23,750. A circa 1956 graphite and colored pencil on paper, “Alligators And Lovers,” also by Hawkins, had provenance to Dean Jensen Gallery and swam to $3,125.
“Woman Work House” by William Hawkins (Kentucky, 1895-1990), circa 1979-80, enamel on found panel, 41 by 37½ inches framed, worked to $23,750 ($25/40,000).
Four works by Minnie Evans exchanged hands on day one of the sale, ranging in price from $2,625 for the circa 1940s ink on coast guard paper “Portrait Totem,” to $22,500 for “Face With Blue Birds.” The latter, an initialed and dated crayon and graphite on paper work completed in 1978, had previously been exhibited in “Black Art Ancestral Legacy” at the Dallas Museum of Art and in other exhibitions at The High Museum of Art, The Milwaukee Art Museum and The Virginia Museum of Fine Art. Two other works by Evans sold by the end of the sale: the 1970 “Floral Design” ($17,500) and a crayon and graphite on cardstock titled “Portraits And Love Birds” ($6,875).
“A View Of Ash Grove Lime and Portland Cement Co. of Fulton Missouri” led a group of five paintings by Joseph Yoakum at $21,250, purchased by a longtime buyer from Illinois. Made from pastel, ink and colored pencil on paper, the work, which was in excellent condition, had provenance to The Candy Store in San Francisco, Calif., circa the late 1960s-70s. The other four works by Yoakum, all landscapes, included “Prairie Mountains” ($10,000), Untitled (Mountains and Trees) ($4,625), “Foot Bridge Passing Royal George Pass. Highest Bridgeway in USA Near Colorado Springs Colorado” ($4,250) and “Lake Mirror of Rocky Mtn Range Near Olympia Washington” ($4,125).
Wooden sculpture artist Edgar Tolson was also well represented in the sale, with all four of his works offered finding new homes. “Adam And Eve In The Garden” led the group, slithering to $20,625 with a Michigan bidder. The carved and painted wood statue measured 15 inches high and was unsigned. It was followed in price by “Native American Woman,” an early example of Tolson’s work, which earned $5,250. The additional two, “Green Snake Cane” and “Woman In Blue Dress” were bid to $1,250 and $1,063, respectively.
This gilded metal weathervane shaped like a griffin, made around the early Twentieth Century, flapped its wings to $7,500 ($2/4,000).
Anonymous works were in abundance on day two, and the day’s highest price, $4,375, was secured by a serious collector from Jackson Hole, Wyo., for an anonymous large gilded griffin weathervane. The circa early Twentieth Century piece was made of gilded metal and stood at 75 inches high with the inclusion of its stand.
Twenty six additional lots of works by anonymous makers found new homes, with prices ranging from an affordable $63 for a pair of black and white sideshow photographs to $5,000 for an early Southern hunt board. The four-drawer piece, made of corrugated pine, had early square head nails and surpassed its $2/4,000 estimate. Another piece of furniture, a circa 1800s mahogany sugar chest, closed its lid for $2,625.
Other anonymous works with a high price point included a collection of circa 1880 altered 10-cent American Fractional Currency notes with provenance to the Jeffrey Wolfe Collection at the Andrew Edin Gallery. The artist painted designs overtop of each note, which contained an engraving of William M. Meredith. The lot cashed in at $4,000 and will be heading to the UK. A 34-inch-high three-drawer Tramp Art floor stand also did well, won by a New York bidder for $3,250.
Purvis Young’s “Portraits In A Frame,” a signed painting on found board with mixed media construction, led a group of six paintings by the artist at $4,625, won by a bidder from Coral Gables, Fla. While no common thread linked all six paintings together, at least three of Young’s other works offered in the sale had an equine theme to them. “Warrior On Black Horse” ($1,063), “Six Horses” ($938) and “Horses And Riders” ($594) all found new hippophilic homes.
Estimated at $1/2,000 but selling for $4,625 was Purvis Young’s “Portraits In A Frame,” paint on found board with mixed media construction, 39 by 35 inches.
Two collaborative wood carvings by Jonathan Kendall and John Kreyche’s were themed around Jesus and his family. The highest earning of the two, “The Holy Family,” was estimated at just $800-$1,200, but surpassed that and realized $4,375. Completed in 1981, the signed, dated and titled found rough cut wood was painted to look like Jesus, Mary and Joseph and measured 44 inches high. “Mary and Jesus,” which earned $3,750, was slightly smaller, standing at 36 inches. “A buyer from Massachusetts bought both of these pieces,” added Slotin.
Another wood painter, Howard Finster, was represented by 10 lots on day two, with prices ranging from $531 for a carved and painted cheetah from Finster’s workshop with provenance to the Larry and Jane Schlacter collection, to $3,375 for “They Went Too Far, #3.” The 1983 cutout board decorated with ink was in the shape of a white dog standing on its hind legs. Three additional cutout works crossed the block, including “Coke Bottle, #14,329” ($3,000), “Elvis At Three, #7,502” ($1,625) and “Howard Preaches, #3,144” ($1,188).
Slotin’s next Self-Taught Art Masterpiece auction will take place in November. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 770-532-1115 or www.slotinfolkart.com.
