?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000
ALFRED H. MAURER Girl in a Green Coat.
Tempera on linen mounted on board, circa 1921. 274x170 mm; 10 3/4x6 3/4 inches. Signed in tempera, upper left recto, and signed in crayon, verso.
Provenance: Estate of Arthur B. Davies, New York, 1928-30; sold in the estate's sale, American Art Association, New York, April 16-17, 1929, lot 361, with the stamp on the frame back; purchased at the previous sale by architect Duncan Candler, New York; private collection, New York.
According to Judith Zilczer, in her article "Arthur B. Davies: The Artist as Patron," appearing in The American Art Journal, Summer 1987, Davies (1862-1928) had first purchased a sketch by Maurer (1868-1932) in April 1909 from Alfred Stieglitz's 291 in New York. Davies continued to support artists in Stieglitz's circle, including Marsden Hartley (1877-1943).
The current work is an example of Maurer's technique of painting on his "made" canvases. Seeking to emulate the Old Masters, Maurer began to experiment with materials in the early 1900s. To create the "made" canvas, Maurer stretched linen (or other fabric scrap) over a wood frame and cardboard, coated it with glue and set it with dental plaster. Elizabeth McCausland opined that Maurer intended these works to appear filmy, dingey, and spotted with "freckles" under the layer of gesso, only eliciting more outcries from his conservative detractors. Maurer adopted his "made" canvas technique in his Paris years and continued the practice after returning to America in 1914.
Maurer's first paintings in his so-called "Girl" series debuted in 1921 at the Salon of Independent Artists, New York. These long-necked women are often mistakenly attributed to the influence of Amedeo Modigliani. Given that the reference frames of the artists' careers do not match up, McCausland wrote that instead, Maurer was more likely inspired by Botticelli's Venuses with elongated necks. Since Modigliani's works did not reach the United States until 1920, McCausland wrote empathetically, "Let Maurer have the last word in the controversy. 'Who is this man Modigliani?' he is often quoted as asking."
