Jun 04, 2015 - Sale 2386

Sale 2386 - Lot 20

Price Realized: $ 6,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000
JOHN LA FARGE
Samoan Girls Dancing the Seated Siva Dance with Pantomime and Song, Night Effect, Samoa,1890.

Brush and ink and wash on paper mounted on board, circa 1895. 330x350 mm; 13x13 3/4 inches. Signed in pencil, lower right recto, and titled in pencil, lower center margin. With the artist's red ink stamp (Lugt 2976a, lower center recto).

Ex-collection Doll and Richards, Boston, 1902-1904; Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1907; the artist's estate, New York, 1910-1911; sold American Art Association,New York, March 29-31, 1911, lot 845; A.B. Springarn, New York, 1911-1966; John B. Lehman, New York, from 1966.

Exhibited Century Association, New York, December 3, 1898, no. 15; "Exhibition and Private Sale of Water Color Paintings by Mr. John La Farge, Mr. Childe Hassam, Miss Lucy S. Conant," Doll and Richards, Boston, November 1902, no. 15; "Exhibition of Pictures by John La Farge," Macbeth Gallery, New York, November 27-December 12, 1907, no. 7; "Exhibition of Glass, Oil and Water Color Paintings and Sketches by John La Farge, N.A.," Knoedler and Co., New York, February 15-31, 1909, no. 31; "John La Farge," Graham Gallery, New York, May 4-June 10, 1966, no. 44; "Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings by John La Farge from His Travels in the South Seas, 1890-1891," Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, February 1-May 1, 1978, no. 14.

Published in La Farge in Retrospect, New York Times, December 6, 1907, page 5; La Farge Sale Total $28,492. A Crayon Drawing by Artist, Made in Samoa, Brings $155, New York Times, April 1, 1911, page 13; Henry A. La Farge, John La Farge: A Reappraisal, Art News, volume 65.0 (May 1966), page 30.

According to Dr. James L. Yarnall, "This is one of several sepia copies of South Sea watercolors that La Farge prepared for use by Cecilia Waern around 1895 in her biography of the artist. Unlike the other sepia copies, it ultimately was not used by Waern, who instead reproduced the original watercolor (now in a private collection)."