Spirit of America: The Wolf Family Collection
William Merritt Chase was an American painter, celebrated for his role in establishing Impressionism in America and his profound influence as an art educator. Born on November 1, 1849, in Indiana, Chase became a pivotal figure in American art, blending Impressionist and Realist styles with a distinctive flair that captured both cityscapes and intimate studio settings. His mastery of oil, pastel, and watercolor allowed him to create works renowned for their vibrancy and expressiveness.
Chase's career was notably marked by his transformation of studio environments into aesthetic showplaces, making them centers of social gatherings that enhanced his stature in the art community. His tenure at the Shinnecock Hills Summer School and his travels in Europe, especially his interactions with European artists, were crucial in shaping his artistic direction. Notably, his exposure to French Impressionism through exhibitions in New York profoundly influenced his style, integrating lighter palettes and freer brushwork which became evident in his landscapes and portraits.
Chase's works are celebrated for their innovative use of color and composition, qualities that made him a leading figure in American Impressionism. His notable works include scenes of everyday leisure, portraits, and vibrant landscapes, capturing the essence of his era with elegance and sophistication.
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Augustus Saint-Gaudens was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he traveled to Europe for further training and artistic study. After he returned to New York, he achieved major critical success for his monuments commemorating heroes of the American Civil War, many of which still stand. Saint-Gaudens created works such as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common, Abraham Lincoln: The Man, and grand equestrian monuments to Civil War generals: General John Logan Memorial in Chicago's Grant Park and William Tecumseh Sherman at the corner of New York's Central Park. In addition, he created the popular historicist representation of The Puritan.
Saint-Gaudens also created Classical works such as the Diana, and employed his design skills in numismatics. He designed the $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle gold piece (1905–1907) for the US Mint, considered one of the most beautiful American coins ever issued, as well as the $10 "Indian Head" gold eagle; both of these were minted from 1907 until 1933. In his later years he founded the "Cornish Colony", an artist's colony in New Hampshire that included notable painters, sculptors, writers, and architects.
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, renowned for his mastery of marine subjects and considered a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836, Homer was largely self-taught, starting his career as a commercial illustrator before venturing into oil painting and watercolors.
Homer's art evolved significantly over his lifetime. During the American Civil War, he worked as a correspondent, creating sketches that conveyed both the immediacy and the human cost of the war. This experience deeply influenced his later work, particularly his powerful oil paintings depicting war and its aftermath. After the war, Homer's focus shifted towards scenes of nature and rural America, reflecting a national nostalgia for simpler times. His works from this period, such as "The Cotton Pickers" and "Snap the Whip," showcase his ability to capture everyday life with poignant realism and emotional depth.
Later in his career, Homer became renowned for his watercolors and seascapes, such as "Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)" and "The Gulf Stream," which are celebrated for their dynamic composition and vivid portrayal of human interaction with nature. His late seascapes, which often depicted the rugged coastlines of Maine, are particularly noted for their dramatic intensity and hint at modernist abstraction, capturing the formidable power and timeless beauty of the sea.
Homer's works are held in high regard and continue to be featured in major museums and galleries, providing inspiration and insight into the American experience of the 19th century.
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Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor born in St Paul, Minnesota. He is best known for his work that combines classical mythology and animal forms, often with clean, smooth lines and a contemporary artistic sensibility.
Manship studied at the Artists' League of New York and the American Academy in Rome, where he was deeply influenced by ancient Greek and Roman art. He received international acclaim for his sculpture Prometheus, which was exhibited at Rockefeller Center in New York. This work includes a bronze figure of Prometheus, the mythical Greek god who brought fire to men, surrounded by a fountain.
Other notable works by Manship include The Flight of Europa, Diana and Actaeon and The Celestial Sphere in Memory of Woodrow Wilson. His style evolved over time, starting with more realistic and detailed works and then becoming more stylised and sleeker.
Manship received many honours and awards during his career, including the National Medal of Arts in 1964. His work is in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney in New York.
Manship died in New York in 1966 at the age of 80.
Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane) was an American painter and printmaker of a style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light.
A contemporary of the Hudson River School, he enjoyed a reputation as America's premier painter of marine subjects during his lifetime, but fell into obscurity soon after his death with the rise of French Impressionism. Lane's work would be rediscovered in the 1930s by the art collector Maxim Karolik, after which his art steadily grew in popularity among private collectors and public institutions. His work can now command at auction prices ranging as high as three to five million dollars.
Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor born in St Paul, Minnesota. He is best known for his work that combines classical mythology and animal forms, often with clean, smooth lines and a contemporary artistic sensibility.
Manship studied at the Artists' League of New York and the American Academy in Rome, where he was deeply influenced by ancient Greek and Roman art. He received international acclaim for his sculpture Prometheus, which was exhibited at Rockefeller Center in New York. This work includes a bronze figure of Prometheus, the mythical Greek god who brought fire to men, surrounded by a fountain.
Other notable works by Manship include The Flight of Europa, Diana and Actaeon and The Celestial Sphere in Memory of Woodrow Wilson. His style evolved over time, starting with more realistic and detailed works and then becoming more stylised and sleeker.
Manship received many honours and awards during his career, including the National Medal of Arts in 1964. His work is in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney in New York.
Manship died in New York in 1966 at the age of 80.
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative architects of the 20th century, with a career spanning over 70 years.
Wright is known for his organic architecture philosophy, which aimed to create structures that were in harmony with their natural surroundings. He designed over 1,000 structures, including private homes, public buildings, and commercial buildings, such as the iconic Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Some of Wright's most famous works include Fallingwater, a private residence built over a waterfall in Pennsylvania, and the Robie House, a Prairie-style home in Chicago. He also designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
Throughout his career, Wright was known for his innovative use of materials, such as his signature use of concrete blocks, and for his emphasis on the relationship between the built environment and the natural world. He also wrote extensively on architecture and design, publishing over 20 books and numerous articles throughout his life.
Frank Lloyd Wright's influence on modern architecture is profound, and his work continues to be studied and celebrated around the world. He is often regarded as a pioneer of modern architecture and a master of American design.
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative architects of the 20th century, with a career spanning over 70 years.
Wright is known for his organic architecture philosophy, which aimed to create structures that were in harmony with their natural surroundings. He designed over 1,000 structures, including private homes, public buildings, and commercial buildings, such as the iconic Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Some of Wright's most famous works include Fallingwater, a private residence built over a waterfall in Pennsylvania, and the Robie House, a Prairie-style home in Chicago. He also designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
Throughout his career, Wright was known for his innovative use of materials, such as his signature use of concrete blocks, and for his emphasis on the relationship between the built environment and the natural world. He also wrote extensively on architecture and design, publishing over 20 books and numerous articles throughout his life.
Frank Lloyd Wright's influence on modern architecture is profound, and his work continues to be studied and celebrated around the world. He is often regarded as a pioneer of modern architecture and a master of American design.
Cyrus Edwin Dallin was an American sculptor. He is known for his sculptures of Native American figures, as well as for his equestrian and civic monuments.
Dallin grew up in Utah and showed an early talent for sculpture. He studied art in Boston and later in Paris, where he became influenced by the naturalism of French sculptors like Auguste Rodin. Dallin returned to the United States in 1897 and began to create a series of sculptures depicting Native American figures.
In addition to his work as a sculptor, Dallin also taught art and was an active member of the art community in Boston. He designed several civic monuments, including the Paul Revere Monument in Boston's North End and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Dallin was a member of the National Academy of Design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Sculpture Society. His work is in the collections of many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Today, Dallin is widely regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his sculptures of Native American figures are recognized as powerful and sympathetic depictions of a culture that had long been misrepresented in American art.