Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-05
PAYS TEN CENTS FOR
MASTERPIECE OF ART
Unframed Work of Great ST. Louis
Painter Rescued from Among
Many Musty chromos

ST. LOUIS, Feb. ALEX A. Selllirk,
art auctioneer, Eighteenth street and
Chouteau avenue, believes he has
found the "Captive Charger declared
by many critics to be the masterpiece
of Charles F. Wimar. Sell1irk bought
the painting for 10 cents.
"I have studied Mimar to an eX-
tent" says Selkirk, ''that I believe L
could pick bit of his work out of
collection of any size. l have not the
least doubt that the painting i found
in a junk pile and bought for 10 cents
Is the original Captive Charger.
The painting discovered by Selkirk
is now on exhibition in the McCaughen
& Burr gallery at 9l9 Locust street:
Its restoration was the last work Of
Burr. He died before undertaking
anything else.
No greater painter of Indian life
than Wimar ever lived, according 10
critics. His paintings are in galleries
all over Europe. Five Wimar paint
ings are in the st. Louis Museum of
Fine Arts and there is anothsr group
in the dome of the courthouse build
ing The late August Becker, half
brother of Wimar, offered to put TINS
latter group on canvas for S50OOO, but
the municipal assembly would not
make the appropriation.
Painted for London Woman
The Captive Charger has Il pecu-
liar history. Wimar undertook to
paint the picture for a London Won1-
an. Having finished the painting, it is
said. he became so infatuated with 1t
that he could not bring himself to give
it up. Instead he painted a second
Captive Charger" and sent this to
the London woman, q member of the
ST. Louis family Of Garrisons, who at
the time she gave Wimar the order
was visiting here.
The painting, which later was sent
to the London Mrs. Garrison, was for
some time on exhibition in the Pettes
& Leathe gallery, then at Sixth and
Olive streets. A copyist named Has
sett made three copies of it. Where
two of these copies went is known, but
what became of the third is a mys-
terry.
The third Hassett copy and the orlgl-
nal Wimar Captive Charger" have
been the quest of art connoisseurs for
years. Selkirks discovery of what. may
be the original came about in an in
teresting way.
About year ago." said SellIirlI
Thursday, Il auctioned' off pile of
junk at my place at Eighteenth street
and Chouteau avenue. / sold one heap
Of the stuff to a secondhand dealer.
As he was carrying it away something,
I don't know what, caused my atten-
ton to be attracted to a battered pic
ture that was in the pile
Il called to the man to stop and,
moisening the ends of my fingers, ]
1an Il ret
covered picture. An Indians head
showed plainly. That Wimar had
painted it, 1 was fully convinced the
minute l saw the head.
"'Will you sell that picture back to
me?' l asked the secondhand dealer
Sure he said.
What will you sell it for?' asked
him.
You can have it for q dime he
answered, and l gave him the 10 cents
But 1 felt so mean about it that Wher
he was going away l ran after him
and showed a dollar into his hand. He
didn't want to take it, and told me
was cheating myself.
Now it is certain that this picture
is either the third Hassett copy or the
original masterpiece. But everything
about it goes to show that it is the
original. All three Of the Hassett
copies were framed for sale. A dealer
can always tell whenever picture has
once been framed, no matter how LONG
since it was removed from the frame
1t will show certain scars that seem
inerasable. There are none such on
this picture.
Reproduced His Masterpiece
"And the accepted story that Wimar
painted two Captive Chargers, there
is not much ground to doubt. Wimar' s
lf-brother, August Becker, told me
that Wimar himself had admitted the
fact to him aid an old German col
lector named Koch told me the same
thing. Koch has the second of the
Hassett copies.
1.-The great regret is that there is no
certain way of proving that this Is the
original Captive Charger 1 would
give a thousand dollars to any one who
could authenticate the picture
The Captive Charger" represents
a band of Indians crossing a ford with
a large white horse which they have
captured from a troop of soldiers. The
picture which Selkirk discovered and
which he has spent six months endeaV-
oring to authenticate since it was re-
stored, measures 30X40 inches. 1t was
in badly damaged condition when Sell
kirk picked it out of the scrap heap.
Charles Ferdinand Wimar was born
near Bonn, Germany, February 20, 1928
When he was 16 years old he came with
his parents to the United States, and
the family settled in st. Louis. Wi
mars father conducted an inn and
garden, which he called ST. Louis Park
at what is now Fourteenth and Locust
streets.
Wimar had studied with Pomarede
for four years when Pomarede con-
ceived the idea of painting a panorama
of the Mississippi river. Pomarede
took Wimar with him, and they jour
neyed to the mouth of the Ohio river
1t was on this trip that Wimar de-
veloped his talent for painting Indian
life and Pomarede encouraged him to
pursue it, telling him that when the
indians We're a vanished race his paint
II, orc would he secure in la sting fame.