Evening star., 1944-07-30
Notes
Art Season Breaks
Records as Sales
Top $6,0OO,0OO
Bv Leila Mechlin

With taxation and war costs what
they are the report of art sales for
the season of 1884, recently issued
by the Parke- -BerneG Galleries, New
York, foremost art auction house in
this country, is to say the least as
founding. According to Mr.. Hiram
M. Parke, president of these CALLER
les. these sales, covering only art
and books of rare quality, brought
in $6,156,632.5O, an unprecedented
total for any single season. Excep-
tional features in connection with
these sales, he pointed out, were
the unusual number of estates liqui-
dated by auction and the number
of museums that disposed, in this
manner, of works in their collec-
tions.
The reasons given for this aston
ishing increase in art buying are,
Cd, scarcity of things coming from
Europe now and in all probability
for some time; (2), desire on the
part of the people to put their money
in tangible property of international
worth, and (3), the current belief
that much valuable property OF this
sort has already been lost through
war damage and theft. But from
whence does all this money come?
One of the most important sales OF
the season under discussion was that
of the stock of Oriental art and
books of the Yamanaka Co., sold
in five sales of 20 sessions by order
of the alien property custodian, act
ing in the name of our Government,
this being a japanese firm. The
total amount received was $685.
1880 Books and etchings included
in the j. P. Morgan estate brought
$400,540 and single session sale
the John R. Thompson collection
yielded a return of $262.780.
OF Lasting Value
1t was in this last collection that
the painting bringing the highest
price for the season was included.
This was The Merry Lutte Play
er," by Frans Halls, which brought
S127.0O0. a sensational sum. A paint
Ing by the same artist, Portrait OF
the Reverend Caspar Sibelius, "
brought top price the previous sea-
son-but that figure was 10000
much lower in scale. However this
might suggest to other investors
that really good painting, backed
by the approval of several genera
tions of connoisseurs, generally
stays good despite the passing OF
years.
Among other prices obtained for
paintings during the course of the
seasons sales were the following:
La Grande Metairie," by Corot,
$4,000; La Petit Lange," by Manet,
sl8.500: Portrait of Madame Ce-
zanne," by Cezanne, $4,000; "Cito-
yenne Crouzet," by David, $4,000,
end for still life. Mature Morte,
Glaieuls," by Van Gogh. $ll 900. A
tiny canvas, Femme la Om-
brelle," only 10 by 7la inches in
dimensions, by Renoir, brought $10,-
200.
Other Works of Art
To be sure it was not merely
paintings which brought high prices,
but likeswise objects of art-furni-
ture, textiles, jewelry, etc. A ruby
and diamond necklace, for instance,
brought only $1,000 less than the
painting by Corot, and for a set OF
four mahogany philadelphia Chip
pendale" chairs $5 200 was paid. The
list gives indication of broad and
diversified taste on the part of the
purchasers.
There were, however, 16 sales de-
voted to paintings almost exclusively
end from these total of 81 1886 PAT
was realized. Remark was made of
the growing demand for paintings
by those of the modern French
school, brought to prominence by
the Frank CroWninshield sale in the
late autumn or early winter, and
that of works belonging to the Mu-
scum of Modern Arts and members
of its Board Of Trustees-the latter
personal items But glancing over
the list of best Sellers" the names
of Daumier and Forain are seen to
more than hold their own in the
estimate of the buyers against those
of Segonzac, Pissarro and others
more extreme.
The sale of paintings from the
supposedly permanent collections of
American art museums has caused
much discussion among artists and
donors during the past season. The
Albright Gallery, Buffalo, was one
of the first to take this aggressive
step, shortly followed by an art
institution in the Middle West which
preferred to remain anonymous and
later still by the Museum of Modern
Art. New York. The purpose, 1t is
claimed, was to increase standard,
to better choice none too wise, per-
haps, and keep abreast of the times.
But delicate situation is thus Gre
ated. To sell the works Of a living
artist cannot fail to be detrimental
to reputation-to sell at all is at
the same time acknowledgement of
loss in value, error in choice. Fur
thermore, because of the honor Of
representation in an outstanding art
institution, artists are in the habit
of making concessions in price-but
certainly to have such representa-
ton withdrawn more than cancels
such favor of obligation.
Keeping Cellars Empty
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
was perhaps the first to inaugurate
this custom, which now threatens
to become habitual. The method
employed was quite different. The
works disposed of were not by living
artists, and before any work was Of
fered for sale the donors or their
heirs were communicated with and
willingness expressed to return the
gift if so desired. Overfull museum
cellars must in time be cleared
but better still would it be to keep
them as empty as possible. To be
sure, the overplus of a collection
can be offered to smaller institu-
tions on loan-but these smaller in
stitutions are continually on the
slert-they want the best not the
second rate. The invariable reply
10 such offers is, did it come off