May Auction in New Orleans: Estates Span Time and Space

May 8th, 2016

Neal Auction Company, New Orleans, Louisiana

Photos courtesy Neal Auction Company

Estates provide the lifeblood of regional sales, and the Neal Auction Company has flourished in a region with a perpetual flow of high quality offerings. While some sources produce material of local interest, southern consignors have formed diverse collections that keep international buyers watching the sales in New Orleans. The May 6-8 sale offered over 1300 lots, which totaled $1,805,000 with buyers’ premiums.

Leading the estates lineup, the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Dudley J. Hughes of Jackson, Mississippi, provided numerous lots in the fine and decorative arts categories. Among them were several paintings in the top ten that exerted that global market attraction. One of those paintings was Farmer’s Cottage on River Bank, a huge landscape scene under a sullen sky by Rufin Gavrilovich Sudkovsky (Ukrainian, 1850-1885) that could have been a Gulf Coast view were it not for the thatched roof on the cottage. The painting brought $61,000. Of course, it drew attention from abroad, but Neal Alford, president and principal auctioneer, said, “That had four European phone bidders on it but was purchased by a doctor in Baton Rouge.”


A major consignment from the Jackson, Mississippi, estate of Mr. and Mrs. Dudley J. Hughes included furniture and decorative arts. The brooding clouds over this farmer’s cottage on the shore appear even more dramatic on the large canvas, 48¾" x 70¾". Rufin Gavrilovich Sudkovsky (Ukrainian, 1850-1885) made his home in St. Petersburg but traveled throughout Europe during his short career as an artist. A number of European bidders on phones competed for the work, but it sold for $61,000 (est. $40,000/60,000) to a Louisiana collector in Baton Rouge.

A successful offering of Chinese jade and porcelains had that same local/global twist. They came from the estate of Stephen G. Henry Jr. in Baton Rouge, but the Henry family is best known as the longtime (1884-1970) owners of Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches Parish.


A series of fine jades and blanc de chine porcelain came from the estate of Stephen G. Henry Jr. of nearby Baton Rouge. Top price in the group, $24,400, well over the $1200/1800 estimate, was paid for this small greenish-white carving of a recumbent qilin, a mythical hooved beast.


Roses and grapes surround this marble-topped rosewood round table from the Service Collection. This lot from a great source rose to $20,740, over its $6000/9000 estimate. Two even more elaborate round tables with pierced aprons had sold in Neal’s February 2015 sale.

A strong selection of 20th-century American studio and production modern furniture, which opened the Sunday session, proved once again that collectors are no longer focused solely on Victorian mahogany and rosewood. Vice president Marc Fagan said before the sale, “The lots did not belong to one collector; actually there were three consignments involved. The Echolses—husband and wife in Mobile, Alabama—bought many of the Knoll pieces in the early 1960s, and there was a collector [from New Jersey, near Pennsylvania] who had several of the Nakashima pieces. I try to plan ahead, get as many of these pieces as I can, save them for a special auction, and sell them all at once.”


Four lots by Pennsylvania studio furniture maker George Nakashima (1905-1990) were included in a run of 20th-century offerings opening the Sunday session. This cherrywood coffee table (13" x 67" x 30") had sold at Alderfer’s in 1995. It brought $12,500 (est. $6000/9000) this time around.


This Nakashima table lamp with a parchment shade and Minguren burlwood base, 32¾" tall, circa 1968, was pushed by competitive bidding to $11,875, well past its $1800/2500 estimate.

An interesting game is to elicit predictions before a sale and see if they pan out. Fagan had shared his thoughts. “That little Nakashima lamp is pretty cool; that’s going to do well.” And indeed, the burlwood lamp (32¾" tall) from that eastern consignor drove past its modest $1800/2500 estimate to reach $11,875. All but one lot in the modern run found buyers, furnishing some new cool for New Orleans lofts and townhouses. Fagan noted after the sale’s close, “In general, the Nakashima had a lot of interest, with bidders all over the country and in London. The very positive results for all the mid-century modern shows that even in the Deep South, as long as you properly identify and promote, you will have success.”


An early (1958) abstract painting by Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer (1912-1997) brought a strong $79,300 (est. $10,000/15,000). Tropism, 48" x 48", in shades of bright oranges with accents of blues and violets, reflects her contact with fellow artists Hans Hofmann and Mark Rothko during that period in her career.

Everyone—before and after the auction—praised the brilliant orange cover lot, a 1958 abstract work titled Tropism by local favorite Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer (1912-1997). Painting specialist Rachel Weathers had predicted, “An interesting lot to watch for this sale will be the Kohlmeyer cover lot. It was very early in her career and very different from her later body of work. You can see the influences of Hans Hofmann and Mark Rothko in that painting.”

In fact, that influence occurred immediately before the execution of this painting. Kohlmeyer had studied with Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1956, and Rothko was a visiting professor at Newcomb College in 1957, during which time he lived in her mother’s house. After the sale, when Alford was listing highlights, he said first, “One thing stands out—against an estimate of $10,000/15,000, the orange Kohlmeyer brought $65,000 hammer [$79,300 with premium]. Her family’s still here. Many other artists studied with her. Her work itself has a really taut and educated vocabulary.” A second, more typical Kohlmeyer from the beginning of her “Cluster” series brought $18,910 (est. $10,000/15,000). The 1974 mixed-media work on paper came from the Beverly Hills estate of poet and songwriter Rod McKuen (1933-2015).

On the classic Americana front, the so-called “Service Collection” of Grant A. Oakes began to be offered at Neal in the February 2015 winter estates auction, but the assemblage had such quality and depth that pieces offered in later auctions continue to find buyers willing to pay well for that excellence. The current sale had yet another fine Belter-attributed Rococo Revival round table, which brought $20,740 (est. $6000/9000). The collection’s other great strength was 19th-century lighting, and buyers seized the chance to acquire the lamps scattered throughout the sale. Prices realized remain strong. For example, a pair of late Regency patinated bronze sinumbra lamps with caryatid supports sold for $7320 (est. $1200/2000).

Neal Alford has a July summer sale but is already looking forward to the major fall auctions of September and November. “September has a lot of good anchors including a rare painting by Everett Julio. We’ve already started some advertising. We also have a very good Louisiana Creole armoire coming up. New Orleans has an antiquities reputation, as a place to buy really good things—and at the same time there are great restaurants.” Who could ask for anything more?

For additional information on past and future sales, go to (www.nealauction.com).


Two desirable Blue Dog paintings by George Rodrigue (1944-2013) were offered in the May sale. One Times Ten,  a 2000 version with the pup placed against a vivid yellow background and encircled by bright pink flowers, 24" x 20", fetched $43,750, and I Got a Hot Tree for You, 1997, (not shown) came in at $26,840.


Although he was born in New Jersey and established his studio in St. Louis, Joseph Rusling Meeker (1827-1887) was fascinated by the river and bayou views he saw in Louisiana during his service on a Union gunboat during the Civil War. This 1885 painting, Bayou Peyo, sold for $32,940 (est. $18,000/25,000).


Originally published in the July 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest

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