George Caleb Bingham

LOT 50 GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM 1811 - 1879 MRS. GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM AND SON, NEWTON 8,000—12,000 USD measurements measurements 35 by 28 1/2 in. alternate measurements 88.9 by 72.4 cm. Description oil on canvas, unframed PROVENANCE Mrs. Thomas Benton King (Clara Bingham), daughter of the artistand her husband, Stephenville, TexasMrs. William Perrin Bowdry (Clara King), granddaughter of theartist, Dallas, TexasMr. Robert G. Whittington, Jr., great-great grandson of the artist,Dallas, TexasPrivate Collection EXHIBITED Washington, DC, National Collection of Fine Arts, SmithsonianInstitution, 1967-68The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968Los Angeles, The Art Galleries, UCLA, 1968 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Helen Fern Rusk, George Caleb Bingham: The Missouri Artist,Jefferson City, Missouri, 1917, p. 20John Francis McDermott, George Caleb Bingham, River Portraitist,Norman, Oklahoma, 1959, p. 426, no. 69Maurice E. Bloch, George Caleb Bingham: The Evolution of an Artistand A Catalogue Raisonne: Two Volumes, Berkeley, 1967, pp. 62, 64,336, illustrated p. 38Maurice E. Bloch, The Drawings of George Caleb Bingham with aCatalogue Raisonne, Columbia, Missouri, 1975, p. 37 (A97)Maurice E. Bloch, The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: ACatalogue Raisonne, Columbia, Missouri, 1986, pp. 161-162,illustrated, pl. 121 CATALOGUE NOTE Mostly self-taught, Bingham made his living painting portraitsof prominent citizens in the various parts of the country hevisited, from Missouri and Mississippi to Philadelphia, New Yorkand Washington, DC. The present portrait of his wife and son waspainted in the latter city. Newton was the eldest son of the artistand his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Hutchinison, whom he married in 1836.He was born in 1837 and died at the age of four. It is believedthat the present portrait was painted to serve as a memorial to thechild, possibly at the request of the mother.

LANDSCAPE: RURAL SCENERY MEASUREMENTS measurements 29 by 36 in. alternate measurements (73.7 by 91.4 cm) DESCRIPTION signed G.C. Bingham oil on canvas Painted in 1845. PROVENANCE The American Art-Union, 1845 (acquired from the artist) James Thompson, New York, 1845 (prize from the above) Private Collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Craig Libhart, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1974 Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, 1976 Acquired from the above, 1976 EXHIBITED New York, The American Art-Union, 1845, no. 102 St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis Art Museum; Washington, D.C., TheNational Gallery of Art, George Caleb Bingham ,February-September 1990, pp. 97, 99, 100, 146, illustrated in colorp. 99, pl. 22 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Fern Helen Rusk, George Caleb Bingham: Missouri Artist ,Columbia, Missouri, 1917, pp. 23, 125 John Francis McDermott, George Caleb Bingham: RiverPortraitist , Norman, Oklahoma, 1959, p. 413, no. 27 E. Maurice Bloch, George Caleb Bingham: A CatalogueRaisonné , Berkeley, California, 1967, pp. 48, 234 E. Maurice Bloch, The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: ACatalogue Raisonné , Columbia, Missouri, 1986, no. 163, p. 173,illustrated p. 65 Michael Edward Shapiro, George Caleb Bingham , New York,1993, pp. 42, 45, 51, illustrated in color p. 42 CATALOGUE NOTE In 1845, following a trip east to establish his reputation as anartist, George Caleb Bingham submitted two landscapes and two genresubjects to the American Art-Union. An increasingly popularinstitution, the American Art-Union drew large crowds to itsexhibitions and awarded works from the exhibitions to members ofthe union by way of lottery. Inclusion in an Art-Union exhibitionwas an easy way to catch the eye of discerning taste makers andBingham, after increasing notoriety in Missouri, sought to earnrecognition in the bigger metropolis of New York. Bingham exhibited Fur Traders Descending the Missouri , The Concealed Enemy , Cottage Scenery and the presentwork, Landscape: Rural Scenery . Elizabeth Johns suggeststhat with his selection of two landscapes, "Bingham makes a claimfor his skills in the higher arena of landscape ...The landscapes... embodied Bingham's ambitions to exalt the view above theeveryday into the dignified realm of the aesthetic" ( GeorgeCaleb Bingham , 1990, p. 97). Bingham, like many American landscape artists, shaped histechnique based on the principles of the English landscape school,and most notably the work of Claude Lorrain, whose examples Binghamwould have seen through engravings. Of the two landscapes Binghamsubmitted to the American Art-Union, the present work and Cottage Scenery , the latter is more British in itsinterpretation of the landscape. Elizabeth Johns continues, "Theother painting, Landscape: Rural Scenery is a pendant [to Cottage Scenery ]. The flora may be American or English—willows and oaks are found in abundance along rivers in bothsettings. But the young woman washing her clothes at the riverbank,with the humble accessories of the handmade bench and buckets,suggests beginnings, perhaps the beginnings of a settlement inMissouri. And while a Morland scene was clearly Bingham's teacherin Cottage Scenery , a painting by the American landscapistDurand was his guide for the second work. The magnificent oak treethat dominates the center of Bingham's image echoes the centralmotif in Durand's The Solitary Oak , one of the most popularlandscapes at the National Academy exhibition the previous yearwhen Bingham was in New York himself. The delicately narrativeaspect of Bingham's two landscapes, and their sources, provide twonuances of meaning: Cottage Scenery conveys the Englishantecedents of the Missouri settler, and Landscape: RuralScenery shows the settler in the vast American countryside. Thefirst painting points to pictorial sources, while the second honorsthe achievements of the new school of American landscapists"( George Caleb Bingham , 1990, p. 100).

*george caleb bingham (1811-1879) eliza thomas bingham oil on canvas 35 1/2 by 27 1/2 in. (90.2 by 69.8 cm.) painted circa 1849-1850, probably in columbia, missouri. this painting will be included in dr. e. maurice bloch's forthcoming revised catalogue raisonne of the artist's work. provenance: family of eliza thomas bingham mrs. james m. piper (mary thomas, the sitter's sister), kansas city, missouri elijah and elizabeth thomas hutchinson, independence, missouri mrs. arthur palmer (sallie gray, the sitter's grandniece), independence, missouri mr. a.j. stephens, kansas city, missouri sale: sotheby's, new york, may 30, 1985, lot 6, illustrated in color acquired by the present owner at the above sale exhibited: kansas city, missouri, the william rockhill nelson gallery, 1953, no. 139 literature: fern helen rusk, george caleb bingham: the missouri artist, jefferson city, missouri, 1917, pp. 73-74, 124 john francis mcdermott, george caleb bingham: river portraitist, norman, oklahoma, 1959, no. 145, p. 429 e. maurice bloch, george caleb bingham: a catalogue raisonne, berkeley, california, 1967, no. 183, p. 72 e. maurice bloch, george caleb bingham: the evolution of the artist, berkeley, california, 1967, pp. 136, 189 michael edward shapiro, george caleb bingham, new york, 1993, p. 107

GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM Two Seated Figures. Pencil on cream wove paper, 1845. 190x155 mm; 7 1/2x6 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower left recto. Partial figure study in pencil, verso. Estimate $1,000-1,500

Large engraved print, 625x805 mm sight size; mounted to thick cardboard by publisher and affixed to the original mat, mat partially mildewed; in the original wooden frame. New York, 1854