$5,000
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000
American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists
Auction: December 6, 2015 2:00:00 PM EDT
Signed 'A.E. Rice' bottom right; also inscribed with artist and title on stretcher verso, oil on canvas
18 1/8 x 21 3/8 in. (40 x 54.3cm)
Provenance: Private Collection, New Jersey.
NOTE:
Anne Estelle Rice was attracted to and painted performances of various types, including the ballet. The present painting's title, "Ballabile", refers to a dance in which the full ballet company participates. In a letter to Scottish modernist J.D. Fergusson dated June 6, 1950, Rice mentions that a painting of hers, "Giselle", had been included in the 1950 Wildenstein exhibition "Scènes de Ballet." She alludes in the letter, as well, to another ballet picture of hers titled "Ballabile"; the present painting is likely the one mentioned. The painting's style and subject matter are typical of Rice's work, and it depicts her ongoing interest in the mounting of the production. Beginning in the later 1910s and '20s, the artist created studies of costumes and sets in hopes of attracting commissions for theatrical designs, of which she received two in the 1930s. Additionally, the stripes that decorate the canopy recall the striped beach tents that were one of Rice's favorite motifs. These striped tents appear in work from her early years abroad and continue to the end of her career. This painting was most likely executed ca. 1940s, based stylistically on the combination of abruptly angular shapes, broad-brushed, almost dashed-off paint application, and a repetition of browns, a color also picked up in the signature at the lower right. The vivid, contrasting hues that appear elsewhere in the painting reflect the artist's feeling for color, a hallmark of her style in general.
We would like to thank Dr. Carol Nathanson, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Wright State University, for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.