$55,000
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists
Auction: June 3, 2018 3:00:00 PM EDT
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 27 3/4 in. (73 x 70.5cm)
Executed circa 1924.
Provenance: The Artist.
The Artist's widow, Mrs. Arthur B. Carles.
Acquired directly from the above.
The Collection of Perry & June Ottenberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
EXHIBITED:
"Arthur B. Carles (1882-1952): Painting with Color," Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 23-November 27, 1983; and The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., April 28-June 17, 1984; and The National Academy of Design, New York, New York, September 11-November 4, 1984, no. 61 (traveling exhibition, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue p. 85).
"Distinguished Collector Series: Focus on the Dr. and Mrs. Perry Ottenberg Collection of the Art and Archives of Arthur B. Carles," Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 16-June 25, 2000.
"The Work of Arthur B. Carles," Demuth Museum, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, April 1-May 29, 2005.
NOTE:
In 1925, Carles filed for divorce against Mercedes de Cordoba, with whom he had only lived for short periods of time since their marriage in Paris in 1909. The divorce became final in 1926. After falling in love with one of his students, Carles married Caroline Robinson in April 1927. Robinson came from a well-to-do family from Chestnut Hill. Blond with blue eyes, she was sixteen years younger than Carles. Well educated, she shared Carles' love of music, playing the cello herself. Unfortunately, she had little to no understanding of his art and eventually suffered from his destructive artistic personality.
The present piece is the very first portrait Carles ever made of Caroline. It was probably painted when the two first met in 1924. Carles created a solid contrast between Caroline's bold pink sweater and white shirt. Set against a multicolored curtain, Caroline stands out through her wide-set blue eyes and her timid bleached smile. The black cloche on her head matches her skirt. Created as an homage to Édouard Manet's brilliant blacks, which Carles admired, the hat is truly the focus of the painting.