Items Similar to "The Auction"
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Robert Spencer"The Auction"1916
1916
About the Item
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by:
Robert Spencer (1879 - 1931)
One of the rarest and most important artists among the New Hope School, Robert Spencer was born in Harvard, Nebraska. Living an itinerant lifestyle as a youth, Spencer ended up in New York by his teenage years. After graduating high school, he attended classes at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1899. From 1903 to 1905, he continued his studies at the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.
From 1906 through 1910, Spencer lived in towns in close proximity to the Delaware River, such as Frenchtown, New Jersey and Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. He spent the summer of 1909 studying with Daniel Garber at his home in Lumberville. Soon after, Spencer moved to New Hope, where for the sake of conserving money, he roomed with fellow artist Charles Ramsey. The two impoverished artists rented the dilapidated old Huffnagle Mansion for two dollars a month. It was there that Spencer’s career would begin to take shape. His studio was set up in the massive ballroom just a stone’s throw away from the Heath and Maris mills. The mansion was originally built for Richard Heath in 1707, who at the time owned the Heath Grist Mill. It was later bought by William Maris in 1802, who owned the Maris Silk Mill. These two mills provided subject matter for some of Spencer’s most important paintings and elements from them continued to appear in his paintings for year after. Spencer became famous for his scenes of mills, tenements, and factories. One of his most praised depictions of working-class life is “Repairing the Bridge”, which was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1914.
In 1913, Spencer met Margaret Fulton, an artist and architect, and niece of well-known landscape painter, Birge Harrison. At the time, Margaret was studying with William Lathrop at his Phillips Mill home where Spencer often visited. A relationship developed and they married in 1914. For a while after, the Spencers moved across the river to nearby Lambertville, where they lived above the firehouse. In 1916, they bought a home in Rabbit Run, midway between New Hope and Phillips Mill where Spencer remained until his untimely death. In 1931, Robert Spencer, suffering from bouts of depression and an unhealthy marriage, took his own life.
Spencer exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad, garnering numerous prizes, including the Hallgarten Prize, the Inness Award, and the Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
His work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the James A. Michener Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the Reading Public Museum, the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, the National Arts Club, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., among others.
Source: New Hope for American Art, James Alterman
- Creator:Robert Spencer (1879-1931, American)
- Creation Year:1916
- Dimensions:Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Frame Size 22" x 24" x 2"Price: $61,875
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Lambertville, NJ
- Reference Number:
Robert Spencer
Biography from Anderson Galleries Photo of Robert Spencer Robert Spencer was born in 1879 in Nebraska, the son of a Swedenborgian minister. After studying medicine briefly, he decided to become an artist and moved to New York City, where he enrolled at the National Academy of Design. Later he studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri at the New York School of Art. He moved to New Hope, Bucks County in 1906, and studied privately with the well-known Bucks County painter Daniel Garber. It was at the home of painter William L. Lathrop that Spencer met his future wife, Margaret Fulton, herself an accomplished architect. For the next 25 years Spencer lived and worked in Bucks County, becoming one of the most prominent members of the Pennsylvania Impressionist art colony. He suffered several nervous breakdowns in the 1920s, and in 1931 took his own life. Spencer became one of the most visible artists in the New York art world in the teens. His first success came in 1914, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased one of his major early canvases, "Repairing the Bridge". The celebrated collector Duncan Phillips then took an interest in Spencer's work, eventually purchasing eight of Spencer's canvases, currently housed in the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. The two men became friends, and Phillips appointed Spencer to the Committee on Scope and Plan of the new gallery then being created by Phillips. After Spencer's death, Phillips praised Spencer as "a rebel always against the standardized and stereotyped in art." Phillips believed that "there [was] no other painter, not John Sloan or Edward Hopper, more pungently American in expression." Spencer also has work in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Detroit Institute of the Arts. In 1915, he won a gold medal at the prestigious Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Stylistically, Spencer differed radically from most of his Pennsylvania Impressionist colleagues. Probably influenced by Henri and the Ashcan School, Spencer made his reputation with skillful, evocative renderings of the everyday life of his community, often depicting the mills, tenements, and factories of New Hope and surrounding areas. "A landscape without a building or a figure, " he said, " is a very lonely picture to me." Later Spencer painted more fanciful European scenes, many of which he did from his imagination, since he did not actually travel to Europe until 1925. Spencer's painting "Mountebanks and Thieves" won a prize at the 1926 Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh, and juror Pierre Bonnard said, "Mr. Spencer . . . is in the full vigor of his talent which is great. His art does not resemble European art, a rare fact in America."
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
Established in 1997
1stDibs seller since 2014
36 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 6 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Lambertville, NJ
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
More From This SellerView All
- "Summer Picnic"By Joseph BarrettLocated in Lambertville, NJIllustrated in "Joseph Barrett, The Prime Years 1970s - 1990s", pg. 5 #005 Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Joseph Barrett (1936 – ) Joseph Barrett wa...Category
Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- "Chisholm Trail"By Charles HargensLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Charles Hargens (1893 - 1997) Carversville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania artist and illustrator Charles was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As a young boy he loved to draw cowboys, Indians and ranch buildings. By age ten, he was “a commercial success” selling drawings of neighbors’ barns and houses for $25. When he grew older, his parents consented to enroll him at the Pennsylvania Academy (1913-20) where he studied with Daniel Garber, Hugh Breckenridge, Henry McCarter, and William Merritt Chase. At Garber’s invitation, Hargens occasionally came to visit his Lumberville studio to paint with him. A lifelong friendship resulted. In 1915, the Pennsylvania Academy awarded Hargens its Cresson Traveling Scholarship and he went to Paris to study at the Academie Julian and the Academie Colarossi. Hargens was a fellow of the Pennsylvania Academy and a member of the Society of Illustrators, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Sketch Club. He exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (1923 awards) and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1915 prize, 1917 prize, 1918 award). By the early 1920s, he began to produce illustrations for book jackets, books, magazines and advertisements. His career took off and soon his illustrations of cowboys, Indians, Western life, Revolutionary War action and boy scout themes appeared in, or adorned the covers of The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, Liberty, McCall’s, Boy’s Life and Gentlemen’s Quarterly. His work also appeared on billboards and advertisements for Stetson hats and Coca-cola. It was conditioned by Hargens that all of his original art was returned to him after being published. His entire body work remained in his studio until his death in 1997; this is largely the reason his paintings have not yet commanded the high prices of his contemporary Saturday Evening Post illustrators (i.e. Rockwell, Leyendecker and N.C. Wyeth). At first he and his wife worked from their studio in Philadelphia. In 1940, they purchased a property at the intersection of Aquetong and Sawmill roads in Carversville. They commuted to Philadelphia regularly and stayed in South Dakota every summer. Eventually, he set up a studio next to his Carversville home. After moving to Carversville, Hargens began a lifelong friendship with George Sotter. Hargens’ Carversville home was the subject of many of George Sotter’s paintings long before and during the time Hargens lived there. Hargens also studied with Henry Rand...Category
1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- "Beached"By John R. GrabachLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: John R. Grabach (1886 - 1981) John Grabach was a highly regarded New Jersey artist, teacher, and author of the classic text...Category
1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "River Party"By Joseph BarrettLocated in Lambertville, NJIllustrated in "Joseph Barrett, The Prime Years 1970s - 1990s", pg. 32, plate #036. Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Joseph Barrett (1936 – ) Joseph B...Category
Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- "Autumn Afternoon in Luxembourg Garden"By Martha WalterLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Martha Walter (1875-1976) Born in Philadelphia in 1875, Martha Walter attended Girls’ High School followed by the Pennsylva...Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- "Under the Large Striped Umbrella on a Foggy Day"By Martha WalterLocated in Lambertville, NJJim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to offer this piece by Martha Walter (1875 - 1976). Born in Philadelphia in 1875, Martha Walter attended Girls’ High School followed by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It was at the Academy that Walter’s artistic talent was discovered. An admiring instructor by the name of William Merritt Chase took young Martha under his wing, giving her both inspiration and direction. She additionally enrolled with Chase at his summer school in Shinnecock, Long Island and in 1903, was awarded the Cresson Traveling Scholarship by the Pennsylvania Academy. This sent Martha Walter on travels to France, Italy, Spain, and Holland, where she attended the Grand Chaumiere and the Academie Julian in Paris. Afterwards, she established a studio on the Rue De Bagneaux in France with several other American women artists...Category
1910s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsBoard, Oil
You May Also Like
- The Island, DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT - American Impressionist, Realism, Landscape,By Daniel Ridgway KnightLocated in London, GBOil on canvas 46 x 55 cm (18 ⅛ x 21 ⅝ inches) Signed lower left, Ridgway Knight Artist biography American artist Daniel Ridgway Knight was born in Pennsylvania and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1872 he lived and worked at Poissy on the River Seine, just to the west of Paris. Best known for his landscapes and depictions of peasant women in the fields, Knight earned distinction at the Paris Salon of 1882. He went to be was awarded the Silver Medal and Cross of the Legion d’Honneur at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, the Gold Medal of Honour from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1893 and in that same year was created a Knight of the Royal Order...Category
Late 19th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- Evening - New York - Impressionist Landscape Oil Painting by Johann BerthelsenBy Johann Berthelsen, 1883-1972Located in Marlow, BuckinghamshireStunning oil on canvas circa 1955 by American impressionist painter Johann Henrik Carl Berthelsen. The piece depicts a view of the illuminated waterfront buildings from the East Rive...Category
1950s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- American Impressionist Street Scene Oil PaintingBy John George BrownLocated in Houston, TXJohn George Brown American impressionist street scene oil painting. The painting is signed by the artist in the bottom right corner and is ...Category
Late 19th Century American Impressionist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- !9th century Impressionist landscape with a horse and cart in a VillageBy William Mark FisherLocated in Woodbury, CTOutstanding late 19th century English Impressionist landscape, with a horse and cart in a village. Described in 1893 by George Moore as "our greatest living landscape painter," Will...Category
1890s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Busy Marketplace - New OrleansBy Paul Bernard KingLocated in Milford, NHAn exceptional impressionist oil painting of a bustling marketplace in New Orleans by American artist Paul Bernard King (1867-1947). King was born in Buffalo, New York, and after becoming an established printer, went on to study at the NY Art Students League with Henry S...Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- Swimming at Lincoln WoodsBy Stephen MotykaLocated in Milford, NHA fun impressionist oil painting at a Rhode Island beach titled “Swimming at Lincoln Woods” by American contemporary artist Stephen Motyka ((b. 1964). Stephen was born in Rhode Islan...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Henri Robert
Antique Auctions
Auction Antique
Auction Oil Paintings
American Paintings Auction
Oil Paintings At Auction
Antique Art Auction
Art Antique Auction
Auction For Oil Paintings
Art Auction Landscape Painting
Antique Painting Auction
The Old Mill
Robert Hope
Robert Summers Oil
Antique Oil Painting Auction
A Spencer Painting
Robert Phillips
Spencer Collection