CRN Auctions, Inc., Cambridge, MA

   Three very special lots, all fresh on the market, will be offered in the upcoming September 13th sale which demonstrate the diversity of period and country of origin for which CRN Auctions is known. The auction is comprised of an extensive variety of American, English, Continental and Asian works of art, furniture and decorative accessories, silver, estate carpets, and Chinese Export porcelains spanning the late 17th through mid 20th centuries.

   First item of the sale, one of eighty lots of art, is a diptych of contemporary paintings by American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988). Created in 1975 while living in Italy, the paintings are Thek’s interpretation of a 19th c. oil titled “The Wanderer above the Mist and Fog” by German artist C.D. Freidrich (1774-1840). Mixed media on newspaper, each measures 22 by 33 inches, and remains in the artist’s original frames when exhibited at the 1980 Venice Biennale. After the exhibit, Thek and his works traveled back to the United States. The Hague Art Delivery shipping label still remains, as well as Venice Biennale labels, and two gallery labels. The diptych was first shown in New York City at the Iolas Gallery, and then at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery, where in 1983 it was purchased by the present owners. Thek, a painter, a sculptor, and an innovative installation artist was active in the 1960’s New York City art scene, but then suffered relative anonymity until his death from AIDS in 1988. In October of 2010 the Whitney Museum of American Art presented the exhibit ‘Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective’. As a result, Thek has once again come to the attention of the contemporary art world. Among the numerous and international museums his work may be found are the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

   On the opposite end of the art spectrum is a realistically painted still-life of peonies by American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849 -1921). Thayer, born in Boston, grew up in rural Dublin, New Hampshire. Schooled in Boston from age 15 to eighteen, he then moved to New York to study painting at the Brooklyn Art School and the National Academy of Design. In 1875 he moved to Paris with his wife, a fellow artist, Kate Bloede, where he studied four years at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Tragedy struck the family in the 1880’s when two of their five children died unexpectedly resulting in instability in the family’s life, and the frequent relocation of their home. Kate slipped into an extreme state of ‘melancholia’ and was confined to an asylum. She died in 1891. Thayer spent the last years of his life with his second wife in Dublin, New Hampshire. As a painter of landscapes, figures, animals, and portraits (Mark Twain and Henry James being two of his sitters), his still-lifes are quite uncommon.

   In 1993, CRN Auctions conducted one its most successful on-site auctions at the historic Brown’s Pond Farm in Petersham, MA, where the accumulation of six generations of the Willson Family antiques were sold. Luther Willson (1783-1864), the son of Sarah Mathews and Joseph Willson of Braintree, Ma, was Petersham’s Unitarian minister. Family descendants have lived on the property until this time, when the last member living there is moving to smaller quarters. CRN is very pleased to be selling the Aaron Willard, Jr. mahogany cased tall clock. It is all original, including its original feet, imaking it very tall. One can see why so many tall clocks have been shortened to fit into a room.

   For information and to view the online catalogue, go to: www.crnauctions.com. The sale will commence at 11 a.m. at the CRN Gallery located in Cambridge, MA.