On Monday, June 1st, Clarke Auction will offer a fine assortment of paintings, drawings, and graphic works from important New York area collections and estates. The auction will feature an impressionist summer landscape by the distinguished American painter, William Merritt Chase.

The painting, which had been held in a private collection in Weston, CT for over 30 years, was purchased by the consignor for its pleasant palette and calming composition, with little regard for the artist who painted it. Clarke Auction was called in to appraise and sell the Weston art collection in October of 2014 and it was then that the expertly painted oil on wood panel landscape came to light. The confidently applied brushwork, the loose impressionist manner, and the lush green palette were all reminiscent of Chase’s Shinnecock, Long Island landscapes of the late 1800’s. The owner of the work, while somewhat familiar with Chase, had not considered the importance of the painting until Clarke specialists expressed their excitement and enthusiasm for the piece. The work was authenticated this month by D. Frederick Baker, given the descriptive title Green Landscape and will be added to Ronald G. Pisano's The Complete Catalogue of Known and Documented Work By William Merritt Chase (1849-1916). Baker noted that Chase used a template to create 10 1/2 inch by 16 inch wood panels that could easily be carried for painting outdoors and that the Weston collection Chase was painted on a support of this size and type. Furthermore, Baker confirmed, Green Landscape “displays all the known characteristics of small en plein air panel paintings completed by the artist in the 1880s and early 1890s when living in New York City and painting landscapes in Western Long Island.” Clarke will proudly offer the Chase landscape with a $20,000 to $30,000 estimate on the 1st of June.

Several modern works of art will also highlight the June sale including an assortment of both Asian and Latin art. Two colorful post impressionist paintings by the Japanese artist, Kimoura segue into an important abstract oil on canvas from the same period by the prominent South Korean artist, Kim Heung-sou. The work, completed in 1958, consists of large blocks of color in heavy impasto that create the illusion of female heads before a row of buildings. Clarke acquired the painting from a local Larchmont, NY estate and has estimated it to sell between $4,000 and $6,000.  An untitled contemporary Chinese painting by Liu Yaoxian of a woman with a dolphin estimated at $2,000 to $3,000 will also be among the selection of Asian pieces.

A wonderful grouping of original Jose Cuevas (Mexican, b.1934) figural ink drawings from the early 1960’s exemplify a portion of the Latin art to be featured. Another impressive Latin work on paper is a stunning charcoal drawing by the Colombian realist, Santiago Cárdenas. A man’s suit jacket, seemingly pinned to a white wall appears to jump off the page, as it is carefully rendered with subtle line and shadowing. The 1974 drawing, titled Saco Colgado De Espalda will be offered with a $4,000 to $6,000 estimate.

Leda and the Fork, a surrealist painting by the seldom traded but highly regarded American artist, Honore Desmond Sharrer is yet another modern painting of note in Clarke’s June auction. An audacious female figure stands beside twisted, oversized fork while exposing her nude body to nearby picnickers. The well painted yet bizarrely intriguing composition, originally sold by the Forum Gallery, will be estimated at $1,000 to $1,500. Other modern works include a Theo Tobiasse mixed media on paper titled Le Double Roi ($2,000/ $4,000), a bold and alluring mountain landscape in oil by American artist Harold Weston ($1,000/ $1,500), two rare pencil signed lithographs by Marc Chagall, Esther and Artist as Phoenix, both estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, as well as other graphic works by Joan Miro, Gino Severini, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, and Ellsworth Kelly.

To register to bid for Clarke’s June 1st auction please contact Clarke Auction by phone: 914-833-8336 or email: info@clarkeny.com. Internet bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com and Bidsquare.com. The auction will be held on Monday, June 1st at 4pm EST at 2372 Boston Post Road, Larchmont, NY 10538. Auction previews: Friday & Saturday, May 29th & 30th from 12pm to 6pm and Monday, June 1st (day of sale) from 12pm to 4pm (start of sale). There will be no Sunday preview.