Oil Painting By Brauer

Decoys And Sporting Art Fly High At Copley Fine Art Auctions' Sale

Crowell carved the bird during his transition from carving working decoys to creating decorative ones. Catalog notes suggest that the bird was carved for one of his patrons, Dr John C. Phillips Jr or Dr John H. Cunningham Jr. It came from a collector who acquired the bird no later than the 1950s. Speaking after the sale, Stephen B. O'Brien, principal of Copley Fine Art, called the curlew "arguably the best of the best." He cited two other birds as "the best of the best" in their categories also: Crowell's miniature Jack (or Hudsonian) curlew that achieved another world record when it sold for $12,650. The bird was one of the carver's earliest examples and its pigment and pattern were nearly identical to the running curlew. The other was a miniature ruddy turnstone, circa 1910, that went for $11,500.

The Jack was among the collection of 50 miniature bird carvings gathered by Boston lawyer William V. Tripp III, a collector of sporting art whose interest in miniature birds developed after visiting O'Brien's gallery when it was on Beacon Hill. The bird went to a phone bidder who took several choice lots from the Tripp collection. The miniatures brought prices within and well above estimates, reflective of the growing strength of that market.

The vibrantly painted miniature ruddy turnstone was described in the catalog as "amongst the finest shorebird miniatures Crowell ever created."

A Crowell miniature Eskimo curlew, circa 1910, sold for $7,763, while a miniature preening golden-eye drake brought $9,200 from a buyer in the room; a miniature green-winged teal drake by Joseph W. Lincoln of Accord, Mass., circa 1910, realized $7,475. Lincoln's miniature American merganser drake, also circa 1910, brought $5,750 from another phone bidder.

A rare Joseph W. Lincoln miniature loon with more than 150 checker pattern feathers was graphically compelling and drew $7,188 from a buyer in the room. A miniature loon with more than 160 checkered feathers by George Boyd of Seabrook, N.H., sold for $6,900. A miniature swan by Boyd from Tripp's collection fetched $5,463 on the phone.

Bill Brauer Print | Bill Brauer Paintings 50% Off - Handmade Oil ...

Bill Brauer modern, provocative work dramatically crackles with sensual tension and the mystery of a sizzling underlying narrative. New York, Brauer began as an illustrator and engraver, the transition in the oil painting that his deeds may be rendered in unlimited sizes and colors. Very evocative and whimsical, works of art Brauer use one light source, deep colors, intense and strong, alluring poses that accentuate the curves of fabric and the female form. Often basing his themes in dance, beauty and mythology, Brauer chooses not to use models so that his figures retain an edgy appearance.

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