20th C. Augustus Dunbier Oil Landscapes
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GUEST:
These belonged to my great-aunt and -uncle who were pioneer family founders in Northern Arizona, in Flagstaff. My great-aunt came from Omaha, Nebraska, as did the artist. I don't know if there's any other connection than that, but my family had a sheep ranch in Flagstaff, and he could very well have gone out with the sheep ranch and gone up on the reservation and painted the pictures.
APPRAISER:
Well, the artist, Augustus Dunbier...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...who signed each of these paintings in the lower left, does have connections, as you said, both to Omaha and the West. When he studied at the Chicago Art Institute, he met a fellow artist and teacher, Walter Ufer, who was one of the Taos School artists.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And Ufer invited Dunbier to come out to New Mexico in 1920. So he started spending time every year in the West. Even though he traveled a great deal, he would always go back to his studio in Omaha, where he painted for 62 years.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Taught many classes, and he had much good advice for his students.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
One piece of advice that I particularly liked was, "Don't paint what you see." He felt that the artist should manipulate the color to create a certain mood. He often would make his own frames, and these are each in a lovely hand-carved frame.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Whether Dunbier actually made these, I'm not sure.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But it's something that could maybe be ascertained with more research.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So here we have a scene of a horse in what looks to be a very hot day in the landscape. And here are some Indians also taking some respite from the sun. If these were to sell in a retail situation...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...this one might be around $5,000 to $7,000, and this might be around $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
Wow! (crying) Amazing.
APPRAISER:
So I'm really glad to see some paintings today with some Arizona connection.
GUEST:
Yeah!
APPRAISER:
Thanks so much for bringing them in.
GUEST:
You're welcome-- thank you. (stifling cry) (voice trembling) I told you I was going to cry. (laughs)
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