1934 Arthur G. Dove "Train" Watercolor
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GUEST:
Well, we bought it in New York in 1976. This sort of stood out for me because of the simplicity, and I knew that the artist was getting into abstract things. And it was very inexpensive relative to the other paintings in the exhibit.
APPRAISER:
What did you pay for it?
GUEST:
$1,650.
APPRAISER:
It's Arthur G. Dove, and we think of him as someone who was one of the great pioneers of American abstraction, but here, of course, this is a figural work. It's a train. But one of the most interesting things about it is its extraordinary provenance. Now, as you see here we have Alfred Stieglitz, one of the great American gallerists of the 20th century, who discovered many American modernists. He embraced Arthur Dove; he was one of his core artists. But it was also at the Downtown Gallery, another really important American gallery. Later by Terry Dintenfass and A.C.A. Galleries. These are all major American galleries that essentially write the history of American modernism. So this is a work that was taken seriously by the most important connoisseurs of American art of the 20th century. It's interesting, it's rather late for him, it's 1934, he died in 1946. And he was working in a modernist mode from about 1910 on. It's not one of the abstractions, but it is a charming, utterly charming work by Arthur G. Dove. In the present markets, we'd expect it to sell for about $40,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Good.
APPRAISER:
I thought you'd like to hear that.
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