1926 Eugenie Shonnard Carved Wood Sculpture
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APPRAISER:
So, you brought in this wonderful sculpture by the American artist Eugenie Shonnard. How did you get it?
GUEST:
It was given to me by my father, who grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And, as far as I know, it was purchased by my grandmother and my grandfather. He was a petroleum geologist. And we have some pictures of the living room in their Tulsa house circa the middle '30s, and, and in the picture, I can see this off to one side, on a pedestal.
APPRAISER:
The artist is a really wonderful artist. She's part of a group of women artists working in the early part of the 20th century. This piece is dated 1926. And she studied at the Art Students League in New York under a very prominent sculptor named James Earle Fraser.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
He had a famous sculpture called "The End of the Trail" that a lot of people might recognize.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
She also studied in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And she studied with Auguste Rodin.
GUEST:
Oh, wow!
APPRAISER:
And she exhibited at the very famous Paris Salon of 1912, 1913, and from the early '20s. So, she exhibited quite a bit. She even exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1933.
GUEST:
Oh, wow!
APPRAISER:
And her work was exhibited at the World's Fair in New York City in 1939. Great track record for an artist at that time.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
In about 1926, she went out to Santa Fe.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And she was very active in Santa Fe.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And she became friendly with the sister of a potter named Maria Martinez, who's the most famous of the San Ildefonso potters. This woman, in the way she was dressed in this pot, indicates that she was from the Santo Domingo Pueblo.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Which is outside of Santa Fe.
GUEST:
And I recollect my grandmother talking on more than one occasion, visiting Santa Fe.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So, this, this may be where, in fact, they, they acquired it.
APPRAISER:
So, it's carved out of walnut, and it's primarily looked at from the front. But it is three-dimensional and has pretty dramatic drapery on the back. And then, this side here is signed "Eugenie Shonnard, 1926." The work is really wonderful. I read that there was a sculpture of an Indian with a basket on her head, that it was exhibited in 1938 at the Architectural League in New York City. So this might be it.
GUEST:
Oh, that would be wonderful to find out.
APPRAISER:
Her work is, is in museums-- Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pompidou Centre, and Brookgreen Gardens. And what's wonderful about this is, most of her sculpture's done in bronze, and this is carved wood.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
She was a member of the National Sculpture Society. I mean, really very prominent. And the thing about sculpture is that it's not as collectible as paintings.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
If there was a painter who had this kind of background biography, the works would be extraordinarily valuable. I think the value of this would probably be, in retail value, probably in the $5,000 to $8,000 range.
GUEST:
Okay. Nice-- very good.
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