Leland Little Auctions

Wolf Kahn was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1940. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, he used the GI Bill to study with the renowned Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hoffman. After completing formal studies at the University of Chicago in 1951, Kahn devoted himself to painting full time. Wolf Kahn's unique blend of Realism and Color Field paintings garnered much critical acclaim. His paintings are in such prominent public collections as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and more. Very good estate condition - not examined out of the frame.

First half of the 20th century, one-part form, depicting the recumbent nude figure of Ariadne with classical drapery, resting on a prowling tiger, raised on a rectangular plinth base, in old but later white paint. 36 x 48 x 15 in. Separation crack and splitting at tail, tiger's right front leg, left rear paw and at figure's right wrist, upper arm; general rusting and pitting throughout.

The daughter of the Caswell County sheriff, Maud Gatewood was born and raised in the rural town of Yanceyville, NC. She began her art studies at the age of 10 at Averett College in Danville, VA. In 1954 she graduated from North Carolina Woman's College (now UNC-G) with a B.F.A., studying under Gregory Ivy. The next year she earned her M.A. in Painting from Ohio State. And in 1963 she was awarded a Fulbright grant to study under Oskar Kokoschka in Austria. She returned to North Carolina in 1964, where she was founding head of the Art Department at UNC-Charlotte. She was a faculty member of UNC-Charlotte until 1973. In 1975, she returned to Caswell County and became a professor of art at Averett College, a position she held until her retirement in 1997. Over the course of her life-long career as an art educator, she reached students far beyond NC and VA. Gatewood exhibited widely throughout the Southeast and her work is now one of the most collected and sought after of NC artists. She is represented in numerous public and private collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Nasher Art Museum at Duke University, Durham, NC; and Coca-Cola, Atlanta, GA.

Mersad Berber is among the greatest Bosnian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. He completed graduate and post-graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljublijana. Exhibiting frequently over the course of his studies, her garnered critical acclaim and professional recognition for his etchings. In 1968, Berber accepting a faculty position at the School of Applied Arts in Sarajevo, and in 1973, began teaching at the newly founded Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. Berber's artistic inspirations ranged from the Italian Renaissance masters to the visionaries of the Art Nouveau. That said, his work is singularly recognizable as his own. His subject matter includes beautiful fantasy scenes based on Bosnian myths and the Ottoman past, to the tragic and violent contemporary history leading up to the breakup of Yugoslavia. The present painting is among the largest and finest of Berber's works to come to auction in years. The title references Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922), a Croatian painter who studied in Paris and achieved much success at the 19th century Salons. Bukovac returned to Zagreb, Croatia in the late 1890s. He was patronized by the Serbian courts and commissioned to create numerous works celebrating Croatian culture in public monuments. In 1903, he moved to Prague and accepted a teaching position at the Academy of Fine Arts. Good estate condition, not examined out of the frame.

George Hetzel was born in France, but immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of two. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and apprenticed with a local sign and house painter. His talents earned him work painting interior murals for riverboat public rooms, local taverns and church frescoes. In 1847, Hetzel traveled to Germany to formally study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Upon his return to Pennsylvania in 1849, he earned a living as a portrait painter, but landscapes were his passion. Drawing upon the tradition of the French Barbizon school, Hetzel founded the Scalp Level School of artists. Hetzel exhibited widely during his lifetime, showing works at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876, National Academy in New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and the Carnegie Institute's first International exhibition in 1896. Some wear to edges of canvas from framing; minor craquelure; no evidence of retouch visible under UV light.

Very good condition and a beautiful, vibrant impression of this monumental print by Miró. Few small and faint scattered foxing marks; very minor corner bend lower left; not examined out of frame.

Exhibited: The Attic Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1966 Mint Museum of Art, BBB Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1967 Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Howell received his early artistic training from an eccentric British transplant, Elisabeth Chant. He went on to seek further training during his travels to artist colonies in the Northeast, New York, and Paris. Through these travels, Howell learned to paint what he knew and loved - life along the Cape Fear. Light toning to sheet; minor foxing visible; not examined out of the frame.

John Stobart is considered the greatest contemporary maritime artist. Born in Derby, England, he now lives in St. Augustine, Florida. His passion for detailed depictions of grand sailing ships and vessels was inspired by a voyage by sea from England to South Africa in the early 1950s. This painting is among Stobart's earlier works. Minor scattered retouch to sky; minor rubbing and chipping to frame.

Chen Yanning was born in Guangzhou, China and studied at the Guangdong Academy of Fine Art. After graduating in 1965, he remained in Guangdong Province as a painter for the academy until 1986. During this time, Yanning completed the large scale history painting Chairman Mao Inspects the Guangdong Countryside. This painting was reproduced extensively as posters and became one of the most recognizable propaganda images of the Cultural Revolution. Chen Yanning traveled to the United States in 1987 at the invitation of contemporary Chinese art collectors MeiLi and Robert Hefner III. The following year he graduated from Oklahoma State University and remained on campus as an instructor at the university's Art Department. In 1991, Yanning was awarded the national prize in a portraiture competition with the Federation of British Artists in England. His commissions include many prominent sitters, including Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Edinburgh, Richard Branson, Jane Asher and more. His paintings have been exhibited and acquired by numerous prominent museums and galleries, including the Chinese National Gallery, Asia Society of New York, National Galleries Scotland, and the Long Museum in Shanghai. Lily Ai-Shiu Hwa Chow was born in Shanghai, China on July 1, 1925 into a family of talented artists in the restoration and appraisal of antique paintings and calligraphy. With the support of her family, she studied nursing and graduated in 1945 from the Lester Nursing School in Shanghai. While working as a nurse, she met Philip Lia-Pin Chow, a pilot and her future husband. Following the Communist Government takeover, she and her family fled China and settled in Taiwan. After ten years in Taiwan and six years in Thailand, Lily and her family immigrated to Falls Church, Virginia. By 1974, they were living in Raleigh, North Carolina and owned several successful restaurants. Lily Chow was a woman of great talents, spirit and taste. Her passions, outside of family and friends, included the Peking Opera and jewelry collecting. She was a tireless advocate for promoting China's outstanding national culture and art. It is only fitting that she chose Chen Yanning, one of the preeminent contemporary Chinese artists to paint her portrait. Some horizontal cracks to dark pigment of hair and shoulders of sitter; minor craquelure in lower right corner of canvas; some accretions to verso of canvas.

1903, rich green and brown patinated cast bronze, designed by Ernest Thompson Seton (American, 1860-1946) and sculpted by James Lippitt Clark (American, 1883-1969), cast for the Rowfant Club of Cleveland, Ohio, depicting a groundhog holding a candlestick, stately seated on open book, the book pages perimeter with incised signature and inscription "Ernest Thompson Seton [paw print] / J L Clark Modeller / Rowfant Club Cleveland 1903." Underside with foundry stamp "Tiffany Studios/ New York" with impressed stamp "OF / ONE HUNDRED / COPIES MADE THIS IS / NO-58." 8 5/8 x 5 1/8 x 4 1/4 in. Per consignor, originally belonged to Suzanne Jones' father-in-law, member of Rowfant Club. The commission for a custom candlestick for the Rowfant club came about during the ten year anniversary of the Cleveland based bibliophilic club. Club member, Munson Aldrich Havens, wrote a commission request to the wildlife artist and author, Ernest Thompson Seton, that the design be drawn by Seton and should contain three elements: the book, the candle, and the groundhog. After several revisions by the wildlife artist and author, the final design was eventually modeled by the artist and explorer James Lippitt Clark, and was produced as an edition of 100 by Tiffany Studios. Good estate condition; some minor areas of rubbing to patina.

California artist Loran Speck is best known for his luminescent trompe l'oeil still life paintings. While his work is reminiscent of Baroque-era Dutch and Spanish still lifes, he shows himself to be a modern master of this genre through his compositions infused with warmth and lifelike, glowing details that delight the viewer. Speck's work has been featured in U.S. Art, American Artist, Art of the West and Southwest Art. Excellent condition.

California artist Loran Speck is best known for his luminescent trompe l'oeil still life paintings. While his work is reminiscent of Baroque-era Dutch and Spanish still lifes, he shows himself to be a modern master of this genre through his compositions infused with warmth and lifelike, glowing details that delight the viewer. Speck's work has been featured in U.S. Art, American Artist, Art of the West and Southwest Art. Excellent condition. Excellent condition.

George Hetzel was born in France, but immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of two. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and apprenticed with a local sign and house painter. His talents earned him work painting interior murals for riverboat public rooms, local taverns and church frescoes. In 1847, Hetzel traveled to Germany to formally study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Upon his return to Pennsylvania in 1849, he earned a living as a portrait painter, but landscapes were his passion. Drawing upon the tradition of the French Barbizon school, Hetzel founded the Scalp Level School of artists. Hetzel exhibited widely during his lifetime, showing works at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876, National Academy in New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and the Carnegie Institute's first International exhibition in 1896. Stable craquelure; area of re-touch to rocks at center left of path visible under UV light.

Accompanied by a photocopy of a letter from the artist to the Butlers, dated February 24, 1970 Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Howell received his early artistic training from an eccentric British transplant, Elisabeth Chant. He went on to seek further training during his travels to artist colonies in the Northeast, New York, and Paris. Through these travels, Howell learned to paint what he knew and loved - life along the Cape Fear. Foxing and soft cockling to sheet; not examined out of the frame.

This important photograph is tied directly to Steichen's estate through an extraordinary provenance. In 1973, Neil Patterson - father of consignor, Grear Patterson - purchased Steichen's famous "Umpawaug House" in Redding, Connecticut. Elisabeth King, who looked after Steichen during the final years of his life, gifted this photograph to Neil in 1975. In 1988 after nine years of marriage, Neil and Ippy Patterson had their son Grear in Umpawaug House, and he was their first and only child together. Grear's parents gave him the photograph on his twenty-first birthday. The poem and inscription affixed to the framing is from Kate Steichen, who was Edward Steichen's daughter, and it is dedicated to Grear. It originally accompanied a baby gift from Kate to Grear when he was born in 1988, and it now accompanies this photograph. The note reads "Grear:" [poem] "Welcome to the Family of Man! 2/4/88 / Kate Steichen."

Dave grew up in Cody, Wyoming and is known for realistic bronze Native American sculpture. In the 1970's McGary earned a grant to study bronze making with western sculptor Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011) in Italy, with emphasis on casting techniques and Renaissance marble carving. After gaining further foundry experience working in New Mexico for several years, Dave became highly interested in Native American culture through his friendship with Sioux Indian families in South Dakota. Dave has won numerous awards for his works, including the Honorary Lifetime Alumni Award from Eastern New Mexico University. He has completed several large scale public bronze monuments. In 1995, Dave's monumental 225 foot long bronze equine sculpture, "Free Spirits at Noisy Water," was installed at Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico. The sculpture offered in this lot, "Touch the Clouds," is a monument study for the 30 foot high, 15-foot wide monument weighing over ten tons at the Houston Astrodome. Installed on February 22, 1998, “Touch The Clouds,” depicts a nineteenth century Miniconjou Chief who fought alongside Crazy Horse at the Battle of Little Big Horn. The 20,300-pound monument sculpture was purchased by the city of Edmond, Oklahoma from the Houston Livestock Rodeo Association in 2014. Good estate condition.

Screenprint in colors on Patapar printing parchment, 1977, pencil signed and dated at lower right (see note below), printed by Simca Prints, Tokyo and New York, published by Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York, edition of 3000, cover for the catalogue Jasper Johns / Screenprints, matted and framed. Though this print is not typically hand signed and dated, the consignor contacted Jasper Johns in 2005 to ask for his signature and he agreed. The consignor then mailed the screenprint to him for the inscription. The correspondence between Johns and the consignor accompanies the print.

Presented as a Valentine's Day gift by the artist to Ippy and Neil Patterson while living in Redding, Connecticut Robert Natkin is a Chicago born abstract painter. His paintings are in numerous prominent public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and more. Good estate condition; no condition concerns to report.