Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: GWARD

Quick Words:

Skinner-Jackman-Sweedler

Full Text:

Part 1 Of 2: Folk Art At Skinner's Americana Auction

(with 30 cuts)

By Bob Jackman

BOLTON, MASS. -- Skinner's Americana sale of August 15 offered a deep

selection of folk art. Many of the better pieces were consigned by Leslie

Sweedler (Leslie Eisenburg) or by the estate of Grace Lyman Stammers. Gross

sales were $1,197,495 with 93 percent of the lots selling.

One of the most exciting lots in the sale was a patriotic weathervane won by a

Boston collector for $35,650. It was widely illustrated in books on

weathervanes and folk art. Most recently it sold in 1990 at Sotheby's New York

auction of the Bernard Barenholtz collection. Although it had been estimated

at $20/30,000 in New York, the academic folk art community was aghast at six

layers of paint, and it sold for about $10,000.

At Skinner's the academic folk art community continued to express grave

concern about heavy overpaint. However Skinner's Bolton gallery attracts a

diversified audience that includes members of both the design folk art school

and the cultural folk art schools. These communities passionately admired the

vane, and ultimately their duel drove the price to $35,650.

All physical and documentary evidence indicated that this was a Federal era or

first period vane rather than a Colonial Revival or second period vane. At a

first touch, it was obviously a true weathervane rather than one of the later

decorative finials. There was a massive, dense weight forward of the post that

was intended to face into the wind. A large tail aft of the post caught the

wind and swung downwind.

The vane contained a curious combination of materials. There was cast iron in

the ball, hammer, and at the forward end of flag ribs. Yet iron was

economized. For example, the center of the hammer contained a wood insert.

Also, the cast iron joinery did not utilize post Civil War technology. The

cast iron technology was more consistent with 1830 than 1870.

Wood was another curious material. In addition to the hammer, wood was also

used at the core of the arm and heavily sheathed in metal. This labor

intensive approach for creating a solid object with volume ceased in the

1830s. Thereafter hollow sheet metal or cast iron became the standard

technology.

This vane has been repeatedly catalogued as sheet metal or sheet copper. That

implied rolled sheets that have been stamped and die cut to a standard design.

This vane was compiled from metal strips, extensively riveted, and custom

worked. The worked metal was of a heavier gage than rolled metal. This unique

vane was either made by its designer or a person working closely with him.

This is a technology that industrially discontinued after the first third of

the Nineteenth Century.

The Skinner catalog alluded to the provenance that appeared in Sotheby's

catalog of the Barenholtz sale. In part that quoted Barenholtz as saying, "It

is said to have been on a mechanic's hall. We bought it from Betty Sterling in

Randolph, Vt. She is a dealer who loves antiques. Betty said that it came from

Robert Chase in Hanover, N.H., and he told her that it had been in the

Worcester Art Museum until about the turn of the century. At the time, a new

director came in and ordered the flag vane out. It was then bought by a museum

employee -- who kept it until he died."

With this provenance, those six layers of paint become particularly

significant. A rule of thumb is that a layer of paint lasts for ten years. Six

layers of paint indicate the vane was about 60 years old when it was removed

from Mechanic's Hall in Worcester. After a time in the Worcester Art Museum,

it was deaccessioned in 1900. Working backwards, the combination of provenance

and paint layers indicate the vane was made about 1830. This history is

consistent with the technological evidence.

The successful bidder was a Boston collector who is a member of the design

school of folk art. Immediately after his purchase, he stated, "It's really a

striking work. The impact comes from the way the flag flies. The flag has such

energy and is so elongated, and the stars are so prominent. It is so Modern

for its time, and it has almost a Surreal quality. It transcends time."

The underbidder was a dealer who was bidding by phone. He is a member of the

cultural folk art community, and several days after the sale he reported, "I

could have cared less about its design. It's important as a unique historic

object. It speaks to the patriotism of its day, and the spirit of the building

on which it was mounted. It has a great history, and I believe I know the

maker. It is a very important example of American folk art. I wanted it really

badly, but I just didn't have the funds to go further."

A lot cataloged as a William Tell weathervane sold for $18,400. When the lot

came to the block, auctioneer Steve Fletcher commented, "The paint is in

remarkably good condition." A sage in the audience added, "Tell had a

crossbow, and this guy has a longbow." Perhaps the maker exercised artistic

license. It sold for $18,400.

Both weathervanes were consigned by Leslie Sweedler, also known as Leslie

Eisenburg. Leslie is a painter who developed a love for folk sculpture. She

opened a folk art gallery in Manhattan in 1979. In 1990 she was moving to a

new residence and no longer had time to manage her gallery. She temporarily

closed her gallery, but never reopened. In her gallery, Leslie trusted her own

artistic eye. She preferred large, bold objects and avoided small objects. Her

customers included numerous celebrities, and Robert Bishop consigned items

from his collection to her.