Original Paintings By Mühl, Husain, Dunning Will Headline Bruneau & Co's February 21 Online Auction

By Author: Travis Landry
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Original paintings by noted, listed artists that span multiple generations and genres will headline Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers’ next online-only Estate Fine Art & Antique Auction scheduled for Monday, February 21st, beginning at 6 pm Eastern time. More than 350 lots, pulled from prominent estates and collections across New England, will come up for bid.

“Continuing on the momentum of last month’s sale, this catalog features an incredible single owner collection of 32 paintings by noted New England artists of the late 19th and early 20th century,” said Kevin Bruneau, Bruneau & Co’s president and an auctioneer. “Names include Robert Spear Dunning, George Whitaker, Charles Gifford, and Bryant Chapin, amongst others. It will be interesting to see how they perform today. The art market is red-hot right now.”

Travis Landry, a Bruneau & Co. auctioneer and the firm’s Director of Pop Culture, added, “While the antique art is sure to perform, this catalog does contain some great pieces of modern and contemporary art. The Roger Mühl oil on canvas is sure to attract interest, along with the ...
... Michael Steiner bronze. Also, we can’t forget about the two Maqbool Fida Husain watercolors. This auction is jam packed. Collectors and investors need to mark their calendars right away.”

The paintings by Roger Mühl (France, 1929-2008) and Maqbool Fida Husain (India, 1913-2011) are expected top achievers, each with estimates of $8,000-$12,000. The Mühl work depicts pale pink and red tulips in a celadon colored vase over polychromatic patches of color. Measuring 19 ½ inches by 20 ½ inches (canvas, less frame), the abstract painting is signed lower right and titled Tulipes Rouges on verso. It also retains the original label from Findlay Galleries (N.Y.).

Roger Mühl was a 20th-century French painter best known for his light-drenched landscape renderings of the south of France. His paintings often featured built-up impasto surfaces and utilized complimentary colors and neutral tones, creating both atmosphere and physicality in his subtle compositions. He studied at National School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg but spent most of his life living and working in Provence, while exhibiting worldwide.

There are two paintings by Maqbool Fida Husain in the auction, both of them watercolors. One is a polychromatic rendering, depicting a dancing Ganesha. Signed “Husain” lower left and measuring 20 inches by 14 inches (less frame), it was purchased directly from the artist by a prominent Ohio collector and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Husain’s son, Shafat.

The other is an equestrian painting, depicting a galloping, monochromatic horse in moonlight, lined with sepia and blue. Larger than the other work, at 33 inches by 24 inches (less frame), it’s also signed “Husain” lower left, is from the same Ohio collector and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Shafat Husain. Maqbool Fida Husain is often called “the Picasso of India.”

A still life painting of fruit by Robert Spear Dunning (Mass./N.H., 1829-1905), depicting peaches, a pear and bundles of red and green grapes glistening under light is expected to gavel for $6,000-$9,000. The 7 ¼ inch by 11 ¼ inch canvas (less frame) was pulled from a large Massachusetts estate and is signed and dated “R.S. Dunning 1896” on verso and lower right.

Dunning was a founder of the Fall River School in Massachusetts and is best known for his realist trompe l'oeil paintings. He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and his work is housed in many public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Fall River Historical Society in Massachusetts; the Columbus Museum in Ohio and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

A large, 17th century Flemish Old Master hunting scene, measuring 34 ½ inches by 43 ¾ inches, carries an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. The genre painting depicts a man on horseback and three men wielding spears chasing a deer across the river with hunting dogs. The scene is framed by full trees and neoclassical structures in the distance beneath a pink sky. The work is unsigned.

A fine Chinese silk gold thread dragon robe dating to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) is expected to change hands for $2,000-$3,000. The beautiful early robe of high quality, 29 inches long and approximately 22 inches wide at the shoulders, is finely decorated with raised gold thread five-toed dragons flying amongst clouds with bats and cranes, and with a lower crashing wave border.

An early 20th century round African Baule tribe Kplekple carved wood mask with two horns, protruding eyes, a low mouth and beard, decorated in red, black and white paint, 17 inches tall and deaccessioned from the collection of a cultural museum in Alabama, should reach $2,000-$3,000. The mask has a minor split bottom right and a few areas of wear and losses to the paint.

A preview is available by appointment the week of and day of sale, with doors opening at 9 am Eastern time. The auction will begin at 6 pm EST. Bidding is available via in-person, absentee, telephone or Internet, with a 20% buyer's premium (or 18% with cash, check or wire transfer).

Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, Bidsquare.com, bidLIVE.Bruneauandco.com and the mobile app “Bruneau & Co.” on iTunes or GooglePlay. To learn more about Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers and the 357-lot, online-only Estate Fine Art & Antiques auction scheduled for Monday, February 21st, please visit www.bruneauandco.com.