Lot 120. William Koerner (N.J./N.Y./MT./Germany 1878-1938), farming illustration, oil on canvas
William Koerner
Born: 1878 – Lunden, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Died: 1938 – Interlaken, New Jersey
Known for: genre-western-Indian, illustrator, photographer
Born in Lunden, Germany, William Koerner was a noted magazine and book illustrator whose work was characterized by strong draftsmanship and an eye for detail.
He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1880, and they settled in Clinton, Iowa. At age 20, he became a rapid-hand illustrator for the Chicago Tribune. By 1901, he was attending classes at the Art Institute in Chicago, and four years later enrolled in the Art Students League in New York. When illustrator Howard Pyle accepted him for formal instruction, it was a major career boost.
In 1924, Koerner first went West, traveling in a seven passenger Buick. He camped extensively and continued to travel to California via the Santa Fe Railroad. Zane Grey, popular novelist, used his illustrations in his novels. Koerner worked primarily from New York but kept a summer studio near the Crow reservation in Montana.
He settled in Interlachen, New Jersey and built a studio there, which is replicated at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.
Source: Biography from the Archives of askART
Price result: $22,230.00 *(price includes B.P.)
Lot 570. Arthur William Best (Cal./Az./Canada 1859-1935), oil on canvas
Arthur Best
Born: 1859 – Mount Pleasanton, Canada
Died: 1935 – Oakland, California
Known for: landscape and street genre painting
One of the more prominent early 20th-century landscape painters in Northern California, Arthur Best was especially known for his paintings of the Grand Canyon, Arizona desert, and Sierra Nevada mountains. With his wife, he founded the Best Art School in San Francisco.
He was born in Mount Pleasanton near Petersboro, Canada, and he and his brothers were musicians with Arthur playing the clarinet. In 1895, the band broke up, and the brothers moved to San Francisco where Arthur and his wife, Alice Leveque Best, established their school at 1625 California Street.
He became a staff artist for the San Francisco Examiner, and in 1904, did a series of Grand Canyon paintings. In 1905, he was commissioned by the Southern Pacific Railroad to paint pictures of the Southwest and Mexico. Many of his paintings were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
He died in Oakland on January 26, 1935.
Source:
Biography from the Archives of askART, Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940
Price result: $702.00 *(price includes B.P.)
Lot 91. John Falter (New York, Pennsylvania, Nebraska 1910-1982), fishing illustration, oil on canvas laid on panel
John Falter
Born: 1910 – Plattsmouth, Nebraska
Died: 1982 – Philadelphia, May 1982.
Known for: illustration, frontier genre, portrait
Born Plattsmouth, NB, Feb. 28, 1910; died Philadelphia, May 1982. Illustrator. Painter, specialized in scenes from his childhood in Kansas and Nebraska, portraits, American history. Raised in Falls City, NB and at the family’s homestead in Atchison. Studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, the Art Students League, the Grand Central School of Art in NY. Teachers included Mahonri Young, George Wright, & Monte Crews. Began as an illustrator of western pulp magazines. Work includes more than 200 covers for Saturday Evening Post, many based on his childhood. Credited with designing over 300 recruiting posters for the Navy during World War II. Illustrated over 40 books for Reader’s Digest.
SOURCES:
Susan Craig, “Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945)”
Sain, Lydia. Kansas Artists, compiled by Lydia Sain from 1932 to 1948. Typed Manuscript, 1948.; Who’s Who in American Art. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1936- v.1=1936-37 v.3= 1941-42 v.2=1938-39 v.4=1940-47. 4, 6, 7; Belden, Dorothy. “Kansas Artists Known in World”, in Wichita Eagle Beacon, Jan. 29, 1978. p. 12K; Samuels, Peggy. Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1976.; Reed, Walt. The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000. New York: Society of Illustrators, 2001., Walt. The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000. New York: Society of Illustrators, 2001.; AskArt, www.askart.com, accessed Sept. 2, 2005;
Biography from the Archives of askART, from American Illustrators Gallery
Price result: $9,360.00 *(price includes B.P.)
Lot 209. Remington Schuyler (N.Y./MO. 1884-1955), “Indian by Teepee”, Native American illustration. Oil on canvas
Remington Schuyler
Born: 1884 – Buffalo, New York
Died: 1955 – St. Louis, Missouri
Known for: illustration-western frontier painting
Known for his “pulp illustrations,” he did illustrations for “Boy’s Life” and the Boy Scout handbook as part of his thirty-year service as a Boy Scout volunteer. He was a mural painter and editor of “Architectural Record,” and he was the artist-in-residence and associate professor of art at Missouri Valley College for six years.
He was Born in Buffalo, New York and grew up in the Midwest. He studied engineering and art at Washington University in St. Louis and studied in Paris and Rome at the Art Students League in New York and with Howard Pyle.
Source: Biography from the Archives of askART
Price result: $3,802.50 *(price includes B.P.)
This article was amended with post sale price results on 6/27/2017. More price results: Estate Auction, 2017-06-24
