Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Thomas Moran at Auction

Thomas Moran was born 12 February 1837 in Bolton, England, not far from Manchester, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Several generations of the Moran family had worked as handloom weavers in Bolton until the introduction of power looms radically changed the industry. In 1842/1843, seeking public education for his children and economic opportunity in a new land, Thomas Moran, Sr., journeyed to America. The following year his wife and children joined him and the reunited family settled in Kensington, a suburb of Philadelphia, where they became part of a well-established community of immigrant textile workers.
While still a teenager Thomas became an apprentice at the Philadelphia engraving firm of Scattergood and Telfer. After three years he withdrew from his apprenticeship and began working in the studio of his older brother, Edward, who had begun to establish himself as a marine painter. Serving, in effect, a second apprenticeship, Moran benefitted not only from the advice of his brother but also from that of James Hamilton (1819-1878), a well-known Philadelphia painter who had befriended Edward. Described by contemporaries as the "American Turner," Hamilton may have sparked Thomas Moran's life-long interest in the work of English artist J.M.W. Turner.
In 1861, after several years of studying Turner's work in reproduction, Thomas and Edward journeyed to London where they spent several months studying and copying Turner's work at the National Gallery. A decade later, when Thomas journeyed west to join Ferdinand Vandiver Hayden's expedition to Yellowstone, the watercolors he produced on site bore clear evidence of his debt to Turner.
Moran's trip to Yellowstone in 1871 marked the turning point of his career. The previous year he had been asked by Scribner's Magazine to rework sketches made in Yellowstone by a member of an earlier expedition party. Intrigued by the geysers and mudpots of Yellowstone, he borrowed money to make the trip himself. Numerous paintings and commissions resulted from this journey, but the sale of his enormous (7 by 12 feet) Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872, National Museum of American Art) to Congress shortly after passage of the bill that set Yellowstone aside as the first National Park, brought Moran considerable attention.
In 1873, following up on his earlier success, Moran joined John Wesley Powell's expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Shortly after his return he set to work on a second canvas equal in size to his earlier Yellowstone painting. In 1874 Congress purchased Chasm of the Colorado (1873-1874, National Museum of American Art), which became the second of Moran's western landscapes to hang in the Capitol.
That same year Moran traveled to Denver and then north to see the Mountain of the Holy Cross--a massive mountain with a cross of snow on its side. The resulting painting became Moran's chief contribution to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Iconic in its union of wilderness and religion, the Mountain of the Holy Cross became one of Moran's best known works.

His reputation established, Moran continued to travel widely during the following decades. He returned to Europe several times again following trails blazed by Turner. In 1883 he journeyed to Mexico. In later years he returned to the Grand Canyon and traveled more extensively in Arizona and New Mexico, producing a number of striking works of the pueblos at Acoma and Laguna. Extraordinarily productive, both as a painter and an etcher, Moran continued to work well into his eighth decade. At his death in Santa Barbara, California, in August 1926, he was memorialized as the "Dean of American Landscape Painters."
Christie’s  May 22, 2014 



Thomas Moran (1837-1926), 

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 
oil on canvas, 
291⁄2 x 60 in., Estimate: $8,000,000-12,000,000
Of all places on earth the great canyon of Arizona is the most inspiring in its pictorial possibilities.-Thomas Moran


Christie’s sale of American Art on May 22, 2014  featured Thomas Moran’s (1837-1926) magnificent large-scale painting The Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Painted in 1904, the work is one of Moran’s most ambitious oils of the subject from the period. This canvas presents an awe-inspiring panorama and manifests Moran’s romantic and inspirational vision of the American West. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, which has been exhibited at both the Royal Academy in London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., has not been offered for sale in over two decades. At $8-12 million, this is the highest pre-sale estimate assigned to a work by Thomas Moran at auction, reflecting the superb quality and rarity of this masterwork.

Liz Sterling, Christie’s Head of American Art, said, “Christie’s is thrilled to offer The Grand Canyon of the Colorado by Thomas Moran as a highlight of our spring sale. A true visual architect of the American West, Moran has the unique ability to convey his own veneration and wonder at the breathtaking landscapes through his dramatic depictions of the Western panorama, undoubtedly his favorite subject. In addition to being vital to the creation of the national park system, works such as The Grand Canyon of the Colorado transformed the allure of the West in the American psyche into an integral part of the American identity.”


Moran first visited the Grand Canyon in 1873 as part of John Wesley Powell’s expedition. The artist eagerly accepted Powell’s invitation to join the excursion, as he was planning a pendant for his painting Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which Congress had purchased for the Capitol the previous year. Moran was immediately captivated by the unique and dramatic light, color and topography of the Grand Canyon and later wrote, “Of all places on earth the great canyon of Arizona is the most inspiring in its pictorial possibilities.”

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado is a masterwork of Moran's mature style and represents the artist at the height of his abilities. Although he visited the Grand Canyon many times and created multiple of images of the geologic wonder over the course of five decades, few are as richly complex or as monumental in scale as this painting, which captures the sublime beauty of the area in its expanse of rugged peaks and atmospheric valleys. Throughout, he employs his characteristic keen attention to light, color, and detail and the high vantage point underscores the vastness of the Canyon. Moran studied at a time when the strict realist theories of John Ruskin were lauded and, though adhering to the auspices of precise geologic transcription, it is evident that he was far more interested in capturing and conveying the emotional effect the landscape inspired.

THOMAS MORAN AT AUCTION




The current world auction record for a work by Thomas Moran is Green river of Wyoming, which sold at Christie’s in 2008 for $17.7 million, against a pre-sale estimate of $3.5-5 million. In addition to setting a record for the artist, it also set the record price for any 19th century work of American Art at auction. 





THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

VENETIAN SCENE



Bonham's December 4, 2013 










THOMAS MORAN
(American, 1837-1926)
The Gates of Venice
Sold for US$ 1,375


Christie's  February 27, 2013



THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

CONWAY CASTLE

    Estimate $30,000 - $50,000 Price Realized $62,500 


    Sotheby's December 4, 2013



    THOMAS MORAN
    1837 - 1926
    GRAND CANYON IN MIST

    LOT SOLD. 1,445,000


    Sotheby's October 3, 2013






    THOMAS MORAN

    VENICE


    Estimate 80,000 — 120,000
    Sotheby's April 11, 2013



    THOMAS MORAN
    THE RECEDING WAVE


    LOT SOLD. 62,500 

    Sotheby's May 17, 2012



    THOMAS MORAN
    1837 - 1926
    VENICE

    LOT SOLD. 158,500

    Bonham's November 29, 2011 



    Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926) 
    Waterfall landscape, Pennsylvania, 1868 
    17 x 14in
    Sold for US$ 43,750 

    Christie's 2011



     
    Christie's December 1, 2010





    THOMAS MORAN (1827-1926)

    THE PALACE OF CORTEZ, CUERNAVACA, MEXICO

    Estimate $100,000 - $150,000 Price Realized $98,500 




    THOMAS MORAN (1827-1926)

    GRAND CANAL, VENICE

      Estimate $120,000 - $180,000 Price Realized $116,500 




        THOMAS MORAN (1827-1926)

        ON THE GRAND CANAL

        Estimate $60,000 - $80,000 Price Realized $96,100


        THOMAS MORAN (1827-1926)

        MORNING IN THE SIERRAS, NEVADA

          Estimate $400,000 - $600,000 Price Realized $386,500 





          Christie's 2009


          UNTO YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME SHALL THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISE WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS



          Christie's 2007



          THOMAS MORAN (1827-1926)

          PASSING SHOWER

            Estimate $40,000 - $60,000 Price Realized $103,000 











             



            Bonhams April 20, 2010




            Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926)
             Icebergs, 1891 
            10 1/2 x 14 1/2in
            US$ 50,000 - 70,000



            CHRISTIE'S NOVEMBER  16, 2005




            THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

            THE BATHING HOLE, CUERNAVACA, MEXICO

              Estimate $80,000 - $120,000 Price Realized $84,000 



              CHRISTIE'S NOVEMBER 29, 2001




              • THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

                ON THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA

                Estimate $80,000 - $120,000 Price Realized  $82,250 


              Christie's November 30, 1999



              THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

              ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS

              Estimate $70,000 - $100,000 Price Realized $178,500 

              Christie's  1998



              Bonhams December 6, 2009



              Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926) 
              'The Grand Canal, Venice', 1905 
              20 x 30 1/4in
              Sold for US$ 91,500 

              Bonhams December 10, 2007


              Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926) 
              The Rock of Acoma, New Mexico, 1902 
              14 1/4 x 20 3/4in
              Sold for US$ 480,000