EDITH FAIRFAX DAVENPORT / New Orleans Interior, 1923

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DESCRIPTION: Up for auction is a wonderful New Orleans painting of a Pensive Woman on a Staircase from 1923 by well-documented American painter Edith Fairfax Davenport (1880 - 1957). The painting is being offered unframed. As you can see, the painting is in need of some TLC but it should come together nicely if properly conserved. It has never been touched. It is signed lower left and also inscribed New Orleans and 1923. I have listed the particulars below and also a condition report. I have posted a number of decent quality images for your examination. I bought the painting years ago and it does not appear at auction on AskArt or Artnet. The bidding will start at $599.99 with no reserve. My original purchase cost was much higher but I will let the bidding public determine the paintings value. Please continue to visit my listings as I will be posting a number of paintings from my collection over the next several weeks. Feel free to email any questions you might have. Thank you for bidding. CONDITION: The painting is in poor condition and need of proper restoration. It has not been touched and is fine under black light. There is no inpainting of any kind. From the back you can see that the top stretcher bar has been built out and extended. This is original to the piece. There are 5 puctures and 1 tear that go all the way through the canvas. The signature and inscription are clean, clear and crisp. The photos should be good enough for you to evaluate. Use the zoom feature on the photos to view the painting in greater detail. Edith Fairfax Davenport (1880 - 1957) Woman on a Staircase, 1923 Oil on canvas 21 1/8 x 14 inches Signed, dated and inscribed lower left: E. Fairfax Davenport / New Orleans / 1923 NO RESERVE Below is some information on Edith Fairfax Davenport courtesy of the web. Thank you for bidding. Edith Fairfax Davenport —painter, etcher, teacher, and lecturer — was born in Kansas City, MO on July 13, 1880 and died on November 1, 1957 while residing in Winter Park, Florida. She was a relative of James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and the painter of an exact copy of Whistler's "Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother", 1871. According to "After Whistler, The Artist and His Influence on American Painting" by Linda Merrill, Davenport was Whistler’s first cousin once removed: her grandmother, Isabella McNeill, was Whistler’s mother’s sister. Painted in England , Whistler's original 57" x 65" portrait was rejected by the Royal Academy but exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1883 to mixed reviews. The French Government purchased it from Whistler in 1891 for the Musee du Luxembourg — the living artists gallery during the 19th century. The painting was moved to the Galerie du Jeu Paume in 1922 and then to the Louvre in 1925. It has been on display at the Musee d' Orsay in Paris since 1986. Davenport 's "Apres Whistler" was painted with the French government’s permission in 1906, before cleaning and restoration brightened the colors of the original. In 1925 Davenport traveled from Zellwood , Florida to the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell , Massachusetts to visit the birthplace of her famous cousin. In 1926 she lent the painting to the museum, visited once more on September 1, 1950 and, upon her death in 1957, "Apres Whistler" was bequeathed to the Whistler House Museum of Art. Edith Davenport studied in Paris at the Academie Julian with Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), Louis-Joseph-Raphael Collin (1850-1916), and Ferdinand Humbert. “She is said to have been the first American woman officially admitted to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, which did not open its doors to women until 1896. Upon returning to the United States , Davenport studied dynamic symmetry with Howard Giles (1876-1955) and abstract composition with Hans Hoffman (1880-1966),” says Merrill. After 1930, her work was leaning more to the modern than to her academic training. She was a member of the North... read more

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