- 19
Fairfield Porter 1907 - 1975
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 USD
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Description
- Fairfield Porter
- The Horse in the Meadow
- signed Fairfield Porter and dated 68 (lower right); also signed Fairfield Porter, titled The Horse in the Meadow, dated 1968 and inscribed oil 24" x 41" on the stretcher
- oil on canvas
- 24 by 41 inches
- (61 by 104.1 cm)
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Anne E.C. Porter (his wife)
By descent to the present owners
Anne E.C. Porter (his wife)
By descent to the present owners
Literature
Joan Ludman, "Checklist of the Paintings by Fairfield Porter," Fairfield Porter: An American Classic, New York, 1992, p. 298
Joan Ludman, Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels, New York, 2001, no. L627, p. 240, illustrated
Joan Ludman, Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels, New York, 2001, no. L627, p. 240, illustrated
Condition
This work is in very good, original condition. The canvas is unlined. There are 2 slight vertical abrasions in the tree at the upper left, and an abrasion at the lower right corner. Under UV: There is no apparent inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
The Horse in the Meadow exemplifies the fresh, immediate, light-filled paintings Fairfield Porter was dedicated to throughout his career. Whether depicting landscapes, portraits, still-lives or street scenes, Porter returned time and again to the people and places he knew, primarily his family and homes in Southampton, New York and Great Spruce Head Island, Maine. According to the artist’s daughters, Liz and Katie, the meadow in this painting, which was shared with the next door neighbors, extended from behind the Porters’ yard in Southampton, to a large public pond known as Lake Agawam. The horse belonged to their neighbors, the Diefenbachs, who also had a pig and some chickens. They allowed the Porter children to ride the horse, and Liz can remember riding it bareback on the ocean beach about a mile from their house.
Porter concerned himself with the intersection of realism and abstraction, choosing color and light as his primary subjects, rather than strict representational form. William Agee writes, “In the sixties Porter began to paint with a new sweep and broadness. In the landscapes, for example, areas might be fewer, but they tended to be larger and more expansive. He was seeking, as he later said, to retain the spontaneity of Impressionism, but he also wanted something ‘large and deliberate.’ Drawing and shaping became something increasingly arbitrary and abstract, as well as more fluent and subtle” (Joan Ludman, Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Pastels, New York, 2001, p. 31).
Porter concerned himself with the intersection of realism and abstraction, choosing color and light as his primary subjects, rather than strict representational form. William Agee writes, “In the sixties Porter began to paint with a new sweep and broadness. In the landscapes, for example, areas might be fewer, but they tended to be larger and more expansive. He was seeking, as he later said, to retain the spontaneity of Impressionism, but he also wanted something ‘large and deliberate.’ Drawing and shaping became something increasingly arbitrary and abstract, as well as more fluent and subtle” (Joan Ludman, Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Pastels, New York, 2001, p. 31).