E.E. Cummings' Art, p. 1
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Reclining nude (likely Marion Morehouse), with a floral, wave-like background. Oil on canvas. 43" x 20". Undated. The canvas had been rolled for storage, with some loss of paint, but it has since been expertly restored by Julian Baumgartner and stretched on to a wood frame. Fine.
[#036307]
$20,000
Undated. 16" x 13". Oil on wood. Framed. A portrait of Cummings' wife, Marion Morehouse, reclining on a bed in a position reminiscent, presumably deliberately, of Goya's "The Naked Maja." Goya's painting was considered scandalous in its day, in a way that some of Cummings' artwork -- especially his erotic paintings of strippers, lovers, and sensuous nudes -- were in his own time, or at least he seems to have intended them to be. A stylized image, foreshortening perspective and thus alluding to Cummings' origins as an abstract, rather than realist, painter. Fine. Letter of provenance provided.
[#023666]
$17,000
ca. 1928. A large portrait by Cummings of his stepdaughter, Diana Barton, with one of her dogs at Joy Farm in New Hampshire, sometime between 1927 and 1930. Diana was born in 1921; Cummings met Anne Barton in 1925 and they spent several summers at Joy Farm beginning in 1927. Diana is standing outside, with her dog at her side and Mount Chocorua in the background.
One of the best-loved American poets of the 20th century, Cummings was also a prolific visual artist: he considered writing and painting to be his "twin obsessions." He exhibited his work in the annual Society of Independent Artists shows from 1916-1927, and he was the art editor of The Dial magazine, the preeminent Modernist literary journal in the U.S., in the 1920s. In 1931, Cummings published a book of his artwork in a limited edition. Called CIOPW, it took its title from the media he used in his art: charcoal, ink, oil, pencil and watercolors. In his early years he emphasized abstract painting; from the 1930s on he tended toward representational images, albeit with a range of inventive palettes, which some have compared to his inventiveness with words and poetic forms and structures.
This is an early, transitional image by Cummings, painted as he was moving from abstract to representational art but still using the brilliant color schemes and flourishes that link his later art back to his abstracts. In this painting, the sky is "psychedelic," the mountain range has a variety and richness of color, and Cummings has taken liberties with the proportions. 35-3/4" x 47-3/4". Oil on Upson Processed Board (a fiberboard used as a building material in the early 20th century), with a narrow (2" x 8") chip missing from the lower left corner, affecting only flora. "DIANA BARTON" written on the back (in a child's hand?); also "1928-9?" Unsigned, as was most of Cummings' artwork, as he adhered to the theory (popularized decades later) that art is best encountered independent of its artist, even as his paintings seem to shed light on his innovative, visual style of poetry.
[#033852] $15,000
1942. A portrait by Cummings of his mother, Rebecca Clarke Cummings, immortalized in Cummings' words: "if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have one." Oil on canvas. 15" x 20". Dated on verso, September 1, 1942.
[#031576]
$15,000
Oil on canvas. 24" x 20-1/2". Signed by Cummings on the back. No date.
[#034360]
$15,000
1947. Oil on composition board. 32" x 25". Dated December 25, 1947. Inscribed by Cummings on the rear of the painting: "For Marion/ love!/ Xmas/ 1947." This image was later used as a Christmas card that Cummings and Marion Morehouse had made. Corners abraded. Unframed.
[#014969]
$12,500
Still life of flowers in a vase. Oil on canvas. 19" x 24". Undated. The canvas has been rolled for storage and is otherwise near fine.
[#036305]
$11,500
A cityscape looking out the back of Cummings' apartment in Greenwich Village, where he lived from 1924-1962 (next door to Djuna Barnes). Oil on canvasboard. 19-3/4" x 15-3/4", nicely framed to 20" x 24". Undated. Fine.
[#014965]
$11,000
1955. Oil on canvas. 15" x 20". Portrait of fellow Harvard alumnus and fellow New Hampshire painter William James, Jr. On the verso: "w.j." and "10-01-55."
[#031599]
$11,000
1939. Oil on cardboard. 18" x 15-1/2". Signed by Cummings on the verso, where he has added the date 2/9/39 and an "A." Additionally noted on verso: Gotham Book Mart #825, the title and dimensions, and "M24708M gray with two tone insert." The painting has an upper left corner chip and is horizontally scored 1" from the bottom edge; near fine.
[#026464]
$10,000
Oil on cardboard. 10-1/2" x 16-1/4". No date.
[#034358]
$10,000
Watercolor of a sunset sky over Mount Chocorua. 18" x 12". This painting is signed by Cummings on the verso. Undated.
[#031600]
$9,750
1950-09-09. Watercolor. 20" x 14". Signed on back.
[#033235]
$9,500
1957. The porch at Joy Farm, near Silver Lake, NH. Oil on canvas. 16" x 12". On the verso: "joy farm terrace." "m.m.c.," and "july 27, 57."
[#031598]
$9,500
A portrait of Cummings' mother: details of her clothing omitted, but countenance markedly complete. Oil on canvas. 16" x 24". Undated. GBM #438p on verso: Cummings' paintings had several exhibitions at the Gotham Book Mart in New York City in the 1960s-70s. The canvas has been rolled for storage, resulting in a series of soft horizontal folds; very good.
[#036315]
$9,500
1959-09-21. Oil on canvas. 15" x 20". Signed by Cummings on the back.
[#034353]
$9,000
Mt. Chocorua, 1961. The summer sun hitting the Sandwich Range. Oil on canvas. 12" x 16". On the verso: "june 30, 1961."
[#031593]
$9,000
Oil on canvasboard. 26" x 20". No date.
[#034352]
$8,500
Flower vendor and pedestrians on a street corner in Paris. Oil on cardboard. 8-1/2" x 17-1/2". Framed. No date.
[#031605]
$8,500
A bare, black tree under a vivid end times sky. Oil on canvas. 16" x 12". No date.
[#031626]
$8,000
1958. Still life of a bright bouquet. Oil on canvas. 16" x 20". Dated on verso: 8/5/58. The canvas has been rolled for storage and is otherwise near fine.
[#036309]
$8,000
Oil on cardboard. 10-3/4" x 13-3/4". No date.
[#034351]
$8,000
A colorful mountainscape, likely of Mt. Chocorua in New Hampshire. Oil on canvas. 16" x 20". Undated. GBM #909 on verso (crossed out): Cummings' paintings had several exhibitions at the Gotham Book Mart in New York City in the 1960s-70s. The canvas has been rolled for storage and is otherwise near fine.
[#036308]
$8,000
1939-05-28. Oil on cardboard. 8-3/4" x 17-3/4".
[#034347]
$7,700
1947. Oil on canvas by Cummings, who did not title his paintings; the title given here is purely descriptive. 18" x 24". "By E.E. Cummings" written on the wood frame, apparently in another's hand. Cummings signed only a small fraction of his work, deliberately and for philosophical reasons: he believed the work should stand on its own -- and be judged on its own merits or faults -- rather than be judged by who the creator of it was. When he backed away from the New York art scene in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Cummings was backing away from what he considered to be an artistic milieu driven by personality and ego rather than by art. After his early period as an abstract artist, he focused on representational art for the rest of his life, but often -- as in this painting -- he used a palette and a style that owed much to his early influences among modern artists: Cezanne, Matisse, and the Fauvists. One tack missing from the top of the stretched canvas; else fine.
[#031362]
$7,500
1945-08-25. Oil on canvas. 15" x 20".
[#034344]
$7,500
A vendor cart; a horse-drawn calliope; a game of jump rope; a dog; a juggler; women watching children play a game; a building with a fire escape: a myriad of isolated activities creating a portrait of a day. Oil on canvas. Undated. 13" x 20". GBM #910 on verso (crossed out): Cummings' paintings had several exhibitions at the Gotham Book Mart in New York City in the 1960s-70s. The canvas has been rolled for storage and is now softly folded vertically in fifths; very good.
[#036313]
$7,500
Late fall in the Sandwich Range. Watercolor. 18" x 12". No date.
[#031612]
$7,000
Oil on canvas. 16" x 20". No date.
[#034340]
$6,500
