John James Audubon

John James Audubon’s renowned book, Birds of America, made headlines recently as the world’s most expensive book, fetching over $10 million in auction. What makes this book so valuable?

For one, the 435 life-size prints of American birds and wildlife characterized in Audubon’s Birds of America surpass any of the paintings by the earlier ornithologist, Alexander Wilson and his nine-volume American Ornithology, of which only 268 species of birds are illustrated. Audubon’s depictions lack no detail and stray far from the stiff creations portrayed in Wilson’s work. He not only focuses his attention on birds and animals, but to the surrounding plant-life and environment in which they inhabited. The landscape and foliage are detailed, creating a natural scene and capturing his subjects in natural poses as how they appeared in the wild. Other factors contributing to the value, other than the style and beauty of the depictions, include his character, technique and the trends of the period.





Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785 to a French sea captain and his French mistress, but was raised in France by his father and stepmother where his interests lay in exploring the outdoors, hunting and fishing. When he turned 18, he moved to the United States and settled at their family estate near Philadelphia, called Mill Grove. There, he studied and drew birds, hunted and met his wife, Lucy Bakewell.

Misfortune struck nearly a decade later. His once-successful business of selling dry-goods took a turn for the worse and hard times ensued. Lacking a stable income and having been jailed briefly for bankruptcy, Audubon turned his hobby of bird-drawing into a serious project. Armed with only a gun, art materials and a young assistant, Audubon traveled down the Mississippi , living a rugged, hand-to-mouth existence, with the goal to paint all the birds of North America for future publication. By 1820, while Lucy supported the family by teaching, Audubon continued to work on Birds of America and extended his travel to Alabama and Florida. In 1826, he sailed to England with his partly finished collection and became an overnight success. His life-size paintings and glorified tales of the American wilderness earned him the title “The American Woodsman” and instantly gave him credit for publication.





For all his luck with money, Audubon was an ambitious character and naturalist. In the end, those qualities aided him greatly, enabling him to triumph over adversity and perform the tedious task of putting such a vast collection together. His experiences in the wilderness and his exquisite paintings collectively gave Audubon a name and instantly made his Birds of America a work of value.

His techniques in creating such realistic renderings of wildlife are also worth noting. On Audubon’s second trip into the wilderness, when visiting Alabama and Florida, he brought with him George Lehman, a professional Swiss landscape artist, to create some of the backgrounds and hired hunters to gather specimens for him. Rather than simply stuffing the specimens, Audubon would use wire to pose them in natural positions, often displaying them in action as if flying or feeding. Larger birds and animals would take hours for him to prepare and study before painting them. He would illustrate them in their natural habitats, ensuring an accurate adaptation of them through his personal observations.





Due to his own posing method, Audubon was able to create natural-looking models and therefore, paint natural-looking illustrations; different from the stiff, flat images that Wilson exhibited. Although, some claim his poses to be quite theatrical, Audubon argued that it was an artistic choice, allowing him to showcase specific lines and curves otherwise unnoticed. His paintings were elaborate and consisted of mainly of watercolor and pastel. When they went for print, the process was quite laborious, with colorists having to apply each color individually in an assembly-line fashion to ensure an impressive reproduction similar to the original. Costs were high; however the end result was well worth it. The last print was issued in 1838, making any original copy of the book a valuable piece.

The time period at which Audubon’s book was released also affected the value. At that time there was a great popular interest in science and the marvels of nature. The United States was still a mystery to Europeans and any story recounting the aspects of the American wilderness piqued interest. An insight into such a strange place was something that Audubon’s Birds of America was able to provide for those curious. With the fame of the book, he became known as a “man of science” and the leading naturalist of America.





Despite the book itself, Audubon’s initiative and personal achievement to complete such a collection, not to mention his technique and skill as an artist, and the 14 years and expense that it took to complete the process from the first painting to printing, have all contributed in determining the worth of Birds of America.







Works Cited:
http://www.audubon.org/john-james-audubon
http://www.audubonhouse.org/audubon/jja.cfm
http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Audubon-John-James.html
Tyler, Ron. Visions of America: Pioneer Artists in a New Land, New York, 1983.


Researched and written by Shanna Seiberlich


MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Le Cirque de Calder

Chicago is no stranger to the work of Alexander Calder; his 50-ton, red abstract stabile entitled Flamingo graces Chicago’s Federal Square. He was not only an abstract painter and sculptor, but infamous for designing the ‘mobile’.

The foundation of his creativity and dangling artworks of wire can be attributed to his background in mechanical engineering. Calder first studied engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. After graduating in 1919 and working several odd jobs, he finally moved to New York in 1923 and enrolled at the Arts Students League. Thus, his career as an artist emerged.



Calder's Flamingo in Chicago's Federal Plaza


The body of work that propelled him into such a success was a miniature circus that he designed called the Le Cirque de Calder, in Paris in 1927. Calder took interest in the circus in his mid-twenties after he took an assignment with the New York Journal to publish a series of illustrations of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus. Upon moving to Paris in 1926, Calder’s fascination with circus life grew and his inspiration to replicate the show became a work in progress. During his studies at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, he constructed his first figure out of wire, wood and cloth and in the spring 1927, had completed an entire miniature circus, ring and all.



Complex and unique, this body of work consists of performers, animals and props fashioned out of wire, cloth, leather and other materials. The Cirque Calder was manually operated by Calder, who manipulated the wire figurines into performing typical, death-defying acts found in real circuses. His first performance was held in Paris at his studio and attended by his peers and friends. With his wife working the gramophone, Calder amazed his audience with his ingenious mechanical devices and manipulation of the tiny, wire performers displayed as lion tamers, cowboys and acrobats. Figures walking the tightrope, getting shot out of a cannon, leaping and engaging in acrobatics in the ring were highlights of the elaborate, 2-hour show.




Calder’s rendering of the circus became a huge success and he presented Le Cirque de Calder all over Paris and in New York. He continued to give performances well into the 1930s. Today, the circus is housed at the Whitney Museum in New York and continues to draw an audience. Over the years, at least two films have been created, documenting Calder’s performances. The more popular of the two is the 1961 film by Carlos Vilardebo entitled Calder’s Circus, which showcases Calder as the “Ringmaster” animating his toy-like figurines within the ring.

Until his death in 1976, Calder went on to have many more successful and artistically productive decades, exhibiting his works at such museums and galleries as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Third International Exhibition of Sculpture. Working with wire for Le Cirque inspired Calder’s later projects, and his creations and sculptures became bigger and more unique. In the 1930s, he not only became renowned for inventing the mobile, but discovered a talent for creating large, outdoor sculptures, experimenting with wood and sheet metal. Although his mobiles launched a new art form and his sculptures are timeless, the most memorable and inspirational body of work produced by Calder remains to be Le Cirque de Calder.




Works Cited
http://www.answers.com/topic/alexander-calder
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/alexander-calder/about-the-artist/78/
http://www.calder.org/home
http://rogallery.com/Calder_Alexander/calder-biography.htm


Written and researched by Shanna Seiberlich.

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Carl Krafft

Carl Rudolph Krafft was an important American painter throughout the early 20th century. He belonged to a group of artists called the Ozark Painters, whose work focused on the Ozark Mountains. Born August 23, 1884 in Reading, Ohio, the son of a traveling Lutheran pastor, his family moved and settled on the south side of Chicago in 1890. He remained in the Chicago area for the rest of his life; moving in 1926 to Oak Park, a western suburb that was the center of much Prairie architecture and the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway. He was a popular and influential painter up to his death on October 18, 1938.




Despite being scolded by his teachers for drawing in his textbooks, Krafft was encouraged to pursue art from a young age. However, religion was a significant part of his upbringing and he initially began studies in the seminary before taking nightly art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was not only an incredible artist, but a talented organist and considered studying music also. Krafft was not the first of his family to take an interest in the arts. His ancestor, Adam Krafft (c.1460 – 1509), was a master sculptor in Germany whose self-portrait is pictured to the left. He is featured below the sacramental shrine to Saint Lorenz in Saint Lorenz Church in Nuemburg, Germany.

It wasn’t until Krafft visited relatives in Missouri that he became enamored with the beautiful Ozark Mountains. A lifelong love for painting the region ensued. He traveled annually to the mountains
to paint the transition from fall to winter, capturing the beautiful colors of the changing seasons. The painting pictured below is owned by Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, just a few short blocks from the Oak Park Art League, which he founded in 1921.

After the stock market crashed in 1929, copies and fakes of Krafft’s original paintings were being circulated. To combat the forgery of his signature and the sale of these paintings under his name, he began marking his paintings with his thumbprint, along with his signature. Below are two images of Krafft’s earlier work. Although his use of rich color mirrors his later pieces, his signature lacks a thumbprint, indicating that they are indeed earlier paintings.


















Krafft enjoyed painting the transition between winter and fall in Ozarks. The cool, blue palette of the distant snow topped mountains showcases this lovely transition and captures the peaceful mood of the scene. The use of the color yellow highlights the tranquility of early morning in the wilderness. In contrast to that painting, the one to the right depicts an earlier fall landscape and features vibrant, autumn hues, creating a sense of warmth and comfort. Krafft’s colorful palette compliments his adaptation of the seasons, both of which were painted in the same area.

Krafft’s talent in the arts would prove to be a secure source of living. As the demand for artists rose, he left his job as a commercial designer to focus solely on his artwork. Throughout his career as a painter he also turned to teaching, and was the founder and president of many art leagues and schools including The Municipal Art League, the Society of Painters of the Forest Preserve, the Society of Ozark Painters, and the Oak Park Art League, which is still active today. He also had the honor of exhibiting his works nationally at such venues as The Art Institute of Chicago, the St. Louis Museum, The John Herron Museum in Indianapolis, the National Academy of Design, Grand Central Art Galleries, and at the Allied Artists of America where he was awarded a gold medal in 1926.

Today, Krafft’s work is still displayed in museums and private collections across the country. His works not only represent the beauty of the Ozark Mountains, but also the group of regionalist painters who devoted their energies to capturing the beauty and quiet spirit of the American Midwest landscape.



Works Cited
http://www.krafft.us/An_Artists_Life/contents.html
http://opal-art.com/historical/krafffall.htm
http://thisoldpalette.blogspot.com/2010/08/carl-krafft.html
http://www.rhlovegalleries.com/site/epage/19599_472.htm


Written and researched by Rachel Swain.

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

George Edgar Ohr: "The Mad Potter"

George Edgar Ohr (1857-1918) may not be well known internationally, but his artistic production was prolific to say the least. Proud to hold the moniker “Mad Potter of Biloxi” Ohr was always convinced that he would eventually be recognized as a genius, even if it occurred after his death. For the past few years, work was being done on a new museum in his honor to showcase his prodigious oeuvre.

Ohr was born in Mississippi and moved to New Orleans in 1850 where he first experimented in ceramics. He studied under the potter Joseph Fortune Meyer and in the 1880s, traveled all over the states to acquaint himself with the work and interest of other potters. Upon returning to Biloxi in 1883, Ohr built a pottery shop next to his father’s house in hopes of earning a living creating art, not pots. “Pot-Ohr-E” was unsuccessful to say the least. Employing local, red clay from the banks of the Tchoutacabouffa River, Ohr’s creations ranged from ordinary pitchers and planters to his pride and joy, “mud babies”. These were pieces formed into fantastic shapes and glazed with vibrant colors. Although his craftsmanship was remarkable and unmatched by any other potter, Ohr’s style was unappreciated by other artists of the time, lacking the classical style that was popular. Many were interested in his work, but because Ohr refused to sell his pieces for less than what they were worth in gold, his shop faired poorly. The world was not yet worthy for the eccentric and contemporary works of George Edgar Ohr.

After a fire left his pottery shop in ruins, Ohr vigorously labored to complete thousands of pieces, most between the years 1895 and 1905. His created numerous pots, pitchers and vases, all of which mirrored his eccentricity. They were outrageous and amazing, and consisted of wild hues and colors. Their shapes and design were anything but symmetrical and often had a crumpled-bag look to them. Even the handles for his vases and pitchers were unusual. He showcased them at fairs and exhibitions, employing unconventional and wacky advertisements to lure customers, boasting “no two alike”.

As much time and effort Ohr placed on advertising, he hated selling his pieces. Often not wanting to depart from his most beloved works, he would put extravagant prices on them in hopes of deterring any sale. In the rare occasion when a customer did purchase one of his ceramics, he would go to extremes to retrieve the item back, even chasing them down the street, their money in hand. In 1909, at the age of 52, after not selling a “mud baby” for nearly 25 years, Ohr closed his shop and never threw another pot. He spent the rest of his life in madness until he died at the age of 60 of throat cancer.

His “mad” creations and goofy portraits characterize him today as the Salvador Dali of pottery. A self-proclaimed oddball, he thrived on imperfection and often patronized the art world by deliberately distorting his perfectly made objects. Locals thought him insane, while artists of the time simply misunderstood him. He described his work as "unequaled, undisputed, unrivaled”. By the 1950s, a school of Abstract Expressionism ceramics had been born and artists began to take notice of Ohr’s work. Today, his abstract pieces are highly coveted and his work sells for thousands. The world finally accepted Ohr as the great potter he always knew he was.

William Woodward’s “Biloxi Art Pottery,” 1890s. Oil painting. Collection of the Biloxi Public Library.

Researched and written Shanna Seiberlich.

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

George Catlin

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, MIR would like to highlight an influential artist whose depictions of the Old West and portraits of Native Americans remind us of the origins of the Harvest Feast Holiday. While Thanksgiving is a time for feasts and giving thanks, MIR gives thanks to this prolific artist as he reminds us of the beauty of American Indian culture.




George Catlin was born in Pennsylvania in 1796 to a mother who helped foster his fascination for the American Indians. She recounted stories of the Western Frontier and of her time as a captive of an Indian tribe.

Catlin was inspired by what he called a ‘vanishing race’ and began collecting artifacts and studying the cultures of many tribes throughout North America. He became, by most standards, a historian of Native Americans.

He first studied art at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and painted members of the Seneca tribe living on a nearby Indian Reservation. Catlin was mostly a portrait painter, depicting the ‘true Americans’ in full garb and face paint to show off their culture and beauty. The portraits he produced included men, women and children from many different tribes including Pawnee, Mandan, Hidatsa, Sioux, Ponca, Arikara, Plains Ojibwa, Plains Cree, Santee, Seminole, Iroquois and countless others.

In 1830, Catlin traveled to St. Louis and met William Clark. He accompanied him to Upper Mississippi, Leavenworth and Ft. Laramie, all the while recording what he saw with both pen and paint. His writings became as famous as his paintings, recounting colorful tales of Indian life and entertaining stories of Catlin’s interactions with the tribesmen and women. His writings, so detailed and thoughtful, would often help him to finish his paintings, re-doing them at a later date to better evoke the realism that his pen took note of.

His writings, paintings, and numerous artifacts ended up, in 1838, in Catlin’s Indian Gallery on display. Catlin wanted to relay all he had learned from his travels out West, and so the artist and writer began giving lectures and recounting his tales of the lives of the American Indians. He also wrote of his experiences in a published book from 1848, titled Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians.




The images George Catlin left behind are colorfully detailed accounts of the American West in the mid 19th century. His passion for the American Indians, their culture, and their impact on North America has spurred countless paintings, writings, and historical documentation from this artist and historian.

The contents from the Indian Gallery now reside in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

So as we all prepare our turkeys on the 25th of November, we should also think back to the influential people who are responsible for Thanksgiving. While many of us think of pilgrims and Indians, what better way to remember than to see the art of George Catlin.




Researched and written Taylor Maatman.

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Getting Ready for Winter with Edward Willis Redfield

The enchanting landscapes of Edward Willis Redfield are some of the most popular American Impressionist paintings in history. The artist was born in Delaware in late December of 1869. He exhibited artistic talent at a young age and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later traveled abroad to England and France. While in France, Refield took influences from Impressionist painters Monet, Pissarro, and Thaulow, an artist most famous for his winter scenes. These painters’ technique of painting en plain-air served as a model for Redfield, and like many Impressionists before him, the Fountainebleu Forest became the subject of his first major break. Road-Forest of Fountainebleu was a turning point in Redfield’s career and helped him procure his first solo show at the Doll and Richards Gallery in Boston. The painting was the first snow scene Redfield took directly from nature, a theme the artist would continue throughout his career.

In 1893, Redfield married a woman from London whom he met while travelling abroad. Economic difficulties of the late 19th century forced the couple to move to a farm in Center Bridge, Pennsylvania. The necessity of living off the land and dealing with nature’s unpredictability became inspiration again for the artist. While the shift in economy created an urban world of impersonality and loss of self-discovery, Redfield’s respect for nature deepened. His winter landscapes, perhaps the most compelling of his paintings, were painted in zero degree weather, with blowing winds and freezing snowfall. In an article from 1906, writer B.J.O. Flower proclaimed that Redfield was a man who confronted life with directness and intensity. This sentiment was shared by many Americans at the time, for the differences between city and country life were always at the forefront of their minds. Even for painters, the difference in character came from a difference in environment.

From 1900 to 1910, Redfield painted a number of snow scenes outdoors in one sitting. The artist wanted to capture the spontaneity of light and color of one day or just a part of a day. In doing so Redfield creates some of the most memorable Impressionist snowscapes from the early 1900’s. In Hillside at Center Bridge from 1904, Redfield depicts the transient effects of light and atmosphere. His swift technique is evident as quick brushstrokes create the dead grasses along the bank, making the painting an immediate experience of the viewer.
At the apex of his career he had exhibited at fifteen solo shows and was awarded over twenty-seven prizes for his paintings. His paintings now hang in some of the most prestigious museums in the world.

(The painting below, titled “Snow Scene: Lumberville, Pennsylvania” sold for $163,800 at auction in June of 2009.)

Getting Ready for Winter with Edward Willis Redfield

Home by the River

The enchanting landscapes of Edward Willis Redfield are some of the most popular American Impressionist paintings in history. The artist was born in Delaware in late December of 1869. He exhibited artistic talent at a young age and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later traveled abroad to England and France. In France, Refield took influences from Impressionist painters Monet, Pissarro, and Thaulow, an artist most famous for his winter scenes.

These painters’ technique of painting en plain-air served as a model for Redfield, and like many Impressionists before him, the Fountainebleu Forest became the subject of his first major break. Road-Forest of Fountainebleu was a turning point in Redfield’s career and helped him procure his first solo show at the Doll and Richards Gallery in Boston. The painting was the first snow scene Redfield took directly from nature, a theme the artist would continue throughout his career.

The Village of Center Bridge

By 1893, Redfield was married to a London woman he met in his travels abroad. The economic difficulties of the late 19th century drove the couple to the country. Living on a farm in Center Bridge, Pennsylvania, the necessity to live off the land and deal with nature’s unpredictability became inspiration again for the artist. While the shift in economy created an urban world of impersonality and loss of self-discovery, Redfield’s respect for nature deepened. His winter landscapes, perhaps the most compelling of his paintings, were painted in zero degree weather, with blowing winds and freezing snowfall.

In an article from 1906, writer B.J.O. Flower proclaimed that Redfield was a man who confronted life with directness and intensity. This sentiment was shared by many Americans at the time, for the differences between city and country life were always at the forefront of their minds. Even for painters, the difference in character came from a difference in environment.

Hillside at Center Bridge

From 1900 to 1910, Redfield painted a number of snow scenes outdoors in one sitting. The artist wanted to capture the spontaneity of light and color of one day or just a part of a day. In doing so Redfield creates some of the most memorable Impressionist snowscapes from the early 1900’s. In Hillside at Center Bridge from 1904, Redfield depicts the transient effects of light and atmosphere. His swift technique is evident as quick brushstrokes create the dead grasses along the bank, making the painting an immediate experience of the viewer.

The painter was now in the apex of his career. He exhibited at fifteen solo shows and was awarded over twenty-seven prizes for his paintings. His paintings now hang in some of the most prestigious museums in the world.

(The painting below, titled Snow Scene: Lumberville, Pennsylvania sold for $163,800 at auction in June of 2009.)

Snow Scene: Lumberville, Pennsylvania

Works Cited:

Kimmerle, Constance, and Edward Willis Redfield. Edward W. Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing. Doylestown, PA: James A. Michener Art Museum, 2004. Print.

http://www.questroyalfineart.com/artist/edward-willis-redfield

Grandma Moses: A Unique Artist

Grandma Moses, born Anna Mary Robertson in 1860, in New York, was a renowned American folk artist in the early 20^thcentury. Her images are easily recognizable and popular in demand, emitting a sense of comfort and nostalgia. What makes Grandma Moses such a unique artist is that she did not bloom as a painter until her late 70s. Although her work sold for thousands of dollars, she was self-taught and lacked having any formal art training. It was because of her primitive style as a painter that made her such a success.

Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses depicted simple scenes that reflected rural life and the countryside in the 1800s. She often featured families and communities in midst of honest, hard work exemplifying the traditional American way of life during that period. Such tasks as husking corn, butter churning, making soap and tending to livestock were characterized in her pictures portraying farm life.

A Fine Gobbler (left), Thunderstorm (right)

She often painted seasonal pictures of Vermont, upstate New York and Hoosick Valley, from which she could see from her window. Many of the images were painted from memory, including the clothing, household items and furniture. Detailed and colorful, the landscapes appear one dimensional, the houses and trees patterned across the frame and the key figures seemingly flat. Reminiscent of child book illustrations, her style brought forth a sense of happiness and charm.

A Beautiful World

Most all of Grandma Moses’ paintings were painted on old pieces of wood, adding a certain authenticity to the composition. Her paintings were popular images for the holidays and were soon reproduced on Christmas cards, tiles and fabrics and distributed all over the world. Overall, she painted more than 1600 paintings.

A Checkered House

During the Depression she was trying to sell her paintings at the Women’s Exchange, when she was discovered by an art collector. By 1939, she had three showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She became a national icon in the 1950s and was cited by the National Press Club as being one of the five most newsworthy women of 1950. She even made an appearance on the Edward R. Murrow television show and her photo graced the cover of Time magazine in 1953. Despite her fame, Grandma Moses remained dedicated to her family and true to herself. “If people want to make a fuss over me, I let’em, but I was the same person before as I am now,” she once told reporters.