Lot Essay
Born in Maine in 1893, Earl Cunningham had an early attraction to the sea. He purchased a sailboat during the early 1900s, studied navigation and sailed on cargo vessels in and around Florida. These images of ships and sea, often remembered from his early journies, appear throughout Cunningham's paintings. In 1949 the artist settled in St. Augustine, Florida. Here Cunningham opened a curiousity shop called The Over-Fork Gallery where he spent the remainder of his life painting waterscapes to reflect his own unique vision of the world.
Since his death in 1977, Cunningham's work has received signficant attention. In 1970, the Orlando Museum of Art organized the first major Cunningham exhibition, and his works have been shown throughout the country and as far as Japan over the past decade. In her review of Cunningham's work the renowned art critic Robert Smith writes: "It is fabuluously Technicolored...it teems with bright, often closely observed flora and fauna--all rendered in unexpected textures and often ingenious brushwork. But most wonderful of all may be the odd spatial illusions of these images...This means that Cunningham's bits of riotous terra firma...seem suspended in a world of pure, highly reflective light, like so many forms trapped in beautiful amber. Cunningham's is a verdant earthly paradise, all the more amazing for being ser (seen?) in a modernist monochrome lighted by Disney" (R. Smith, New York Times, February 17, 1995, p. C30).
Since his death in 1977, Cunningham's work has received signficant attention. In 1970, the Orlando Museum of Art organized the first major Cunningham exhibition, and his works have been shown throughout the country and as far as Japan over the past decade. In her review of Cunningham's work the renowned art critic Robert Smith writes: "It is fabuluously Technicolored...it teems with bright, often closely observed flora and fauna--all rendered in unexpected textures and often ingenious brushwork. But most wonderful of all may be the odd spatial illusions of these images...This means that Cunningham's bits of riotous terra firma...seem suspended in a world of pure, highly reflective light, like so many forms trapped in beautiful amber. Cunningham's is a verdant earthly paradise, all the more amazing for being ser (seen?) in a modernist monochrome lighted by Disney" (R. Smith, New York Times, February 17, 1995, p. C30).