Lot 28

PROPERTY FROM THE MARVILL COLLECTIONlots 28-50In March of 1976 I heard about a show that was opening at the Brooklyn Museum titled Folk Sculpture USA. I had a long-standing interest in folk sculpture and a lifetime passion for art, but I did not have a clue what to expect. Upon entering the exhibition, I was immediately struck by the presence of objects that I never knew existed: they were not necessarily pretty, cute or easy to digest, but they spoke to me with a power, elegance and directness that I had never encountered before. Moving from one object to the next and reading the accompanying captions, a name kept coming up over and over again… The Marvill Collection. What was the Marvill Collection? Who were its prolific owners? I had to find out more. As it turned out, the “Marvills” were Marvin (Mickey) and Jill Baten. To say that the objects collected under that name were just marvelous would be a gross understatement. It was, for me, an epiphany. I was totally moved, blown away, indelibly marked. From that day, I was not the same person again. Most importantly, I was determined to learn as much as I could about the objects I had just discovered; to find out if there were more of them out there in the world. That day took me on a 35-year journey and was the beginning of a cherished friendship that continues to his day. - Frank MarescaCarefully curated and developed over four decades, the Marvill Collection contains superb examples of American Outsider Art and vernacular sculpture. Some pieces within the collection are by well-known Outsider artists including William Hawkins, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Morton Bartlett and Thornton Dial. Others are works by unnamed makers whose sculptural sophistication supersedes their anonymity. Throughout, the collection revels in freedom of artistic expression and exploration of creativity, threads that unify the wide range of agendas embodied in these 23 lots. The collection celebrates powerful objects and shows that pieces of all types – whether full-sized tin figures (lot 47) or gate weights (lot 46) – have the capacity to command notice and embody beauty when created with the highest levels of artistry. In some instances, surfaces expose the sculptures’ histories, showing collaboration between artists and the passing of time. Weathered paint on Bust of a Woman (lot 42) hints at her original color scheme and shows a surface in continued evolution; Swordfish Weathervane's patina (lot 48) developed when the object was exposed to the Maine elements. Other sculptures are mysterious objects, hinting at their original purposes through form, but not fully revealing their pasts. Dancing Root Figure (lot 31) is a magnificent carving discovered in New Orleans in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina. The careful rendering of his face and the preservation of his surface suggest the figure was carefully housed and important. Perhaps he was an object of New Orleans Voodoo culture. Monumental Torso (lot 37), found in upstate New York, has a recess in his back indicating he was originally mounted on a larger structure. What that structure was – a ship, a wagon, a building – is still unknown. The Marvill Collection also includes flat art, comprising paintings, drawings, photographs, reliefs and embroidery. Two colorful, crisp enamel paintings by William Hawkins (lots 28 and 38), made circa 1982, should be examined in relation to the artist’s other works of the early 1980s, while photographs by Morton Bartlett (lot 29) and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (lot 30) are perhaps best explored through the other types of objects in the artists’ oeuvres. However, as with the sculpture, the range and depth of the Marvill Collection guards against solely artist-led readings of flat art. Peter Pill-Eater (lot 45), a stellar, anonymous ink-on-paper drawing, has strong visual resonances with European Art Brut as well as Pennsylvania German fraktur. Two abstracted embroidered scenes of upstate New York (lot 41) are unpredictably stylized images that begin with – but rapidly depart from – traditional needlework agendas. Over the decades Jill and Mickey Baten fearlessly acquired with an intuitive and incredible eye masterpieces of American folk and self-taught art that are shockingly, powerfully, totally fresh. I met the Batens at my first gallery (Ricco/Johnson) when they came in response to an ad I’d placed for a sublime horse weathervane in weathered grained grey wood, its author unknown. They purchased it on the spot and at that moment began a mutual admiration and respect between the three of us. In a real sense the Batens are archeologists…rare collectors with an amazing eye who had the insight and curiosity to recognize, enjoy and preserve museum-worthy art so extraordinary in its content and made by unknown and barely-known masters within our American art heritage.- Roger RiccoPROPERTY FROM THE MARVILL COLLECTION

William Hawkins (1895-1990)

Yaekle Building, dated 1982

Details

William Hawkins (1895-1990)
Yaekle Building, dated 1982
signed and inscribed WILLIAM.L.HAWKINS BON IN JULY 27 - 1895 PAINt 1982 MARCH 20 to 30
enamel and glitter on thick paper
44 x 52 1/4 in.

Provenance

Lee Garrett, Columbus, Ohio (acquired directly from the artist)
Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York

Lot Essay

This is one of approximately five large-scale enamel-on-paper works completed by William Hawkins (1895-1990). The artist rendered three variations of the Yaekle building, a Columbus, Ohio landmark, one of which is a promised gift to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (BST-116). For more information on the artist, see lots 8 and 38.

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