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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF NINA & ARTHUR A. HOUGHTON, JR. (LOTS 174-184)Lots 174-184 come from the distinguished collection of Nina R. and Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Mr. Houghton was an influential patron of the arts as well as a renowned collector in his own right. His early focus on the collection of manuscripts and first edition books by renowned English authors later expanded to include distinguished literary objects such as two Gutenberg Bibles and the incomparable Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp (folios of which were offered by Christie's in 1976 and 1988). He formed an outstanding collection of miniature books, English silver, and acquired over time a small but exquisite group of artworks, including the watercolours and works on paper offered here, as well as paintings by Francesco Guardi, Thomas Sully, Jean Honore Fragonard, and Hendrik Reekers among others. Today, Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and numerous other institutions are the beneficiaries of generous donations made by Mr. Houghton from the various collections he formed during his lifetime. Notably, he endowed the Houghton Library at Harvard as a repository for the university's collections of rare books and manuscripts. Mr. Houghton was a board member of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Museum, vice chairman of a committee to create Lincoln Center, vice president of the Pierpont Morgan Library, trustee and chairman of the Cooper Union, trustee and chairman of the Parsons School of Design, and co-founder of the Corning Museum of Glass. Arthur Houghton married Nina Rodale in 1972, and together they lived on the Eastern shore of Maryland with their children. Nina Rodale Houghton was a life-long supporter of educational institutions and causes, serving as Trustee of the Wye Institute, Trustee of Goucher College, a board member of the Columbus Center in Baltimore, and an advisory group member to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She was a member of the Board of Visitors to John Hopkins Medicine, a member of the Board of Visitors of University of Maryland College Park, and a board member of the Aspen Institute. Before marrying Mr. Houghton, she worked with the Sea Mammal Motivational Institute (SEAMAMM) studying and training seals and sea lions aboard a research vessel with her family for four years, which was covered in depth in a November 1968 National Geographic article. Mildred Eldridge, known as ‘Elsi’, is best known as a painter in watercolour of delicate, detailed studies of birds and flowers. She studied at the Royal College of Art in the early 1930s, where her tutors included Eric Ravilious, Gilbert Spencer, Edward Bawden and Alan Sorrell, and at the end of her studies won a travelling scholarship which allowed her to spend several months in Italy. On returning she worked with other women students from the R.C.A. on the mural at Brockley School, exhibited at the Royal Academy and held a highly successful exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery, Bruton Street in 1937. However, shortly afterwards she left the London art scene and went to teach at Moreton Hall School, near Chirk, North Wales. Here she met her husband, the poet R.S. Thomas, at the time a local curate. In the 1940s, whilst living in Manafon, Montgomeryshire, she began working on The Dance of Life, a 46 square metre mural on six panels, for the hospital at Gobowen, near Oswestry. This large-scale allegorical vision of humanity’s growing alienation from the natural world is now on view at Glyndwr University, Wrexham, and although at first glance is very different from her ornithological work, her continued interest in human interactions with nature brings them together. Her work became increasingly focussed on her rural environment through the 1950s and 60s, as she and her husband moved around parishes in north Wales. Her studies of birds and plants were sold at the R.W.S. and reproduced as Medici cards.

MILDRED E. ELDRIDGE (BRITISH 1909-1991)

Studies of jacksnipe

Details

MILDRED E. ELDRIDGE (BRITISH 1909-1991)
Studies of jacksnipe
signed and dated 'M.E. ELDRIDGE. 1976' (lower right), inscribed 'Jacksnipe - LYMNOCRYPTES MINIMUS' (lower left) and further inscribed with the artist's notes throughout
pencil and watercolour on paper
15 1/8 x 11 7/8 in. (38.4 x 30 cm.)

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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