Art

Interchangeable cufflinks, dime size 17.91mm

When Beth de Loiselle—a painter and instructor of fine arts—met up with the work of Susan Smith Burnett and Paul Eaton—both designers and makers of fine bespoke jewelry—the result was art for wearing, not hanging.

Dog and Horse Fine Art Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina was representing these fine artists individually, but gallery owner Jaynie Spector also saw advantages to be derived by connecting the painter, de Loiselle, with the jewelers, Burnett and Eaton. She scheduled a sporting art event at the gallery and prompted Beth to furnish miniature horse portraits for cufflinks.

Lot 51, Franklin Brooke Voss (American, 1880–1953), THE MIDDLESEX FOXHOUNDS IN THE MILLBROOK COUNTRY, signed, dated 1921, $8,000. – 10,000

Sunday, November 17, 2019 will mark the seventh annual Sporting Art Auction at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion—a cooperative venture between the world’s largest Thoroughbred auction house and its Lexington, Kentucky neighbor, Cross Gate Gallery, a leading source of the world’s finest sporting art. Collectors will take home works by highly regarded artists at prices possibly as low as $900, many under $3,000...others, truly exceptional works, as high as six figures.

This year’s offerings feature 189 lots of paintings and sculptures by masters long gone as well as by leading contemporary sporting artists of the day. Among the European artists represented are Henry Alken, Peter Curling, John Emms, Harry Hall, the various Herrings, Michael Lyne, Sir Alfred Munnings, and many others. American artists this year include Paul Brown, Juli Kirk, Booth Malone, LeRoy Neiman, Sandra Oppegard, Andre Pater, and Larry Wheeler.

Linda Volrath from White Post, Virginjia, with one of her oils, a handsomely mounted huntsman, Jordan Hicks, and his Piedmont foxhounds  /  Middleburg Photo

The American Academy of Equine Art, after an absence of thirty years, has returned to its original home, Middleburg, Virginia, with a delightful exhibit of equine art. The works chosen for the AAEA 39th Annual Open Juried Exhibition will be available for viewing until October 26, 2019 from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Saturday, at the newly occupied headquarters of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, 301 East Washington Street (U.S. Route 50), Middleburg, Virginia 20117.

The MFHA headquarters is “a beautiful facility inside and out, fully restored and expanded,” writes AAEA President Booth Malone. “The Academy plans to give them a show they can be proud of.”

Ellen Emmet Rand painted by Mary Foote in 1907A new exhibit, Leading the Field: Ellen Emmet Rand, opens at the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) with a reception for members on October 4, 2019, and will hang through March 22, 2020. Rand was the first female student of American painter and sculptor Frederick MacMonnies, spent decades studying and painting in Paris, and for decades more was a successful portrait painter, commuting from her beloved Connecticut farm to her studio in New York City and across the country on commissions. Her subjects included sportsmen and women, captains of industry, judges, lawyers, socialites, children, and politicians—notably the first presidential portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

During a journey that fulfilled her dream of becoming a foxhunter, she crossed paths with some of the most influential sporting figures of the 1920s and 1930s, memorializing Masters of several prestigious hunts such as Fletcher Harper of Orange County (VA), Dr. Howard Collins of Millbrook (NY), and Evelyn Thayer Burr of Norfolk (MA). This important exhibition brings together several of these sporting commissions as well as paintings, studies, and sketches of the artist’s family and friends, and creates a personal picture of Rand as a fiercely talented painter, loving mother, countrywoman, and horsewoman.

The New Forest Foxhounds by John Emms

John Emms (1843–1912) is one of the most admired animal painters of the nineteenth century. He was an avid foxhunter himself, and his paintings of foxhounds are easily recognizable as clearly and uniquely his work. The postures, characteristic attitudes, and expressions of Emms foxhounds, in kennels especially, confirm his hand before even seeing his signature. I can stare from one hound to the other and the essence of his foxhounds will awaken even my olfactory senses and suggest my presence in a well-kept foxhound kennel.

Oil painting by Andre PaterThe Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky will mount a retrospective exhibit of the impressive work of Andre Pater. Sixty-six equine, sporting, and recent Native American works borrowed from private collections will hang from Friday, September 13 to Sunday, November 17, 2019. The closing day will coincide with the Keeneland Sporting Art Auction in that city.

Mr. Pater will give a talk on Saturday, September 14, the first full day of the exhibition. He has been described by many as the heir to the late Sir Alfred Munning’s throne, and a glance at his racing and hunting works are convincing evidence that the comparison is valid.

Foxhounds and Terrier, oil painting by John Emms

John Emms (1843–1912) is certainly one of the most admired animal painters of the nineteenth century. He was an avid foxhunter himself, and his paintings of foxhounds are easily recognizable—clearly and uniquely his work. The postures, characteristic attitudes, and expressions of Emms foxhounds, in kennels especially, confirm his hand before ever seeing a signature. I can stare from one hound to the other and the essence of his foxhounds will awaken even my olfactory senses and suggest my presence in a well-kept foxhound kennel.

Born on April 21, 1843, the son of an amateur artist in Norfolk, England, the young Emms moved to London where he apprenticed with the great academic painter, Lord Frederick Leighton. Emms very quickly developed his own distinctive style, however, and soon struck out on his own.

Heather St. Clair-Davis, On Scent, oil on canvas, 18” x 24”A selection of sporting and other contemporary equine art from the renowned Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky is now on exhibit at the Willcox Hotel in Aiken, South Carolina until the end of April.

This year’s exhibition features works by the late Heather St. Clair-Davis, Michael Lyne, Henry Koehler, as well as contemporaries Andre Pater, Larry Wheeler, Sandra Oppegard, Russian-born Valeriy Gridnev, and other highly regarded artists. Painting in several sporting disciplines—foxhunting, Thoroughbred racing, hunter/jumpers, coaching, and shooting—the exhibit provides a broad presentation of equine and field sport this year.

Heading Home by Beth Carlson

Dog and Horse Fine Art gallery in Charleston, South Carolina, is currently hosting an exhibit of new sporting art created for the occasion by leading contemporary artists. The exhibit will be on display until March 16, 2019, and a percentage of sales will benefit the Masters of Foxhounds Foundation.

Beth Carlson, Joseph Sulkowski, and Larry Wheeler will be among the sporting painters featured in the exhibit. Jewelers Paul Eaton and Beth and Burnett de Loiselle will also be exhibiting their sporting miniatures in both jewelry, oil paintings, and sculpture.

Lot 49, Portrait of a Hound, Franklin Voss (1880–1953), American, oil on board, 12" x 16", signed, dated 1939, Probably commissioned by Anderson Fowler, MFH, Essex Fox Hounds (NJ): $5,000--7,000

November 18, 2018 will mark the sixth annual Sporting Art Auction at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion—a cooperative venture between the world’s largest Thoroughbred auction house and its Lexington, Kentucky neighbor, Cross Gate Gallery, a leading source of the world’s finest sporting art. Collectors will take home works of artistic merit at prices possibly as low as $2,000, many under $5,000, and others as high as six figures.

This year’s offerings, curated by Greg Ladd, feature 175 lots of painting and sculpture by masters long gone as well as by leading sporting artists of the day. Among the European artists represented are Cecil Alden, Samuel Alken, Lionel Edwards, John Emms, John Ferneley, Harry Hall, John Herring, Michael Lyne, Sir Alfred Munnings, and Belinda Sillars. American artists include Jean Bowman, Paul Brown, Herbert Haseltine, Julie Kirk, Booth Malone, Leroy Neiman, Richard Stone Reeves, Edward Troye, Larry Wheeler, and Franklin Voss. Also included are six works by America’s reigning ‘rock star’ of today’s sporting art world, Andre Pater.