Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2008 Issue
Californiana Art from the Arader Galleries
Half Dome Yosemite by George Henry Smillie.
Oaks near San Rafael, California, is a pastoral scene by the "Dean of California Artists," William Keith. His early career was marked by epic, realistic paintings, often of mountain scenes. His later works, and this is one, are moodier and more suggestive. In this one, a darkened, wooded path leads to a sunlit field with grazing cows in the distance. The change in style likely reflects years spent studying in Europe. This scene was painted in 1887, after his return. Keith had a studio in San Francisco, and of the roughly 4,000 paintings he created, half were destroyed in the fire ensuing from the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. $38,000.
George Henry Smillie offers another take on the spectacular scenery of Yosemite in this 1915 work, Half Dome Yosemite. Smillie spent most of his life in the East, painting New England and New York scenes. However, he also traveled a fair amount, and one of those destinations was the Yosemite Valley. In this painting, a brightly lit, stark mountain outcropping dwarfs the Sequoia trees surrounding its base. $350,000.
The Arader San Francisco Gallery may be reached at 415-788-5115. Their website is www.aradersf.com.
Rare Book Monthly
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Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Reaffirms the US Treaty of Friendship and Peace with Morocco, the Longest Unbroken Treaty in US History. $50,000 – 80,000.Freeman’s, August 20. Weeks After Victory at Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin Promises Repayment of a French Loan that Funded the American Revolution. $200,000 – 300,000.Freeman’s, August 20. Rare First Edition of the Foundational Text of the Mormon Church. $100,000 – 150,000.Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Sends the First Major Law Passed by Congress, the Tariff Act of 1789. $100,000 – 150,000.Freeman’s, August 20. A Scarce Example of Audubon's Depiction of a Brown Pelican, Plate CCLI from his Birds of America. $30,000 – 50,000.Freeman’s, August 20. The Official and First Obtainable Broadside Printing of the Lincoln's Final Emancipation Proclamation. $30,000 – 50,000. -
