William Vareika Fine Arts

02/08/2024

12/06/2023

For the second day of Christmas, at The Art & Antique Dealers League of America and the National Antique & Art Dealers Association’s online antiques and fine art show we feature this very rare George Biddle Bronze sculpture “Tahitian Woman with Children.”

Artist George Biddle (1885-1973) was childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establishing the Federal Art Project (1935-43), which employed artists under the Works Progress Administration. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Biddle enrolled at Julien’s Academy in Paris to study painting, but when the United States entered World War I, Biddle volunteered for army service and was sent to France. At war’s end, like many another young man of that time, he took up residence in a foreign land. But unlike many others he had a specific goal in mind: to isolate himself for a year or two to devote himself to uninterrupted painting, choosing a remote village on the island of Tahiti where he lived with the natives, learning their language, and working on his art. Late in 1922 he left the South Seas, his course as an artist firmly fixed.

This 1923 Bronze was produced at The Valsuani foundry, founded by the Italian brothers Claude and Attilio Valsuani. Among the better known sculptors who used the Valsuani foundry to cast their works were: Degas, Rodin, Renoir, Gauguin, Maillol, Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Giacometti, Brancusi.

Discover an array of treasures including this artwork at incollect.com/twelvedays2023

Artwork & Image Details: George Biddle (1885-1973) “Tahitian Woman with Children” 1923, Bronze; 17 inches high; 13 ½ inch diameter; Signed and dated; Claude Valsuani Foundry Stamp

09/14/2023

09/09/2023

08/01/2023

The outermost of the Elizabeth Islands, Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts was first occupied in 1602 as an outpost for harvesting sassafras, arguably making it the first English settlement in New England.
Painted by American Impressionist artist Harry Neyland (1877-1958) around 1930, this view known as “Lookout Hill” has remained relatively unchanged over time. The treacherous waters of the Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay were tricky for novices to navigate. Early in the island's history, Cuttyhunk pilots stood atop Lookout Hill with spyglasses in hand, scanning the horizon for incoming whaling ships headed for New Bedford, in need of guidance services. In 1903, Cuttyhunk pilots guided as many as eleven ships a day to New Bedford harbor.
Harry Neyland was an expert on the whaling industry and lived in the New Bedford area starting in 1911 and maintained a studio on Cuttyhunk until the hurricane of 1938.

Artwork details:
Harry Neyland (1877-1958)
“View from Lookout Hill” c. 1930
Oil on canvas; 24 x 36 inches
Signed, lower right

07/28/2023

07/06/2023