Auctions | Impressionist art into the 5 figures

A rising tide lifts all boats, and not only at sea and in the economy (as politicians like to say). Revived interest in Pennsylvania impressionism is focusing attention on lesser-known painters of the Bucks County school.

Pook & Pook's fine-arts sale Oct. 26 is a case in point.

Some of the top prices in the sale - which will begin at 6 p.m. at the gallery, 463 E. Lancaster Ave. in Downingtown - are expected for such well-known impressionists as Walter Baum, Edward Willis Redfield, and John Folinsbee. An autumn landscape by Redfield is expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000, according to presale estimates in the online catalog.

Folinsbee's October Maples is expected to sell for $12,000 to $18,000, and a double-ended landscape by Baum, the front depicting an autumn scene, the reverse a winter landscape, carries an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.

But the auction also features more affordable Bucks County scenes. The Rose Garden at Carversville, an oil-on-canvas by Laurence A. Campbell, has a presale estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. Walking Bridge at Lumberville, Bucks County by William Jachwak is expected to bring $800 to $1,200. And Delaware Water Gap by Clarence Ira Dreisbach has a presale estimate of $400 to $800.

Also represented in the sale are other local artists, some better known than others, as well as other painting motifs. A half-dozen Andrew Wyeth collotypes are expected to sell for between $800 and $1,200.

But The Old Mill at Chadds Ford by fellow Brandywine artist Leal Mack is expected to sell for $2,000 to $3,000, Peter Hurd's oil-on-canvas of a horse and foal is expected to bring $1,500 to $2,500, and a pastel by Barclay Lawrence Jacob Rubincam titled Morning Along the Brandywine carries a $6,000-$9,000 estimate.

Cityscapes, notably highly collectible winter scenes of Manhattan, also will be featured. There are a half-dozen oil-on-board scenes by the 20th-century American Bela DeTirefort, including two of Washington Square (estimates: $300-$500 and $2,000-$2,500).

A street scene of Fifth Avenue by the American Johann Bethelsen is expected to sell for $15,000 to $20,000. And from the same Laurence Campbell who did Bucks County scenes comes an oil-on-canvas New York winter scene of the Flatiron Building with a presale estimate of $25,000 to $35,000.

Other American artists represented include John Philip Falter, Arthur Meltzer, Ben Austrian, Alice Kent Stoddard, Eric Sloane, Red Grooms, Henry Clarence Pitz, Joseph Hirsch, Ben Shahn, Elizabeth Osborne, Dorothy Van Loan, and duck-stamp artist Richard Evett Bishop. The auction also features bronzes by American and European artists and European paintings.

In fact, the lot with the top presale estimate is an oil-on-canvas wooded landscape by the French painter Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, titled Sous bois, dans le parc de Merantais, a Magny-les-Hameaux (Seine-et-Oise). Done between 1855 and 1870, it is expected to sell for $125,000 to $175,000.

Previews are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 23 and 24, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 25, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 26. Online absentee bidding also will be offered. For more information, call 610-269-4040 or go to www.pookandpook.com.

Dolls and miniatures. Dolls in a wide variety of makes (Heubach, Simon & Halbig, Madame Alexander) and depictions (Howdy Doody and Snow White) will be offered by Ron Rhoads Auctioneers beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the first session of a two-day sale at the Rhoads & Rhoads Auction Center, 20 Bonnie Brae Rd., Spring City.

The second session, beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday, will feature dollhouses, furniture, and other miniatures from a variety of sources.

Previews are 8 to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow. Information: 610-385-4818.