ECA record control number: 26452
Archives of American Art #: -none-
Record level: Item
Record type: Movable work
Work title: Marketplace at St. Thomas, no. 2 [from canvas label verso in the artist’s own hand]
Alternate work titles:
ca.1915 : Marketplace at St. Thomas, no. 2 [from canvas label verso in the artist’s own hand]
Work Date: ca.1915 [date based on first known mention of the painting]
Work Creator: Emil Carlsen [1848-1932]
Work Medium: Oil on panel
Work Dimensions: 8-3/4 x 6-1/2 inches
Inscribed/Signed:
Marking type: Black in estate stamp (on behalf of another) or personal ownership stamp of private collection.
Location: Lower left frame and lower left painting verso (upside down).
Text: ‘JOHN E. HOUSER / ATTORNEY AT LAW / FLORIDA NATIONAL BANK BLDG / JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32202’.
Marking type: White horizontal rectangular label with rounded edges, faded and dirty, printed and typewriter written.
Location: Top middle frame verso.
Text: ‘HAMMER GALLERIES / 51 EAST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10022 [printed and crossed out with faded felt tip marker] / C-23295 [typewritten and crossed out with faded felt tip marker] / Emil Carlsen / “Marketplace at St. Thomas” / Oil on Board : 8 3/4 x 6 1/2 / NS / en verso: “Property of Mrs. Emil / Carlsen” ; certificate inscribed / with title and ‘Carlsen’.
Marking type: Handwritten inventory number in pencil.
Location: Top middle left painting verso.
Text: ‘C-23245’.
Marking type: Handwritten [in the artist’s own hand] on cardboard taped with cellophane brown tape to painting verso attached to center with rectangular octagonal white horizontal label with red border thick and thin line on the outside with pen handwritten identification.
Location: Middle painting verso.
Text: ‘Property of Mrs. Emil. Carlsen’ on cardboard ; ‘Market at St. Thomas / No. 2. / Carlsen. on label.
Marking type: Auction house ink stamp [upside down].
Location: Lower left corner frame verso [across mitre].
Text: ‘CHRISTIES / P [with simple horizontal rectangular border]’.
Marking type: Auction house chalk writing.
Location: On left upper middle frame verso and right upper right middle.
Text: ’05’ and ‘205’.
Marking type: large felt black ink marker handwriting.
Location: Center bottom middle.
Text: ‘NYH 403′.
Marking type: Black crayon or large felt ink marker.
Location: Top middle left frame verso.
Text: ’96’.
Marking type: Inventory number handwritten in pencil.
Location: Top right verso frame.
Text: ‘DC-607’.
ECA Category: People
ECA Sub-Category: Genre
Archives of American Art Subjects:
Cityscape
Cityscape — Celestial
Cityscape — Celestial — Moon
Cityscape — Time
Cityscape — Time — Night
Ethnic
Ethnic — African American
Figure group
Description of Work:
Provenance/Ownership:
2019 Private collection of Patrick Gilligan [b.1946- ] & Shelley Gilligan [b.1948- ], San Francisco, CA ;
2019 Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery, 700 Miami Circle, Atlanta, GA 30324 ;
2016 Estate of John Edward Houser [1928-2016], Thomasville, GA ;
1978 Private collection of Elizabeth (Rives) Houser [1923-2009] & John Edward Houser [1928-2016], Thomasville, GA ;
1978 ( Christie’s [1766- ], Rockefeller Center, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 ) ;
ca.1975 ( Hammer Galleries [1928- ], 32 East 67th Street, Second Floor, New York, NY 10065 ) ;
1975 Estate of Florence B. G. S. Carlsen [1903-1974], Falls Village, CT, the artist’s daughter-in-law ; [most likely]
1966 Private collection of Florence B. G. S. Carlsen [1903-1974], Falls Village, CT, the artist’s daughter-in-law ; [most likely]
1943 Private estate of Dines Carlsen [1901-1966], Falls Village, CT, the artist’s son, by descent ; [most likely]
1943 Private estate of Luella May (Ruby) Carlsen [ca.1869-1943], New York, NY ;
ca.1915 Private collection of Luella May (Ruby) Carlsen [ca.1869-1943], New York, NY, the artist’s wife ;
ca.1915 Emil Carlsen [1848-1932], the artist .
Exhibition History:
2019 Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery, Atlanta, GA, “Autumn fine estates auction”, October 20.
1978 Christie’s [1766- ], New York, NY, “American paintings, drawings and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries”, December 8.
References/Citations:
– Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery, Atlanta, GA, online auction catalog, “Autumn fine estates auction”, October 20, 2019, lot #?, illustrated : color.
– Christie’s [1766- ], New York, NY, “American paintings, drawings and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries”, December 8, 1978, lot #205.
Related Works:
– Emil Carlsen : Moonlight and lamplight, ca.1915. [this is the finished piece for which this work is the study].
ECA Notes:
– The work was originally painted during one of Carlsen’s trips to the Caribbean , St. Thomas in 1913 or 1914. The verso label in the artist’s own hand indicates that it is ‘number 2. [No. 2.]’ It is unclear if there is another similar study, presumably ‘number 1’ or if this is the study for the finished and published work called Moonlight and lamplight, ca.1915 which only a black and white image is yet known. Carlsen produced hundreds of small canvas boards or panels from life to capture color and mood, The artist would make careful pencil sketches and use both of the sketch and study panel to create finished pieces.
Luella May Carlsen, the artist’s wife, would ask her husband on occasion to keep a work in memory of particularly important or sentimental time in the couples life. Carlsen would remark that he created work to sell but it was always “subject to if Mrs. Carlsen wanted it for her own collection.” It is interesting that the note reserving this painting for Mrs. Carlsen is in the artist’s own hand. Finally after many years, we know that Luella Carlsen died in 1943. Her estate was mostly likely settled that year or a year later in 1944. Most of the studies which the artist kept were given to the couple’s only son, Dines Carlsen. However, some paintings where sold off at the time of her death. The painting may have stayed with the family until 1975 when Dines’ wife passed in 1974 and hundreds of Carlsen’s studies where sold by several dealers including Wortsman Rowe, San Francisco, CA [now defunct].
The frame is most likely the one that Emil chose and is original. It is the style and type he preferred.
Price History:
2019 – [tba] [auction]
1978 – $902 USD [auction]
Document Information
Document permalink:
http://emilcarlsen.org/work/?p=26452
Digital-born Document Number:
ECA.2019.26452
Digital Document Provenance:
Original compiled and researched document by the Emil Carlsen Archives, 266 West 21st Street, Suite 4E, New York, NY 10011.
Document License:
Creative Commons Corporation shareAlike (sa) license. Some of the information contained within this document may hold further publication restrictions depending on final use. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine.
Image License:
The author of this artwork died more than 70 years ago. According to U.S. Copyright Law, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. In other countries, legislation may differ.
Record Birth Date:
September 26, 2019
Last updated: October 21, 2019 at 19:17 pm