Lot 11

Property from the Collection of Bernard Heineman, Jr. Bernard (Jack) Heineman, Jr. was part of an early generation of individuals who loved and collected American Modernism long before they became popular icons. Born in New York City in 1923, Jack was a third generation New Yorker who left the City to attend Williams College. It was there, under the tutelage of professor Lane Faison, known for developing generations of art lovers and museum professionals, that Jack first became enamored with American Art and the Ashcan School. He left Williams to fight in Europe during WWII, where he served with distinction in Patton's Third Army, and was awarded two bronze stars and two silver stars. After returning to Williams at the end of the War, Jack's passion for and knowledge of art had so impressed his professors that he was given the opportunity to teach the introductory course of Art History 101--a rare occurrence for an undergraduate. After graduation, Jack followed his father into the family textile business--but devoted much of his free time to the art he had learned to love. "I sublimated my desire to teach art by getting to know artists and collect art," he once explained. Jack was an early admirer of the work of Jacob Lawrence, using "all the money I had and borrowing some from my father" to purchase The Builders. Jacob and Grace Lawrence were frequent dinner guests of his and his parents, and Jack was an early regular at the Kraushaar Gallery and The Downtown Gallery, which was owned by Edith Halpert from whom Jack purchased much of his collection during the 1940s and '50s. Jack's father was an avid lepidopterist, and the two traveled the world to collect specimens. On one such trip to India, Jack met Ruth Kress, whom he married in 1953. His father's extensive butterfly collection is now housed in the American Museum of Natural History. Shortly after their marriage, Jack and Ruth bought a brownstone in Greenwich Village and started a family. While raising his three children, Jack continued to buy the art he loved, but at a slower pace making his last major purchase, Charles Demuth's large floral still life, Kiss Me Over the Fence, in 1965. Jack continued his involvement in the art world as a founding member of the Williams College Art Fellows (a group which supported the Williams College Art Museum), a major supporter of the Demuth Foundation and Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a docent at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He also continued to generously lend his extensive collection to museums and special exhibitions, including the Armory Show, the 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Demuth and the recent Oscar Bluemner Retrospective at the Whitney. Jack was reluctant to part from any of the works in his collection, often referring to them as "his children who never talk back!" Christie's is honored to offer these works from the Collection of Bernard Heineman, Jr. (lots 11-19).

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965)

Begonias

Details

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965)
Begonias
tempera on Plexiglas
7¾ x 7½ in. (19.7 x 19.1 cm.), image size; 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm.), Plexiglas size
Painted in 1955.

Literature

(Possibly) The Downtown Gallery, Charles Sheeler (1883-1965): The Artist's "Personal Collection," exhibition checklist, New York, 1966.
C. Troyen and E.E. Hirshler, Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, exhibition catalogue, Boston, Massachusetts, 1987, p. 80, illustrated.

Exhibited

(Possibly) New York, The Downtown Gallery, Charles Sheeler (1883-1965): The Artist's "Personal Collection," May 3-27, 1966.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and elsewhere, Charles Sheeler: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, October 13, 1987-January 3, 1988, no. 80.

Lot Essay

The present work relates to an oil painting of the same year and title that is currently in The Lane Collection, Boston, Massachusetts. Having largely given up the genre of still-life in the 1930s, Sheeler painted these two works at the prompting of William H. Lane, a passionate collector of the artist's work. By 1955, Lane owned more than twenty of Sheeler's paintings, but no examples of his still-lifes and sought to have one for his collection.

More from Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture

View All