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WILLIAM HOLBROOK BEARD (American 1824-1900)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
WILLIAM HOLBROOK BEARD (American 1824-1900)
<B>WILLIAM HOLBROOK BEARD (American 1824-1900)</B></I> <BR>The Discovery of Adam, 1891 <BR>Oil on canvas <BR>18in. x 24in. (sight size). Framed <BR>Signed and dated lower left: W.H. Beard/ 1891 <BR>Provenance: The Masco Corporation, Taylor Michigan, 1980; [Sotheby's New York December 3, 1998 lot 129]; private collection, Dallas <BR>Exhibited: Alexander Gallery, New York, William Holbrook Beard: Animals in Fantasy, 1981, colorplate 32. <BR>Literature: Robert McCracken Peck, "William Holbrook Beard (1824-1900)," <I>The Magazine Antiques</B></I>, November 1994, illustrated p. 699. <BR><BR>Best known for genre scenes of animals satirizing human behavior, William Holbrook Beard painted his first known monkey painting only two years after the publication of Charles Darwin's controversial <I>Origin of the Species</B></I>, 1859. Beard believed that animals possessed souls and could express human emotions and feelings, yet according to Robert M. Peck, "Beard refused to believe in man's descent from more primitive primates." (Peck, 1994, p.699) No other work in Beard's extensive oeuvre so clearly and humorously illustrates the artist's opinion of Darwin's theory than the present work, <I>Discovery of Adam, 1891</B></I>. Here, a group of well dressed monkeys appear confounded at the discovery that their ancestor, Adam, is in fact a turtle. Beard further conveys his message by inscribing "200,000 B.C. Adam" on the tortoise's shell. Beard possibly refers to Darwin's theory of evolution, the survival of the fittest, by depicting two prehistoric pterodactyls fighting in the left background. <BR><BR>Beard began his artistic career as an itinerant portrait painter throughout Ohio before moving to New York City in 1845. He opened a studio in Buffalo in 1850, where he painted mostly romantic genre paintings. In 1856 he traveled to Europe, and upon his return in 1858 he briefly settled in Buffalo. Moving to New York City in 1860, Beard set up a studio in the prestigious Tenth Street Studio Building where he began to paint his animal paintings. His paintings such as <I>Bulls and Bears of Wall Street</B></I> (The New-York Historical Society) and <I>March of Silenus</B></I> (Albright-Knox Gallery) are foremost examples of his life's work. Beard exhibited extensively throughout his career at venues including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, National Academy of Design, and the Brooklyn Art Association. <BR><BR>Beard wrote his own treatise, <I>Humor in Animals</B></I>, published in 1885, in which he devoted chapters to individual species of animals and birds, anthropomorphizing various aspects of each, while offering a significant key to the artist's pictorial interpretations. His paintings are found in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the New-York Historical Society, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design. <BR><BR><Condition: canvas has been beva wax relined onto original stretcher. 10 percent inpaint throughout found in areas of pterodactyl's wing, upper right corner of sky, face of second monkey from right, below right of the turtle, and upper left corner.> <BR><BR><B>Important notice:</B> Heritage usually auctions material at the rate of 200-250 lots per hour. On some occasions eBay Live bid software or the Internet may not be able to keep up with the pace of the auction. We recommend placing a realistic absentee bid now as insurance to avoid disappointment. Occasionally the auctioneer may eliminate or reject an eBay Live bid, and the auctioneer may also reopen a lot after the close of the eBay live bidding (usually because we missed an audience bid), and may reject your bid even if it shows you as the winning bidder. By bidding via eBay Live, you agree that Heritage may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above or any other reasonable circumstances. Since eBay bids are not shown to us until we open the lot on the floor, we treat those bids just like floor bids. In most cases the floor responds before the eBay bid is presented to us, due to Internet lag time, so for consistency we have made it a policy that floor bids are always considered first over tie eBay live bids. Also please note that all Heritage lots purchased through eBay Live carry a 24.5% Buyer's Premium. Please make sure you read the Terms and Conditions before you bid.