Collection of the former president of Eastman Kodak Albert Chapman (Dr. Albert K. Chapman) on September 15 will be put up for auction gallery John W. Coker in the town of New Market, Tennessee. The collection of the Chapman-not previously known to the public works of Impressionist and Post-Impressionism, including paintings by Alfred Sisley (Alfred Sisley), Pierre Bonnard (Pierre Bonnard), Hessema Childe (Childe Hassam) and 30 other famous artists from 1870 to 1950.

Albert Chapman (1890-1984) and his wife assembled the collection since 1930, and she never left the family. Previously, none of the pieces belonging to Chapman and his descendants, did not appear at exhibitions or auctions. An exception is the pastel brush Mary Cassatt (Mary Cassatt), exhibited after its acquisition of Chapman once, in 1970.

In total the collection includes 65 pieces. The auctioneer, John Coker (John Coker), which is to sell by auction a collection in September, detailed study of all available records in the archives of the Albert Chapman, to trace the provenance of his paintings. Fortunately, the collector to retain documents related to the purchase of works, and the origin of all of them failed to install. This collection of Coker already dubbed "the lost treasures that will satisfy all lovers of fine arts».

Few people knew about the existence of the collection. Albert Chapman gathered a large part of the 1930's to 1960. By purchasing one any work, he preferred not to part with them, and not boast of them, even in the close surroundings. According grandchildren Chapman, even their parents and close friends of their grandfathers and grandmothers did not know that all the paintings in the house are the originals. In this intellectual family posturing and demonstration of wealth were considered bad form, so that the walls hang original paintings, in a circle of relatives and friends say it was not accepted.

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Among the gems of the collection - a painting "The Royal Palm, Cuba" (1895), the American impressionist brush Childe Hessema. The picture Chapman purchased in 1948 in gallery M. Knoedler & Co for fifteen hundred dollars. Its previous owner believed the lawyer for the tobacco industry Horatio Rubens (Horatio S. Rubens).

In 1980 art historian Kathleen Bensayd (Kathleen Burnside) addressed to Albert Chapman and his wife to allow her photograph the "Royal Palm" for the catalog of works Hessema, because until that time few people knew that the picture is real. Unfortunately, due to the deteriorating health of both spouses to Chapman's request Bensayd never satisfied. Now this work can be seen in the upcoming auction catalog.

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Another valuable acquisition Albert Chapman made in 1950 in gallery M. Knoedler & Co: five thousand dollars he bought pastel representative of the American Impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) "Simon speaks with his mother." Among the previous owners of the diplomats and senior officials from Spain, Italy and other countries. It was this work, Albert Chapman provided for temporary public exhibitions in 1970 in the works of Mary Cassatt retrospective at the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibition was organized and accompanied the catalog's leading scholar of the artist Adelyn Dohme Briskin (Adelyn Dohme Breeskin). Ten years later, a collector turned to Albert Chapman's request to sell the picture. The owner responded with a polite refusal. This letter is preserved in the archives: "Thank you for December 5, but sell Mary Cassatt is not my intention. For us so happy to live next to this pattern that we are not willing to separate in it ».

The fact that this painting in the family really loved and treated her very carefully, one can judge the degree of its preservation. First, it hung in the bedroom of Alberta, and then in the room of his daughter. She never had an open sun, which helped to preserve the freshness of colors.

In the collection of many works of French artists. For example, the landscape of Saint-Tropez brush Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), depicting the sea bay framed by mountains with a bridge and the coastal village in the foreground.

Other work was painted by Gustave Loiseau ( Gustave Loiseau, 1865-1935). In the picture through an open window in the artist's studio overlooking the roofs of houses. Urban landscape in pastel shades adds a bright red geranium flower in the foreground.

pictures artist Suzanne Valadon (Suzanne Valadon, 1865-1938), mother of Maurice Utrillo (Maurice Utrillo), Albert Chapman purchased over 5,750 dollars in New York gallery Sam Salz in 1953. Previously owned a landscape three French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot (Edouard Herriot). Twice, in 1924 and 1931, the canvas exhibited at the exhibitions. Art dealer Sam Salts (Sam Salz) wrote to Chapman that he had always wanted to buy this painting for yourself.

Type Pont-Aven brush Emile Bernard (Emile Bernard, 1868-1941) refers to more recent acquisitions of Chapman. The picture was bought in a New York gallery MR Schweitzer in 1961. In the landscape of the hills stretched cozy village, takes to the skies church spire. The authenticity of this work confirms the artist's son's letter in French, in which he assured that the painting was indeed written by his father in Brittany in 1889.

Among the most valuable works - graphite drawing on paper by Camille Pissarro (Camille Pissaro) «Girl reading in bed" and a pastel sketch by Alfred Sisley (Alfred Sisley) for the painting "Bistro in Cardiff».

• Anthony Thieme
  Log in Magnolia Gardens in the spring, Charleston
  Source: artdaily.com