William Clusmann 1859-1927
Chickens in Spring
Oil on Canvas
20 x 26 inches
Signed lower right
--- Painting underwent successful restoration to cure cupping paint. Paint was re-adhered to re-lined canvas. Full documentation provided. Original frame. A great example of Clusmann's work in oil. --- This Clusmann painting was featured in our weekly email on 5/15/14 along with the following gallery comments: William Clusmann’s Chickens in Spring is one of my favorite paintings in the gallery and a true survivor, brought back from a hot mess to excellent, stable condition. I love Clusmann’s oil work and it’s not terribly common – he allegedly suffered a studio fire during his career and many of his paintings were lost. The intriguing thing about Clusmann (born in LaPorte, IN and moving to Chicago in his youth) is that he was a contemporary of the Hoosier Group (e.g. Steele, Adams, Forsyth, Stark and Gruelle) at the Royal Academy in Munich when everyone was there, c. 1883-4. He returned to Chicago, set up his studio and was faculty at what would become the Chicago Art Institute. That wonderful, classical training is on strong display in Chickens in Spring. It evokes the Spring air and is so painterly. If this piece were signed ‘T.C. Steele’ (which it could be) the ticket would be $75K. Alas, Clusmann’s values are much more modest. It survived poor storage and went through a complete conservation, cleaning and re-line to fix unstable paint. That was very successful. It’s housed in the original hand-carved frame which was re-leafed in 10K white gold and finished to be sympathetic to the piece. A wonderful painting that represents our heritage of ‘Midwestern Impressionism’ along with that fancy Royal Academy training. Needs good home! – Curt Churchman, Fine Estate Art
SOLD
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