Paul Sawyier Watercolor, "The Blacksmith Shop on Elkhorn Creek",ca. 1900
Appraised Value:
$15,000 - $25,000
IMAGE: 1 of 1
Appraisal Video:
Appraised By:
Alan Fausel
Paintings & Drawings
Vice President Director of Fine Arts
Bonhams
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: This is a watercolor by Paul Sawyier.
APPRAISER: Yeah, Paul Sawyier-- he's pretty much a Kentucky artist.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: He did work in New York and Cincinnati, and, uh... But he spent a lot of time in Kentucky. Do you know where he was in Kentucky?
GUEST: I believe he was in Frankfort.
APPRAISER: That's an area he...
GUEST: One of the areas.
APPRAISER: One of the areas. Yeah, he spent a lot of time down there. Do you know the title of the work?
GUEST: Um, this is "The Blacksmith Shop on Elkhorn Creek."
APPRAISER: Yep, exactly. Have you been there at all-- Elkhorn Creek?
GUEST: Uh, I know where it is.
APPRAISER: Do you?
GUEST: It runs through, um, central Kentucky between Frankfort and Lexington.
APPRAISER: Uh-huh, well, he spent a lot of time on, actually, the Kentucky River. For a period of years, he actually lived in a houseboat on the Kentucky River, and would, uh, spend time sketching, and doing primarily watercolors. He didn't do that many oils, mostly watercolors. This is very typical of his work. He was born in Ohio and studied in Cincinnati with Frank Duveneck, one of the great... And also spent some time in New York studying with William Merritt Chase, an important American painter. But there's a good period of time, 1891 to about 1913, that he spent here in Kentucky. And this is the... sort of the typical type of thing that you would see. A sort of rustic, bucolic landscape of the things along the river; here's this little creek-- and what's called the blacksmith's shop. And you can see the blacksmith's shop here. He's showing us this very lush green, late summer landscape.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But contrasted with the fire and the glow coming out of the blacksmith's shop here. And then what he's done-- he's picked it up in the reflection in the water. And here's a man who's spent a lot of time painting on the water, so he knows how that works-- how you get this beautiful, brightly-colored reflection coming out of the blacksmith's shop up here. His works are catching on more as we get more regionalist interest. This watercolor here is in very good condition. You've kept it up well. And I think that if this were to go to auction, I would have to put an estimate of about $15,000 to $25,000 on it these days.
GUEST: Really? Oh, my. I'm surprised. Whoo! Wow... I like it better.
APPRAISER: Great.
