Arthur Edward Kern Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Arthur Edward Kern Art Value Price Guide

Sep. 20, 2024
Arthur Kern "Celebration", 1949/1950, oil on canvas
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Arthur Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931), "Celebration", 1949/1950, oil on canvas, signed, titled and inscribed en verso, dated, "Custom Framed by Carl J. Durel, New Orleans, LA" label and a copy of an authentication letter written by artist with title and date on stretcher, 27 in. x 21 1/4 in., framed, overall 31 1/4 in. x 25 1/4 in. x 1 3/4 in. Note: Famously elusive and private, Arthur Kern is a native of New Orleans who received his BA and MFA from Tulane University. After a brief stint teaching at the University of Southwest Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) from 1967 to 1969, Kern taught at Tulane from 1969 until his retirement in 1996. Little information can be found on Kern’s early work, as he destroyed most of his paintings and drawings for a fresh start in sculpture some four decades ago. In 2016, Kern consented to an exhibition of his sculpture at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, curated by the novelist John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Arresting and surrealist, Kern’s sculpture is a clear transformation from his early painting, from which only a few canvases have survived such as the piece on offer here. In a letter to the owner, Kern expresses his elated surprise to see the piece again: “The painting depicted, entitled “Celebration” was certainly done by me… It was done while I was attending John McCrady’s Art School. During my grammer [sic] school days I took lessons from John’s wife Mary. Shortly after I began high school John invited me to attend classes at this school on Bourbon St. I continued studying with him during my high school years but had to reluctantly give that up to concentrate on my studies at Tulane. John did not teach children’s classes so I was the only kid enrolled in his adult painting and life drawing classes… As for the content of the painting, there is not much I can say. I have never tried to understand my own work. Images appear from I know not where—the subconscious perhaps— and I go with it. I hold the view that a work of art is not to be understood. It is to be experienced. I’m content to let the viewer do the interpretation if he is so inclined.” Ref.: Mazur, Jacqueline. “Strange, Beautiful and Surreal, the Work of New Orleans Sculptor Arthur Kern is Revealed Decades Later.” WGNO. June 29, 2016. www.wgno.com. Accessed Aug. 26, 2024. Norwood, Nicondra. “New Ogden Exhibit Features Artist Some Presumed Dead.” Fox 8. Mar. 30, 2016. www.fox8live.com. Accessed Aug. 26, 2024. Robertson, Campbell. “At 84, an Artist Tries Something New: Displaying His Work.” The New York Times. Mar. 28, 2016. www.nytimes.com. Accessed Aug. 26, 2024.
Neal Auction Company
Apr. 18, 2024
Arthur Edward Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931), "Untitled"
Est: $700 - $1,000
† Arthur Edward Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931) "Untitled", 1978 molded polyester resin on an integral carved wood base.
New Orleans Auction Galleries
Oct. 14, 2023
Arthur Edward Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931), "Untitled"
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Arthur Edward Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931) "Untitled", 1978 molded polyester resin on an integral carved wood base. h. 7-7/8", w. 9", d. 4-1/8" Provenance: Estate of Thomas B. Lemann, New Orleans, Louisiana. Literature: "In Perspective: Horse Sense", Art & Antiques, March 2022, p. 30.; Campbell Robertson, "At 84, an Artist Tries Something New", The New York Times, 28 March, 2016. Notes: To have a fully conceived idea before I start a piece would seem wrong to me. I like to explore and be surprised by what I find along the way. - Arthur Kern "Horse Sense", Art & Antiques Despite serving on the faculty of Tulane University and the University of Southern Louisiana for decades, Kern was a bit of an enigmatic figure. For years, unbeknownst to most in the art community of New Orleans, he had been diligently working on his fantastical, often surrealist sculptures. It wasn't until 2016, when he was in his mid-80s, that he agreed to an exhibition of his work to be held at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. His smoothly surfaced, monochrome sculptures were created mostly of molded polyester resin finished with layers of lacquer. Kern utilized unusual and unexpected tools, such as dental implements and vegetable peelers. His slightly unsettling figures of animals, hybrids and distorted or truncated human figures reference mythologies, folk tales and the recesses of Kern's creative mind, and were nearly universally lauded by collectors and critics alike.
New Orleans Auction Galleries
Jun. 25, 2022
Arthur Kern (American/New Orleans, b. 1931)
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Arthur Kern (American/New Orleans, b. 1931), "Carnival Madness", oil on canvas, signed lower right, signed twice and personalized on stretcher, typed label with artist and title en verso, 42 1/8 in. x 14 in., framed. Exh.: Le Petit Salon, New Orleans, 1952. Note: Famously elusive and private, Arthur Kern is a native of New Orleans who received his BA and MFA from Tulane University. After a brief stint teaching at the University of Southwest Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) from 1967 to 1969, Kern taught at Tulane from 1969 until his retirement in 1996. Little information can be found on Kern’s early work, as he destroyed most of his paintings and drawings for a fresh start in sculpture some four decades ago. Kern, not wanting his work and ideas to be influenced by the marketplace, is also quoted as saying: “I try to keep only what I think is the best that I can do and if it doesn’t come up to that I don’t feel that it’s worth surviving.” In 2016, Kern consented to an exhibition of his sculpture at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, curated by the novelist John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Arresting and surrealist, Kern’s sculpture is a clear transformation from this early painting that survived the artist’s purge. However, foreshadowing hints of the mysterious and unnerving that define Kern’s sculpture can be found upon close examination, particularly in the prone costumed figure in the foreground. In “Carnival Madness,” Kern stylistically harkens to popular American Scene painting techniques with a sharply vertical composition depicting the chaos of Carnival revelers amidst the architecture of the French Quarter. The atmospheric lighting and bold shadows of the nighttime setting add a sinister element that heightens the contrast between the familiar subject and the unsettling feeling it provokes in the viewer – a contrast Kern has clearly mastered in both two and three dimensions. Ref.: Mazur, Jacqueline. “Strange, Beautiful and Surreal, the Work of New Orleans Sculptor Arthur Kern is Revealed Decades Later.” WGNO. June 29, 2016. www.wgno.com. Accessed May 31, 2022. Norwood, Nicondra. “New Ogden Exhibit Features Artist Some Presumed Dead.” Fox 8. Mar. 30, 2016. www.fox8live.com. Accessed May 31, 2022; Robertson, Campbell. “At 84, an Artist Tries Something New: Displaying His Work.” The New York Times. Mar. 28, 2016. www.nytimes.com. Accessed May 31, 2002.
Neal Auction Company
May. 12, 2022
Arthur Kern (American/New Orleans, b. 1931)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Arthur Kern (American/New Orleans, b. 1931), "Study for Silent Myth", 1981, fiberglass resin, signed on underside, exhibition label with artist, title and date on base, h. 10 1/2 in., w. 13 1/2 in., d. 7 1/4 in., wood base, overall h. 12 3/4 in. Provenance: Estate of Highly Acclaimed New Orleans Artist, Furniture Maker, Designer, and Collector Mario Villa (1953-2021).
Neal Auction Company
Sep. 11, 2020
Arthur Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Arthur Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931), "Mardi Gras Horse", polyester resin, signed on underside, h. 8 3/4 in., w. 12 in., d. 4 1/8 in., wood base, overall h. 10 5/8 in . Provenance: Mario Villa Gallery, New Orleans, LA; Collection of Noted Preservationist and Aesthete Dorian M. Bennett, New Orleans.
Neal Auction Company
Sep. 27, 2016
Arthur Kern / Pen & Ink
Est: $100 - $200
Figure drawing
Arthaz
Sep. 24, 2016
Arthur Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931)
Est: $500 - $700
Arthur Kern (American/Louisiana, b. 1931), "Horse on Back", polyester resin, signed and dated "Kern 76" on neck, h. 6 3/4 in., w. 13 in., d. 7 1/4 in., painted wood base, overall h. 9 3/4 in. Provenance: Property of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Sold to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund. Note: In July of 2016, artist Arthur Kern closed a successful solo show at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. A retired Tulane University art professor, the elusive Kern had no serious intention of showing his sculptures publicly, preferring to work privately for himself and independent of the influences of the outside art market. Through a series of coincidences, he was approached by the Ogden Museum and consented to an exhibition, a fortunate occurrence for the art world. The result was a showing of forty years of artwork rare in its artistic purity. As John D'Addario writes for The Advocate, Kern's works, "are similarly equal parts engaging and macabre, like Hieronymous Bosch figures come to three-dimensional life." The lot offered here is one of Kern's small-scale equestrian sculptures, a horse rolled on its side, its limbs disintegrated. The work is quite similar to the series of sculptures that were exhibited at the Ogden this spring and described by Campbell Robertson in The New York Times, "A large room of the exhibition is dedicated to the horse sculptures, some life-size, some purse-size, all surreal variations on a small horse model he made in the early 1970s because, he said, 'one day I decided now Im going to make a horse.' Ref.: Robertson, Campbell. At 84, an Artist Tries Something New: Displaying His Work. Mar. 28, 2016. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com. Accessed Aug. 14, 2016. DAddario, John. Elusive Sculptor Arthur Kerns Work Impressive, Sometimes Disturbing. The Advocate. Apr. 27, 2016. www.theadvocate.com. Accessed Aug. 14, 2016.
Neal Auction Company
Jul. 13, 2008
Arthur Edward Kern (American/New Orleans, b.
Est: $200 - $400
Arthur Edward Kern (American/New Orleans, b. 1931), "Abstraction", oil on board, signed lower right, sight 14 1/2 in. x 35 1/2 in.
Neal Auction Company