Oil on board. 1929. Titled in pencil to the verso, "The Annex of the Hotel (sic.) in Concarneau, Brittany." Signed and dated lower left. 16" x 12" (board); 26" x 22" (frame).
ATTRIBUTED TO DIXIE SELDEN (1871-1936) "COASTAL SCENE". American (Ohio or Kentucky), late 19th or early 20th Century. Oil on board in a fancy frame. View of a coast with homes and boats. Exhibited in "The Feminine Hand" at the Zanesville Museum of Art, spring 2013. 17"h. 13"w. (sight). Frame, 25"h. 21"w.
Oil on canvas painting by listed Ohio Impressionist artist Dixie Selden (1871 - 1936). The painting features an European Village Harbor landscape and is signed in the lower right, also signed on verso. Sight measures approx. 19-1/2" across 15-1/2" tall, framed measures 24-5/8" across 20-5/8" tall.
Dixie Selden (Ohio, 1868 - 1935), "A Cincinnati Beauty," oil on canvas, signed lower right, measures 29 x 23 inches unframed, 39 x 35 inches framed in a large 19th century gold frame under glass. CONDITION: Good. This work is included in Genetta McLean's catalogue raissonne of the artist's work (#241) and was exhibited at the Cincinnati Museum of Art in May 1911 as #186. The work belonged to Mrs. Justus Collins. Justus Collins (1857 - 1934) was a major coal baron in southern West Virginia, and is often remembered as one of the most disliked coal industry officials of his era—both by miners and by fellow coal operators. Dixie Selden studied with Frank Duveneck and William Merritt Chase, who introduced her to Impressionism. Selden painted portraits of Americans, genre paintings, landscapes and seascapes from her travels within the country and to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Mexico. She helped found and was twice the president of the Women's Art Club of Cincinnati. Her works have been exhibited across the United States.
A finely done oil on board by iconic Cincinnati painter, Dixie Selden, depicting a Middle Eastern man and woman on the steps of a stately piece of architecture. A nice work, with great color. Signed on verso, and dated 1933 in pencil. Sight size: 18" ht. x 14.75" wd., framed size: 20.5" ht. x 17.5" wd.
Depicting Mrs. Harbeson of Maysville, Kentucky. An Early 20th century aquatint by Dixie Selden, signed in the lower left in pencil, and housed in a simple frame matted. Plate size: 6.5" ht. x 4.5" wd., framed size: 13.5" ht. x 10.5" wd.
An oil on board street scene, with the Notre Dame notably towering in the background, depicting a figure walking along the Seine. Housed in a gilt frame and under glass (a trademark of Selden's), with early Closson's Gallery label affixed to verso. Signed to the lower left and dated indistinctly; 6.75" x 5" (sight). 9.5" x 8" (framed). A Cincinnati reared artist, Dixie Selden was an impressionist force. She traveled often to Europe, Mexico, and Asia and produced vibrant works that often returned to Cincinnati. This example depicts the Notre Dame cathedral, a bittersweet reminder of the landmark.
Dixie Selden Boathouse Oil Painting on canvas. Not framed. Signed lower right and attributed to Listed American artist born 1868-193524 x 18 Shipping in continental US $30.00 Please ask any questions before bidding Good Luck!
Street Scene, Likely Brittany oil on artist board signed, illegibly titled and dated 1924 l.l. housed in a painted wood frame 11.5 x 15.5 in. (sight) 16.5 x 20.5 in. (frame)
DIXIE SELDEN Ohio/Kentucky, 1871-1936 "Boats at Gloucester". Unsigned. Exhibited: Cincinnati Art Galleries: Dixie Selden Exhibition, July-August, 2002. Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Minor Raymond. Oil on canvas, 20" x 16". Framed 25" x 21".
Dixie Selden (American, 1871-1936) "Little Fish Houses - Concarneau," 1926, oil on board, impressionistic depiction of waterside storefronts and sailboats with colorful masts in background, signed LL, label on back with artist information and date, framed behind glass, losses and damages to frame, not examined out of frame, ss: 15 1/2" h. x 11 1/2" w.
DIXIE SELDEN (American, 1871-1936) At the Plaza Gates, Mexico Oil on board 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.6 cm) Signed lower left: Dixie Selden PROVENANCE: Private collection, Marshall, Texas.
DIXIE SELDEN (American, 1871-1936) Breton Harbor Scene Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm) Signed lower left: Dixie Selden PROVENANCE: Olive Remington, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; Elisabeth St. John, gift from the above, circa late 1940s; By descent to the present owner.
DIXIE SELDEN (AMERICAN, 1871-1936) VENICE Oil on board: 14 x 20 in. Framed; lower left inscribed: to my dear friend / Helene Underwood/ March 17, 1915; lower right signed and dated: Dixie Selden/ Venice 1915; Helen Underwood Hoyt (1897-1930) was a poet. Provenance: Private collection Saint Louis Missouri
DIXIE SELDEN (American, 1871-1936) The Little Harbor, Concarneau, Brittany, 1926 Oil on canvas 20-1/4 x 16 inches (51.4 x 40.6 cm) Signed and dated lower right: Dixie Selden / 1926 Titled and signed on label verso: The Little Harbor / Concarneau Brittany / by Dixie Selden / Summer 1926 PROVENANCE: The Closson Art Galleries, Cincinnati (label verso); Private collection, Callicoon, New York. In her 1932 history of Ohio Art and Artists, Edna Maria Clark devoted special attention to Dixie Selden, the Impressionist landscapist and portraitist, President of the Cincinnati Women's Art Club, and active member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors: Miss Dixie Selden is one of the most beloved personages in Cincinnati. Of her Mrs. Alexander writes this happy encomium: "We always owe a debt of gratitude for her paintings. They jog us out of the monotony of dullness of everyday life into a joyous mood. There is something so very deft and gracious about them that it casts a glamour over all."1 "Joyous," "gracious," and "glamorous," Selden's paintings were nonetheless born out of years of serious training, both in America and abroad, an unusual professional distinction for her day, likening her to Mary Cassatt. From 1884 until 1890, Selden trained at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, honing her talents with Frank Duveneck, a father of American Impressionism and her lifelong mentor, who at this same time was shaping the careers of John W. Alexander, John Twachtman, Frank Benson, and Edmund Tarbell. Duveneck taught Selden the importance of vivid colors applied in broad planes and gestural brushwork, the "real foundation of a picture."2 For her part, Selden impressed Duveneck with her sympathetic, soulful portraiture, even receiving a commission from him to paint his own likeness, which won an award at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1919. Author Clark waxed poetic about Selden's indebtedness to Duveneck: Dixie Selden speaks beautifully of her master, Frank Duveneck, and her output speaks eloquently of him, too. She attacks her work with a directness that is born from Duveneck's teaching. Her technique is fluent, her stroke is fresh, vigorous, and dexterous, whether she is painting a portrait or a flower composition.3 It was also Duveneck who helped broaden Selden's subject matter beyond flower painting and portraiture by encouraging her to travel abroad. During the summer of 1910 Selden studied in Venice with Duveneck's friend and colleague William Merritt Chase, an experience opening her eyes to the exoticism of foreign cultures. Over the next two decades, she actively sought out genre and landscape subjects in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Morocco, China, Japan, and Mexico, often exploring these regions in the company of another Duveneck pupil from Ohio, Emma Mendenhall. Daily village life, streetscapes, and countryside vistas now offered the raw material for Selden's Impressionist creations, a variety of which biographer Clark praised in Ohio Art and Artists: "The Garden of the Royal Washington Hotel, Granada", [Spain] is delightful in an all-over interest made by the orange umbrellas over the tables, bright sunlight flickering in between yellow-green foliage, and the black suits of the waiters enhancing the colors - the whole composed into a beautiful pattern. . . . "The Outskirts of Taxco" [Mexico] presents a church spire in the middle distance where the street lines converge; the color pattern is vivid . . . with painted sunshine on the road, the houses, and the orange-red roofs.4 Among Selden's favorite foreign locales was Brittany in northwestern France, home of the Pont-Aven artist's colony popularized by Paul Gauguin during the 1890s and frequented by such American artists as Childe Hassam and Daniel Ridgway Knight. Like these artists, Selden was drawn to the nostalgic, picturesque sites of the coastal region, with its fishing industry and peasants in traditional costume: Of Brittany, Miss Selden has made many accurate and interesting studies. "The Blue Net, Concarneau", is a gay and brilliantly colored composition of sardine boats anchored in the bay while their sails are drying. Calm, dignified Breton peasants in colorful costumes depicted with all the fidelity of her portraits, are redolent of the very spirit and environment of that charming land. 5 The Little Harbor, Concarneau, Brittany is a brilliant example of Selden's Impressionist technique, inspired by both Gauguin and Duveneck, applied to a landscape. Compositionally, the painting speaks to Gauguin's emphasis upon the two-dimensionality of the canvas, with geometric planes of color arranged in an overall pattern: here, Selden flattens the sardine boat and water-with-reflections into a collage of brown, blue, green, and white shapes, artfully banded by the stone-colored, triangular dock below and village above. Her trademark ordering of space around strong diagonal lines activates the entire composition, pushing the viewer's eye toward the background shore, where townsfolk stand as graphic cutouts against the lighter buildings. In fact, the prominent foreground boat acts as a form of synecdoche, symbolizing, and literally pointing to, the bustling village activity created by the fishing industry. True to Duveneck's instruction, Selden enlivens her forms with bold paint strokes -- for example, in the reflections in the water -- and a vibrant Impressionist palette. Remarkably, the coloration and brushwork of The Little Harbor, Concarneau, Brittany remain completely fresh: protected behind glass in its original frame, the painting has not received any restoration, making it that much more exceptional in Selden's oeuvre. 1E.M. Clark, Ohio Art and Artists, Richmond, 1932, p. 304. 2Clark, p. 88. 3Clark, p. 303. 4Clark, p. 304. 5Clark, p. 303-4.
Dixie Selden (American, 1871-1936) Rio della Salute, Venice, 1924 Signed "Dixie Selden" l.l., identified and dated on a period label, probably in the artist's hand, on the reverse. Oil on artist board, 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm), in a period frame (under glass). Condition: Not examined out of frame. Provenance: A New England estate.
If one has ever visited a Bretone market he finds that even there, there is class distinction. The wealthiest vendors rent their stalls by the year in the covered market, while the next prosperous pitch their white and red awninged stands outside. But the poorer just push their wares to market in a handcart and spread them on the ground. If the vendor is a pottery merchant, she (for usually the women do the selling) is apt not to have the best examples but the seconds; pieces slightly chipped or with the figures poorly painted. The peasants in this canvas are most typical of Brittany, their costumes, wooden sabots and ample flaures. One can even tell their native towns from their coifs, for each community has it's specifically designed coif. The two facing figures in the rear are from Pont L'Abbe while the one with the white dangling ribbons is from Quimpere. In the little assembly are three widows, for they wear a hood with no ribbons. It is more than likely that the one holding the plate is the vendor. Up by the covered market and stalls, all is noisy and exciting as the farmers and fishwives barter over their shopping or lustily greet friends. This is the social event of the week, but a bit apart there is less enthusiasm and more tranquility. Dixie Selden has painted many times in Brittany. She has a great love for the colorful fishing village of Concarneau and its people, and she paints them vigorously, truthfully and with great skill. Dixie Selden (American, 1868-1935), titled The Pottery Vendor, on verso label with the title Corncaneau added to front label, signed and dated 1926 l.l.; 22.5 x 22.75 in. Extensive travels to Europe provided Dixie Selden with a wealth of lively scenes and individuals. After a trip to Normandy in 1902 where she painted portraits of locals, Selden grew fascinated with depicting women in traditional northern French dress as seen by this example and others. During the early 20th century, female mourners, like the women in The Pottery Vendor, still wore the traditional long black skirts accented by aprons and tall white hats that flared out at the edges. However, none of the figures in the other examples have such abstracted rounded forms like those in A Pottery Vendor. In this unique example, painted while visiting Corncaneau, Selden illustrated the everyday life of the tiny fishing village that attracted numerous American tourists from 1880 to the early 20th century. Born in Cincinnati, OH, to a prominent aristocratic family, Selden entered into a life of luxury which enabled her to fully pursue her artistic interests. At sixteen she enrolled in classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati where she studied under the tutelage of the famed Frank Duveneck (1848-1919). A talented pupil whom Duveneck referred to affectionately as the "the little one," Selden began showings with the Women's Art Club and the Cincinnati Art Club during the 1880s. Other regional opportunities for exhibition arose and Selden showed with the Society of Western Artists shortly after its founding. During this period, and until the early nineteen-teens, Selden's work thematically focused on Orientalist subject matter, landscapes, and portraiture. Although Selden's handling of paint becomes noticeably looser during this period, many of these early examples retain a commitment to realism. Like the earlier Duveneck, William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) proved to be a monumental influence to Selden's oeuvre, specifically her handling of paint, asymmetrical framing, color palette and interest in plein air painting. In 1913, Selden studied with the acclaimed American Impressionist in Brittany, and while there, came in contact with European Impressionists. Chase taught his students the importance of plein air studies and asymmetrical framing, which allowed Selden to infuse her scenes with a newfound energy, like that found in The Pottery Vendor. Notice how the viewer's eye instantly gravitates to the asymmetrically placed pottery in the foreground. Juxtaposed against these static columns of porcelain, is a presumably energetic village scene and this sense of movement is reiterated by the loose brush strokes and bulbous female forms. Often ignored by the indigenous people, Selden captured the animated scene but filled it with anonymous and expressionless individuals. Painting in plein air allowed Selden to shift her focus from sparsely inhabited landscapes to more vibrant market scenes and cityscapes. Impressionism provided Selden with a relaxed brush stroke and a brighter color palette, used to accent the sombre greys in The Pottery Vendor, that ultimately matched the increased level of animation in the scene itself. A single, accomplished and independent female at a time when few female artists succeeded in the male dominated art world, Selden's work gained prominence during her lifetime as noted by accolades like the Kenneth Maguire Prize awarded to this painting. During her earlier studies with Duveneck, many of her predominantly female classmates dabbled in painting as a genteel leisure activity for married life. But unlike her peers, at the age of twenty-six, Selden dedicated her life to working professionally as an artist and remained committed throughout her lifetime, exhibiting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Pennsylvania Academy. After her death, her work has garnered attention by the academic art community and art enthusiasts alike; it is held in private collections, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Butler Institute of American Art. PROVENANCE Louisville Art Association, 1927 Kenneth Maguire Purchase for the Speed Museum, 1927 Acquired from the Above Purchased from a Louisville Estate EXHIBITED Closson's Art Gallery, Paintings by Dixie Selden, November 15-27, 1926 Woman's Art Club, Traxel's Gallery, January 29-February 12, 1927 Speed Art Museum, 1927 LITERATURE "The Home Forum," Christian Science Monitor: An International Daily Newspaper, December 17, 1927. Genetta McLean, Dixie Selden: An American Impressionist From Cincinnati, 1868-1935, Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Art Galleries, 2001, p. 87 & 167. Information obtained from the aforementioned Catalogue Raisonne by McLean and italicized text at the beginning is the article from the Christian Science Monitor.
16" x 12" oil on board. Signed lower left: Dixie Selden. Reverse: "Centra-Portugal-1928"View from my window. Street scene. Moorish castles. Oil on artist board. No restoration. Fresh to market. MInt condition. Original arts & crafts frame.
Dixie Selden (American, 1870-1935) Going to Market oil on board signed l.r. title and artist listed on label on verso 5.25" x 6.75" Under glass. Excellent condition.
Dixie Selden (American, 1870-1935) Little Camelia, 1930 oil on board signed l.l. title, date and artist listed on label on verso 6.75" x 5.25" Closson's Art Gallery label on verso. Under glass. Excellent condition.
Dixie Selden (American, 1870-1935) The Little Harbor, Concarneau, Brittany, Summer 1926 oil on canvas signed l.r. 19.25" x 15.25". Dixie Selden was born in Cincinnati and studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy under Frank Duveneck. She traveled a considerable amount during her career and became known for her impressionist street scenes and portraits from the places she visited. She remains perhaps the most highly regarded of female artists from Cincinnati during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Original selling label on verso with title, artist and date. Original frame. Closson's Art Gallery label on verso. Excellent condition.
oil on canvas, signed Dixie Selden in the lower left. Containing the original label from the Cincinnati Museum Association , dated and titled Portuguese Church, 1918 . In the original gilt and gesso frame; 15" x 19.5" (sight), 20" x 24.
Dixie Selden, Cincinnati, 1871-1936, In Palma, 1933, street scene with people, oil on board, 15.75" x 11.75", signed. Signed title card on back of board reads Palma 1933. This painting is number 826 in Genetta McLean's catalog, Dixie Selden: An American Impressionist From Cincinnati.
China demitasse cup and saucer hand painted by Dixie Selden, Cincinnati, 1871-1936, pink dogwood blossoms with yellow centers and green leaves on brown stems. Bottom of saucer has dogwood blossom, full signature, and X.Y.Z. June 25 '91, all in gold. Sells with sterling demitasse spoon with leaf handle, blossom to bowl, and monogrammed XYZ. Excellent condition.
