Lot 380: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (American/Indiana,

Robert Wadsworth Grafton (American/Indiana, 1876-1936, active New Orleans, 1916-1920), "Schooners, Luggar's Landing, New Basin Canal", oil on canvas board, signed lower left, 16 1/8 in. x 19 7/8 in., in a period frame. Provenance: Descended in the family of Ernest Lee Jahncke (1877-1960) and Cora Van Voorhis Stanton, New Orleans. Note: Robert Wadsworth Grafton wintered in New Orleans between 1915 and 1928 Very active in the local art scene, he depicted scenes of the Vieux Carré and other historical environs of the city. Like his close colleague Louis Oscar Griffith (American, 1875-1956, active New Orleans, 1916-1917), Grafton beautifully rendered views of the busy New Basin Canal. The St. Charles Hotel commissioned these two artists to paint works for the hotel in the winter of 1916-17 The hotel created a booklet "Souvenir of New Orleans, The Paris of America" which reproduced the paintings they created during this time. The work offered here depicts a luggar tied up along canal. A true work of American Impressionism, Grafton uses soft brushwork and a brilliant palette to convey the clarity of light during winter in New Orleans.