Slotin Auction to stage Fall Masterpiece Auction Nov. 7 A Fall Masterpiece Auction, featuring the lifetime collection of prestigious folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram, will be held Sat., Nov. 7 by Slotin Auction in Buford, G
News-Antique.com - Sep 28,2009 - (BUFORD, Ga.) – A Fall Masterpiece Auction, featuring the lifetime collection of prestigious folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram, will be held Saturday, Nov. 7, by Slotin Auction, in the Historic Buford Hall located at 112 East Shallowford Avenue. About two-thirds of the auction will be dedicated to Ms. Ingram’s collection, most of which has been in storage for 30 years.
The sale will feature around 800 lots of self-taught art, Southern folk pottery, outsider art, African-American decorative arts, quilts, circus art, new discoveries, major collections and more. “Our Fall Masterpiece Auction is always a special event on our calendar, but this year we feel particularly fortunate to have as the centerpiece the collection of Lynne Ingram,” said Steve Slotin of Slotin Auction.
Ms. Ingram lives in New Jersey but is originally from North Carolina. Beginning in the 1980s, she started collecting folk art when the genre was still in its relative infancy. But she didn’t just passively acquire pieces. She actually traveled around the Southeast and visited the artists, who became her friends. All the while she was amassing an outstanding collection.
“Lynne Ingram saw the best that these artists had to offer, and she acquired much of it along the way,” Mr. Slotin remarked. “She later expanded her collection to include earlier Masters who had already passed on, like Bill Traylor, but she had a keen eye for emerging second-tier artists of the day, too – talents like Mose Tolliver and Jimmy Lee Sudduth. Hers is an unbelievable, top-shelf collection.”
Mr. Slotin added the collection is made more desirable by the fact that it’s been in a New Jersey storage facility, untouched and in pristine condition, for the better part of the last 30 years. “So what you have are impressive examples of the best names in folk art, offered to the market for the very first time. Collectors would be wise to make plans to attend this sale. Stuff like this doesn’t come along that often.”
Some expected top lots of the auction follow, along with their low and high sale estimates.
A paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, signed on the front and titled Mexican Woman, is expected to bring $25,000-$35,000. Ms. Ingram acquired the framed piece in the mid-‘80s from Marcia Weber, a world renowned expert on Mr. Traylor and an early promoter of his work. This painting is considered significant because it is 100 percent original, with no re-touches or restoration.
A colored pencil on paper creation by Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930) was the top lot at Slotin Auctions’ last sale, held in March. It realized $40,480. This sale features another example by the Swiss self-taught artist: a graphite, pastel and colored pencil on paper work titled The Lion and the Masked Man. It is a strong piece in excellent condition, and carries a conservative estimate of $30,000-$35,000.
The name Howard Finster (1916-2001) is sure to get paddles wagging, and this sale features a beauty by the late
