This is an outstanding original oil on hard board painting measuring approximately 19 7/8 x 24 inches by American artist, William R. Steene (1888-1965). It is probably from the early 20th century. The board is very thick and probably around 3/8 inches thick. It is in excellent condition as pictured. The frame has a little damage to the gesso on the middle bottom. If purchased, it can be shipped and insured based on your requirements. Any additional shipping and insurance will be paid a separate transaction by paypal after the initial payment. Thanks for looking.
William R. Steene (1888-1965), a versatile painter from New York, made his livelihood in the South with history paintings, murals, and portraits. Based for many years in New Orleans, he worked for two years in Columbus and frequently visited the Gulf Coast before he moved to Ocean Springs for the last fourteen years of his life. Born in Syracuse, he attended the National Academy of Design, where he studies with Robert Henri and Kenyon Cox, the Art Students’ League, where he was a student of William Merritt Chase, and several institutions in Paris: Fontainebleau School of Art, Colarossi Academie, Academie Julian, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. While living in New Orleans, he painted a mural at the Louisiana State Museum to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. He also painted murals for the Raleigh (North Carolina) Historical Society, the Galveston (Texas) City Hall, the Oklahoma statehouse, and the county courthouse in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In Mississippi, his work is in the Mississippi Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Hall of Governors, and at Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women. His canvas Tea Leaves, at the Mississippi Art Museum, clearly shows the influence of his years of study with Chase and Cox and perhaps indicates the style he would have chosen had the market been there. Source: Art in Mississippi 1720-1980 by Patti Carr Black.
Two of his paintings are in the Smithsonian Institution. An oil on canvas of Archibald Henderson (1877-1963) and an oil on canvas of Luther Hartwell Hodges (1898-1974). www.collections.si.edu
Here is an excerpt from the September 1, 2009, Raleigh, North Carolina, Antiques Roadshow Insider: "Steve had what he thought was an artist's study of the painting The Baptism of Virginia Dare. Remember her? In 1857, she was the first child born to English settlers in the American colonies on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. It turned out that Steve's hunch was correct. The original of his flea market find hangs in the hallway that connects the House and Senate buildings in Raleigh. In the 1920s, the Colonial Dames of America commissioned artist William Steene to re-create the historic event. At Antiques Roadshow, New York-based appraiser Debra Force estimated the Steene watercolor proof at $5,000-$10,000."
Tryon Artist Colony. According to a local paper, Steene came to Tryon for the first time in in 1926. According to the same local paper, Steene painted a portrait of William Sydney Porter 1862-1910 [0.Henry], while in residence in Tryon. The portrait [now lost ?] was destined for the Asheville "O.Henry Memorial Library [?]," [current location unknown]. Source: Western North Carolina Heritage Artists and Illustrators to 1950
His wife, an actress, and his daughter, a model, was the subject of many paintings, one of which once hung in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. www.annetaintor.com He created a very famous painting of the golf champion Bobby Jones as well which is a popular golf print.
On Jun-12-11 at 16:14:17 PDT, seller added the following information: