Item: Early 20th century American painting depicting a rural landscape with whimsical trees by the country road. It's very Renoir-like. I checked by doing a Google images search, and it's not a copy. The one and only artist called "the American Renoir" was William Glackens. Considering that, Glackens is the only name I can ascribe this painting to. Being so old and uncleaned, the painting's true colors are yet to be revealed per discolored, turned varnish. But, I posted some pictures found online of Glackens oils that remind me of the painting here anyway.
Background: I'm not sure when Glackens became inspired by Renoir, but by 1912 he was buying Renoir paintings in Paris on behalf of his old high school buddy, Albert Barnes, who ended up founding the Barnes Foundation near Philadelphia. Glackens was an Ashcan School artist, but he switched gears, painting in a range from Impressionism to Post-impressionism to Modernism. Maybe most Americans weren't all that familiar with Renoir until after he died. The criticism of Glackens, calling him "the American Renoir", came later, in the 1920's-30's. Glackens' response to this was always the same: "Can you think of a better man to follow than Renoir?"
Size: 24 x 16 1/8 inches.
Subject: Landscape with trees. If it were French, it would probably be titled "Paysage". There's a rather orange-looking Glackens painting in the Barnes Foundation, Landscape–Factories, c. 1914. It's 18 x 30". So, instead of only painting in standard sizes like 20 x 24 that are closer to square shaped, Glackens ventured into odd sizes.
Markings: Nothing apparent aside from manufacturer's markings like "24" on the stretchers. In the case of William Glackens, many of his works went unsigned. After he passed away, whatever was in his estate collection was marked on the back, by his wife, with a unique stamp. There's no such stamp on the painting here, so it was not part of Glackens' estate.
Materials: Oil on canvas affixed to stretchers with tacks. It was missing or never had stretchers keys, so I got some new keys and tapped them into the slots. This helped make the canvas more taut, but it's not perfect.
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This is one of two paintings I currently have that I believe are William Glackens' work. There's no expert who's willing or able to assign paintings to Glackens. His son, Ira, was the expert. Then, I think William Gerdts was the expert. There's a quasi-expert alive, but I inquired and she doesn't want to look at anything due to a conflict of interest per a Board position she took. I don't think experts really 'attribute' paintings. They can sometimes (rarely, so I'm told) conclude that a painting is by an artist, but that tends to be just verbal. Putting it in writing would be unwise on their part. I think a negative response would also be verbal, or they could put it a different way and just kind of say they're not interested. Well, it seems none of these can happen in this case, which could be seen as good news or not, since no Glackens expert is talking. I'm sure the major auction houses would need expert say-so on a painting like this in order to accept it. It's a conundrum. I haven't shown the painting to anybody.
There are 14 Glackens oils for sale on Artsy as of this writing. I don't understand the set-up there. Instead of pricing items, dealers put what looks like either an estimate or a price range on each listing, and below that appears a Make an Offer button. Why would anybody offer more than the low number? Anyway, ten of the paintings are being handled by one dealer. I was told about this by the Board member I talked to; they're working with that dealer to offer some things, with Glackens-family ownership history, for sale. For now, internet buyers have those ten oils to choose from if they want something from the absolute top of the heap. If not, due to the price or what have you, they could consider my 'ascribed to' paintings, which are also good-looking period pieces yet not nearly as expensive. I'd note that the Artsy paintings are not overpriced compared to auction records. Auction buyers like the action and feeling like they won. Hopefully they like the art, too, because they certainly pay enough for it.
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Origin: Philadelphia area estate item liquidated per unnamed previous owners downsizing, divorcing, dying or whatever the case may be.
Painting Condition: There's some waviness areas to the canvas, 'stretcher lines' showing on the front, craquelure, very tiny near-punctures, paint losses that should be filled and touched in, etc. Under blacklight, the painting appears uncleaned. It looks like there's old inpaint particularly in the upper left sky that I see as overpaint (unnecessary amount of touch-up because an amateur did it). This should come off in the cleaning process. If having this conserved, I'm guessing it'll be 3% touch-in in the end.
Art Restoration Recommendations: Would benefit from cleaning, fill, touch-ins, varnish. Most of the art buyers I know just DIY on restoring art. For those who don't, I can help you find a good restorer, unless you already have one.
Frame Condition: N/A. There is no frame. Unframed painting here.