Description:

August A. Norieri (American/Louisiana, 1860-1898) , "Schooners on Lake Pontchartrain", oil on canvas, signed lower right, 26 1/8 in. x 42 1/4 in., period frame. Provenance: Gift of the artist to his sailing partner; thence by descent; Neal Auction Company, Dec. 6, 1997, lot 786.

  • Notes: The South’s long and ever-changing love affair with its waterways, both as transportation and entertainment, has been depicted on canvas over the last two centuries by some of its most storied artists. Nowhere is that more evident than New Orleans and the neighboring towns along the Gulf Coast. The Southern Yacht Club was founded in 1849 in Pass Christian, Mississippi, making it the second oldest yacht club in the United States. The first recorded regattas in the region were held as early as the 1830s in Biloxi and Mobile, as many New Orleanians escaped the city during the summer months for respite from the heat and outbreaks of yellow fever. The club continues to host their annual Race to the Coast, begun in 1850 and one of the oldest regattas still regularly contested in the Western Hemisphere. In 1857, the club relocated to New Orleans where Lake Pontchartrain then played an even larger role in their races. August Norieri was born in New Orleans in 1860 and came of age at a time when river and lake travel was undergoing a transformation following the Industrial Revolution and Reconstruction. The young artist was captivated by maritime subjects that serve as the focus of his work much more than his contemporaries, such as William Henry Buck, Richard Clague and Joseph Rusling Meeker, and his mentor, Andres Molinary. Norieri studied under Molinary from 1880 to 1881 and opened his own studio in the city where he practiced his art until his death at the age of just thirty-eight in 1898. His relatively short career resulted in a remarkable yet regrettably small body of work that offers a window into a fashionable pastime of the nineteenth century that remains popular to this day. In the significant canvas offered here, Norieri perfectly captures the sailboat in the foreground as it catches the wind in its sails and heels, allowing the boat to race along the water of the lake away from the viewer. The tipped vessel and swooping sails are reminiscent of Winslow Homer’s instantly iconic 1876 masterpiece “Breezing Up (A Fair Wind),” with which Norieri would have undoubtedly been familiar. In mimicking the famous composition, Norieri’s own masterwork can be considered a uniquely Southern response to the maritime scenes that were primarily coming out of Gloucester and the Northeast at the time. In this work, the expanses of sky and water of Lake Pontchartrain are contrasted against Norieri’s inclusion of small details such as the figures on the schooners engaged in momentarily greeting, or even taunting each other, as the boats gain speed. The silhouette of the sails against the horizon line and the feeling of the waves breaking against the hulls delivers a dynamic view of a celebrated day of sailing on Lake Pontchartrain. Similar smaller scenes by the artist are included in the collections of local museums, and one version was unfortunately lost to fire at the Southern Yacht Club during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, making a Norieri sailing canvas of this size a particularly rare offering at auction. Ref.: “A Brief History.” Southern Yacht Club. www.southernyachtclub.org. Accessed Oct. 26, 2022; Dobie, Ann B. “August Norieri.” 64 Parishes. www.64parishes.org. Accessed Oct. 26, 2022.
  • Condition: If Condition is NOT stated in the description of the lot, the absence of a condition report does not indicate the lot is free of damage or condition issues. Available Condition Reports will appear as an additional image. Condition Reports and photographs may be requested on items until the Wednesday prior to the auction. Bid accordingly. All sales are final, no returns are accepted on the basis of condition.

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November 19, 2022 11:00 AM CST
New Orleans, LA, US

Neal Auction Company

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