Earl Cunningham (American, 1893-1977), "Plantation", oil on board, signed lower left, 17.5in. x 48 in., in a frame hand-made by the artist. E20000/30000 Note: This lot is accompanied by a hand-written note describing the provenance of the painting. Provenance: Purchased from Cunningham's common law wife Terisia "Tessie" Paffe of St. Augustine, Florida in 1978. Note: Self-taught Florida artist Earl Cunningham used a rich palette of jewel-like colors combined with his vivid imagination to create his fantasy landscapes. At the age of thirteen, Cunningham left his family in Maine and worked a variety of odd jobs including peddler, tinker and crewing on sailing ships. He married Iva Moses and for many years operated a chicken farm. Upon divorcing Moses, he moved to St. Augustine, Florida and was befriended and fell in love with Teresia "Tesse" Paffe. Cunningham opened the Over Fork Gallery, a curio shop in St. Augustine. The paintings and sculptures he created since the 1950s were not for sale or public viewing. In 1969, art collector Marilyn Mennello happened upon the Over the Fork Gallery and recognized Cunningham's talent as an artist. According to a diary entry dated 1977, Cunningham had "450 paintings finished." After his suicide, Marilyn Mennello purchased 350 of his paintings. In 1998 she founded the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art in Orlando that features the work of Earl Cunningham. His paintings are now in the collection of the High Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ref: Rosenak, Chuck and Jan, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists, Abbeville Press, New York, 1990, pp. 90-1; and Snell, Bob, "Strokes of Genius: The Forgotten Life and Enduring Art of St. Augustine Folk Icon Earl Cunningham", Folio Weekly, March 14, 2000, pp. 14-27.