L.S. owns this painting of ships on the Hudson in Upstate New York by a local artist of the late 19th to early 20th century, DeWitt Parshall, NA (1864-1956), at the large size of 30” x 32”, in a period silver gilt frame. He wants to sell this paintings, asking about the value, and background of the artist, as well as the painting’s condition. How did a Santa Barbara celebrity artist come to paint the Hudson?
Not only was DeWitt a local celebrity known for painting images of the West, a trip to the Grand Canyon in 1910 sealed his reputation. Sponsored by the Southern Pacific Railroad, his paintings of the Grand Canyon became nationally famous. had By the late 1920’s Parshall led of a group of artists that put Santa Barbara on the map as an artist’s haven.
After his training in New York and his studies in Europe, Parshall visited the noted artist Thomas Moran who lived in Santa Barbara in 1913 and fell in love with the city, as we all have at one time. Parshall was born in Buffalo NY in 1864: having had preeminent training at the Royal Academy in Dresden, and the Academies of Corman and Julian in Paris, he entered the necessary contests for shows. As an American, he received the rare honor of acceptance into the Paris Salon of 1890.
Many of his works were reported to be painted from memory. Either L.S. has an early work when Parshall lived in New York, or he has a canvas painted from a memory of his youth. Parshall also started a family in New York, fathering a famous artist son, Douglass, in 1899. By that time, Parshall had relocated to Santa Barbara, and Douglass studied at the Thacher School in Ojai, then leaving for art training in New York, Boston and Paris.
Many of us remember Parshall’s talented son Douglass, who died in 1990 in his 90’s, after having a great career as a WPA muralist in the 1930’s, the Santa Barbara Chair of the Golden Gate International Expo in 1939, and our Art Association President in the 1950’s. I’ve seen his later very moody and expressionistic works, although Douglass is best known for his reputation as an outdoorsman and a lover and painter of horses.
His father lived as an artist through the great golden years of California Plein Air paintings, and although L.S.’s canvas by Parshall isn’t of California, we see the Plein Air style diaphanous haze and the seemingly moving sky of that tradition.
However, a determinate of value is usually condition, especially if there are still a number of canvases in the market by a particular artist. L.S.’s painting has condition problems, which make me think it was hung for years in a dry and sunny place. I see some flaking and some paint loss, which means the buyer of this canvas will need to budget in some restoration charges, as well as relining charges, which is a process used to strengthen and flatten flaking and cupping oil on canvas.
Not always successful, especially in the early years of the restorer’s art, relining is not a new process. Restorers relined canvases in the mid 19th century. “The invaluable Night Watch” by Rembrandt was relined in 1851.
To reline, take the existing canvas, lay it flat face down, and glue another canvas to the back. Now iron the back. Yes, it’s dangerous, yet today less so because of the vacuum hot table process used with a wax-resin glue. The process works best on paintings that do not feature a heavy application of oil in accented areas, called “impasto,” because the heat may flatten these high areas of pure pigment.
Buyers do well to wonder just how much a process like this will cost if they fancy L.S.’s painting, and how urgent the need for repair may be. Historically, some colors of pigment are most susceptible to drying and cupping problems, most notably white, which was used for the clouds in the sky: the clouds are flaking to the touch. One ardent cleaning lady with a terry cloth rag could wipe out one quarter of the sky. So a buyer will need to spend upwards of $800 to have this painting stabilized. Because of this, I put the value of the painting at $1,500. But a chance to hand a DeWitt Parshall, one of our local heroes, is a golden opportunity.