This July 18th at Clars we are highlighting works by a variety of artists working in different periods, styles, and mediums, including Edmund Henry Osthaus, Albert Bierstadt, Diane Arbus.

Firstly, we have an oil on canvas by German American artist Edmund Osthaus (1858–1928) that depicts three setters eagerly scouting the autumn countryside for game. Osthaus immigrated to the United States in 1883, settling in northern Ohio and becoming the director of the Toledo Academy of Fine Arts. In the Midwest, Osthaus immersed himself in the raising and showing of gundogs, specifically setters and pointers, the likes of which became his most well-known subject. Osthaus’ true-to-life portrayals of these elegant hunting dogs garnered much demand in the late nineteenth century, attracting patrons in high-profile families including the Morgans and Vanderbilts. The piece in our July auction is exemplary of Osthaus’ work, showing the expert rendering of the dogs’ coats and faces against and idyllic but somewhat foreboding landscape. This painting by Edmund Osthaus is estimated at $20,000-–$40,000.

A second German American painter who made his mark in the United States is Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), who is known for his dramatic landscapes showing the American West. Bierstadt’s depictions of Yosemite Valley, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest coast are the result of his travels with land surveyor Frederick W. Lander and memoirist Fitz Hugh Ludlow, who each brought Bierstadt from his home in the Hudson River Valley of New York through the rugged terrain of the less-explored West. As a member of the Hudson River School, the influence of Romanticism in Bierstadt’s work is apparent, and his style is often described as Luminism, as it gave a great deal of focus to natural light in his scenes. The oil on canvas in our July auction depicts an unknown landscape of rolling hills with a lake in the foreground under clouds dissipating into a peach-colored sunset. This piece is estimated at $10,000–$15,000.

Jumping forward to the mid-twentieth century, we are featuring a gelatin silver print by groundbreaking American photographer Diane Arbus (1923–1971). Arbus is known for her unvarnished approach to portraiture, often choosing subjects who were considered unusual or out of the mainstream and presenting them in a straightforward yet surreal way. Arbus’ work is now celebrated as helping to expand representation of marginalized people in art as well as being an undeniable influence on photographers who succeeded her. The photograph in our sale this month is titled Russian Midget Friends in a Living Room on 100th St. New York City, 1963, and depicts two women and a man seated in a room dimly lit by natural light, surrounded by their furnishings, with varied expressions on each of their faces. Each of the subjects touches one another in a comforting way, implying familial closeness, and a sense of pride at being photographed is reflected. This piece is estimated at $8,000–$12,000.

Alongside these highlights we are also featuring paintings by John Marshall Gamble, Franz Bischoff, Edward Mitchell Bannister and Peter Max, prints by Sam Francis and Mel Ramos, and much more.