Gordon Coutts
A stunningly well-painted landscape by highly listed Scottish-American artist Gordon Coutts, from right around the turn of the 20th century. He has masterfully captured the afternoon light on a pond where cattle are watering, framed between darkening trees in the foreground. Coutts' work was shown at both the Royal Academy (London) and the Paris Salon, and his paintings are in numerous museums collections. I have included a photo of the auction announcement for an upcoming auction for a smaller (and I think not as good) painting by Coutts that is estimated at $3,000 to $5,000 -- and that's AUCTION pricing (wholesale), and before taxes are added! From AskArt: Gordon Coutts (1868-1937) Born in Glasgow, Scotland on Oct. 3, 1868, Gordon Coutts studied art in Glasgow, London, and in Paris at Académie Julian under Lefebvre, Fleury, and Rossi. After his stay in Paris, he moved to Melbourne, Australia where he was an instructor at the Art Society of New South Wales for several years during the late 1890s. Upon returning to London in 1899, he exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1902 he and his wife, Alice, moved to San Francisco where he became an active member and exhibitor of the Bohemian Club while maintaining a home across the bay in Piedmont. An itinerant globe trotter, he traveled to remote places in search of subject matter. During his early period his work embraced Tonalism; whereas, his style later changed to the brighter, colorful palette of Impressionism. Ill health necessitated his move to a drier climate, and about 1925 he settled in Palm Springs, CA. There he built a French-Moroccan style castle where he remained until his death of tuberculosis on Feb. 21, 1937. EXHIBITIONS: Del Monte Art Gallery, 1907-10 Berkeley Art Association, 1908 Bohemian Club, 1909, 1912-14 Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (gold medal) Paris Salon, 1913 (gold medal) PPIE, 1915 (medal) Calif. Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915 Stendahl Gallery (LA), 1925, 1927 Calif. State Fair, 1930 (gold medal). COLLECTIONS: Oakland Museum De Young Museum Cleveland Museum Melbourne Art Gallery Nat'l Art Gallery (Sydney) Palm Springs Desert Museum Henry Gallery (Univ. of Washington) Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940; Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Artists of the American West (Doris Dawdy); Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs (Bénézit, E); Southern California Artists (Nancy Moure); American Art Annual 1909-21; Who's Who in American Art 1936-38 (obituary).