Lot 35
Elling William "Bill" Gollings(1878-1932)Autumn 12 x 18 in. framed 22 x 27 in.
7 November 2023, 13:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$48,640 inc. premium
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Elling William "Bill" Gollings (1878-1932)
Autumn
signed with the artist's pony-track device and dated 'Gollings 1926' (lower right) and titled (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
12 x 18 in.
framed 22 x 27 in.
signed with the artist's pony-track device and dated 'Gollings 1926' (lower right) and titled (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
12 x 18 in.
framed 22 x 27 in.
Footnotes
Provenance
Collection of Esther Cornell, a close friend and collector of the artist.
By family descent.
Celebrated for his accurate, first-hand depictions of cowboy culture and sensitive imagery of Native American subjects, Elling William 'Bill' Gollings was born in the mining camp of Pierce City in the Idaho Territory. Despite moving with his family to Chicago for a few years for schooling as of about age 12, early childhood exposure to Western motifs including trains travelling through open territory that contained roaming buffalo and Native American peoples, captured his imagination. Following a brief two years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, where he was accepted after submitting paintings executed on a Montgomery Ward mail order paint set, Gollings returned West.
He worked in various ranching jobs including as a cowboy and sheepherder in South Dakota and Nebraska, and spent time on his brother's ranch on Rosebud Creek near the Yellowstone River in Montana. Gollings also worked as a cowboy on the Cheyenne Reservation in Wyoming. Always balancing work as a rancher and an artist, it was also in Wyoming where he learned etching techniques under Hans Kleiber.
Gollings settled in Sheridan, Wyoming and built a studio there about 1909. Like many artists of the period, he was exposed to the work of Frederic Remington in publications such as Harper's Weekly, and the artist was an important early influence on Golling's work. Contemporary artists including Edward Borein, William H.D. Koerner, Joe De Yong, and especially Charles Marion Russell and Joseph Henry Sharp, were also sources of encouragement and artistic influence. While Gollings admired and respected Russell's work, it was Sharp's color and compositional sensibilities that arguably had the strongest influences on the artist's work.
In Autumn, and the other oil paintings in the Esther Cornell collection, the positive impact of Sharp's style can be seen in the paintings' sophisticated compositions, complex color relationships, Gollings deft use of sunlight and shadow, and in their painterly surfaces. In Autumn, Gollings presents a rich narrative honed with confident, impressionistic brushwork. In the composition, three bareback, grazing horses dominate the foreground. The center chestnut pony looks back to survey the Native American encampment in the middle distance, effectively guiding the viewer's eye into the scene. Tipis are nestled beneath trees whose colors are just beginning to turn yellow and red, and three figures, two on horseback and one standing near the front tipi, can be seen. It is easy to understand why Esther Cornell would have retained Autumn in her personal collection. Here, Gollings is at his best, presenting a faithful and visually beautiful depiction of indigenous peoples of the American West.