MARCH FINE ESTATES CHARLESTON
Lot 176:
Description
Original Henry Prellwitz (1865-1940) Seascape at Night Oil on Board. In gilt wood frame. In frame measures 26"x20"x1 1/2". Weight 5 lbs 2 oz. PROVENANCE: Willtown Plantation, Willtown Bluff, Adams Run SC. Born in New York City, Henry Prellwitz had a painting career that ranged from allegorical and narrative and genre works to landscapes much influenced by the poetic qualities of Tonalism. For many years, he taught at the Pratt Institute in New York, and was elected to prestigious organizations including the National Academy of Design and the Society of American Artists. Prellwitz grew up in New York City as one of five sons of Prussian parents. His father owned a cigar store. At age fourteen, he enrolled in the City College of New York and there was introduced to art by Leigh Hunt, who was teaching shading and perspective. Three years later he began study at the Art Students League, where his instructors were Thomas Dewing, Robert Reid and George de Forest Brush. Dewing had the most lasting influence, and later the two became personal friends. In 1893, he won the Third Hallgarten Prize at the National Academy in New York, and many other awards and international exhibitions followed. From 1887 to 1890, Prellwitz lived in Europe, where he studied in Paris at the Academy Julian and stayed at the Anglo-American colony at Giverny, home of Impressionist leader Claude Monet. He also went to Spain with Philip Leslie Hale and William Howard Hart. Henry Prellwitz played a lively role in New York art life at the turn of the century, exhibiting his paintings at the Society of American Artists and at the National Academy of Design. He won numerous awards and prizes, including the National Academy’s Third Hallgarten prize (1893) and its Clarke prize (1907). He also received a bronze medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901) and a silver medal at the St. Louis Exposition (1904). Prellwitz was elected an associate of the National Academy in 1906 and an academician in 1912. As the Academy’s treasurer from 1929 until 1940, Prellwitz was praised for his "fidelity to duty" and his "firmness in the conviction of right" tempered with kindness, justice and respect for the feelings of others. Prellwitz was also affiliated with the Century Club, the Salmagundi Club and the American Federation of Arts. Henry Prellwitz died in East Greenwich, Rhode Island in 1940. His paintings are represented in numerous public collections throughout the northeast, including the National Academy of Design in New York City and the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York..
Condition: good
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