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Lot 39

John Whorf
(1903-1959)
Backyards 15 5/8 x 22 1/8in (39.7 x 56.2cm)

American Art

29 July 2020, 16:00 EDT

New York

Sold for US$1,912.50 inc. premium

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John Whorf (1903-1959)

Backyards
signed and numbered 'John Whorf. 17' (lower right) and signed and numbered again, inscribed with title and 'With my best wishes to Mr. & Mrs. Guinzberg' (on the reverse)
watercolor and charcoal on paper
15 5/8 x 22 1/8in (39.7 x 56.2cm)
Executed circa 1937.

Footnotes

Provenance
The artist.
Harold K. Guinzburg, acquired from the above, circa 1937.
George K. Guinzburg, (probably) gift from the above, circa 1937.
By descent to the present owner.

Exhibited
New York, Milch Galleries, Recent Watercolors by John Whorf, April 12-30, 1937, no. 17.

We are grateful to Amy Whorf McGuiggan, granddaughter of the artist and contributing author of the monograph John Whorf Rediscovered for her kind assistance in cataloging this lot.

The present work depicts a snowy backyard scene most likely in Provincetown, Massachusetts where John Whorf and his wife Vivienne settled in 1937. Backyards was acquired by Harold K. Guinzburg (1899-1961), the publisher and co-founder of Viking Press. According to Amy Whorf McGuiggan, it is believed that Whorf and Guinzburg met at one of the artist's annual exhibitions at Milch Galleries in New York, possibly at the 1937 exhibition where Backyards was exhibited (unpublished letter, April 8, 2020). It is believed that the present work was later gifted to George K. Guinzburg (1892-1966), Harold's cousin, as a wedding present. George K. Guinzburg was an art collector and the President and later the Chairman of the Board of the I.B. Kleinert's Rubber Company. An inscription made by Whorf on the reverse of the sheet remains, extending his best wishes to the newly wed Mr. and Mrs. Guinzberg.

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