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ATHOS MENABONI"Georgia Moonshiner, c. 1935" by Athos Menaboni (1895-1990) American WPA Era OilCirca 1935
Circa 1935
$3,950
£3,010.76
€3,472.60
CA$5,610.18
A$6,028.73
CHF 3,234.76
MX$71,014.75
NOK 40,673.56
SEK 37,155.04
DKK 25,952.80
About the Item
A fantastic WPA-era painting of a Georgia moonshiner by famed Italian-American artist Athos Menaboni (1895-1990).
This work depicts an older man sporting a brown hat, brown jacket, and ragged tan pants. His arms are crossed and hold a long rifle. He has a rounded red nose and cheeks and grey facial hair. He stands in an open landscape with a tree stump nearby and mountains and a cloud in the background. At his feet rests a stoneware jug with moonshine - providing a hint at the title of the work - Georgia Moonshiner.
This work fits perfectly into the WPA period and style, showing many similarities to the great muralists of the time period such as Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Rivera. Menaboni himself was a noted muralist, having painted numerous examples throughout Georgia from the late 1920s to the 1960s. There was a large exhibition of his murals and mural studies at Keenesaw State University in 2012.
The work is an oil on Masonite and is signed in the lower right corner. It is housed in a period wood frame.
This is a rare opportunity to acquire an exceptional WPA era work at a steep discount to traditional galleries.
Provenance:
Spanierman Gallery, NYC;
Private collection, NJ;
Acquired from the above
About the artist:
Athos Menaboni (1895-1990) was born in 1895 in the Italian port city of Livorno. At the age of nine, he began a formal study of art with private teachers. He later attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where he studied under Belgian muralist Charles Doudelet (1861-1938).
After serving in Italy’s armed forces during World War I, Menaboni left home with a job on an American freighter and immigrated to the United States in 1921, eventually becoming an American citizen in 1936.
By 1927, he was living in Atlanta, Georgia. There he was hired by Philip Shutze, Atlanta’s premier classical architect, to execute paintings at the Swan House (now a house museum at the Atlanta History Center) and in several other residences, as well as in public buildings. Other early commissions included restoration work on Atlanta’s Cyclorama. The architect also connected him with Atlanta's elite, many of whom became his clients as well. Menaboni would create murals in residences, offices and restaurants in Atlanta and environs for the next 30 years.
Original preserved drawings, both proposals and studies for various murals, demonstrate Menaboni's range. The earliest proposals for government buildings, perhaps WPA projects, are executed in a Diego Rivera-style of figuration inflected by the Old Master Italian altarpieces and project a civic gravitas. Those for homes and restaurants are more relaxed and fluid, lightened with wit and whimsy. The painting of the Georgia Moonshiner above would fall into the former category.
For the first year in Atlanta, Menaboni lived in a Peachtree Street boarding house owned by an uncle of his future wife. It was here he met Sara Regina Arnold, of Rome, Georgia, whom he married in 1928.
In 1937, Menaboni returned to his childhood interest in birds. From then on, he steadily refined aspects of naturalistic oil paintings of birds. He developed a technique that used turpentine to thin the oil in order to paint in layers on paper and give the feathers translucency, detail, and depth.
Sara Menaboni’s sending of a portfolio of his paintings in 1938 to New York City led to exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Audubon Society.
In 1941, Atlanta’s Coca-Cola magnate, Robert W. Woodruff, began selecting and printing an image of a Menaboni bird painting on his personal Christmas cards. This important, annual commission continued until 1984 (Woodruff died in 1985), producing an impressive forty-four card series.
Menaboni also created artwork for periodicals (including Sports Illustrated and The Progressive Farmer), as well as for book publications (such as The World Book Encyclopedia). Since 1942, his art has been made even more widely available through lithographs.
In 1950, Sara and Athos Menaboni published Menaboni’s Birds. His paintings illustrated the text, which was written by his wife, and the volume was voted one of the “Fifty Best Books of the Year” by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
It was also in 1950 that the magazine Time declared Menaboni the heir of James Audubon, which was an apt designation given the fact Menaboni would eventually paint over 150 different species of birds. It was just one of the many recognitions during his career in Atlanta, which spanned over 60 years.
In 1990, Athos Menaboni died at age 94. Three years later, Sara died. Athos Menaboni’s work continues to be admired and exhibited in museums throughout the United States.
A phenomenal exhibition in 2012 at Keenesaw State University (and accompanying catalog) highlighted Menaboni’s mural work throughout Georgia during the early part of his career.
Size:
12 inches tall by 10 inches wide (painting)
20 inches tall by 18 inches wide by 2 inches wide (frame)
Condition: Very good overall condition. Scattered pinpoints of inpainting visible when examined under UV light throughout sky and to lower left corner. Additional diagonal line of inpainting to lower left corner as well and one area of abrasion to jug. Typical wear and touch up to the frame. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed!
- Creator:ATHOS MENABONI
- Creation Year:Circa 1935
- Dimensions:Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good overall condition. Scattered pinpoints of inpainting visible when examined under UV light throughout sky and to lower left corner. Additional diagonal line of inpainting to lower left corner as well and one area of abrasion to jug.
- Gallery Location:Yardley, PA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2911217274712
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