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Fritz VogtOur Native Summer Home, J B Close1896
1896
$95,000
£72,692.73
€83,197.56
CA$134,165.03
A$145,814.34
CHF 78,143.16
MX$1,770,445.17
NOK 981,040.02
SEK 909,765.51
DKK 621,383.36
About the Item
ARTIST: Fritz Vogt (Active 1890 – 1900) (1842-1900)
TITLE: “Our Native Summer Home”
DESCRIPTION: Pencil drawing with colored pencil, 37 ½ x 25 ½ inches
signed and dated September 23, 1996. “Our Native Summer Home, J B Close”
FRAMING: Original frame with modern mat. Frame size 45 ½ x 33 ½ inches
Provenance: Upstate NY State Collector
Exhibited: Drawn Home: Fritz Vogt’s Rural America (Fenimore Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum, organized by the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY, and also traveled to the American Folk Art Museum in New York City in 2002.).
Auction high for this artist is $145,000.00 in 2008 at Sotheby's New York.
Description :
This pencil-colored drawing titled “Our Native Summer Home” is a classic and valuable example of work by Fritz Vogt (1842-1900) . It dates from 1896. It depicts a homestead property in Glen, NY (Montgomery, New York), a known area of activity for Vogt.
The Empire style house is identifiable by its mansard roof, and central tower topped with a decorative iron finial. Vogt has meticulously rendered the fish-scale shingles on the roof and the decorative brackets under the eaves.
Vogt’s strength was his ability to sell the "American Dream" back to his patrons, who usually were the owners of the homes and farmsteads he painted . This home is shown as pristine, the lawns are perfectly flat, and the fences are straight. The neatness and perhaps even the size of the structure flattered the owner, projecting a sense of order and prosperity.
At the bottom of his drawing, in his typical calligraphy, Vogt has titled the work "Our Native Summer Home" and identified the location as the "Village of Glen." This inscription is a crucial element of his work, transforming the drawing from a mere picture into a historical document or deed of sorts. The house is shown from an elevated, almost bird's-eye view. This was a specific choice by Vogt to ensure the viewer could see the layout of the paths, the depth of the property, and the grandeur of the roofline all at once.
This drawing was part of a traveling exhibit called “Drawn Home: Fritz Vogt’s Rural America “ (Fenimore Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum). The title of the drawing "Our Native Summer Home" suggests this was a retreat for a successful family, possibly one that had moved to a city and returned to upstate New York for the summer. This aligns with the historical context of the region in the 1890s, where rail travel allowed for the rise of summer tourism in rural New York.
His drawings are important for several reasons: The "Optimism" of Rural America in Vogt’s work captures a very specific moment—the "apogee" of rural life in central New York before the massive industrial shifts of the 20th century. His drawings do not show the hardship of farm life or rural life; instead, they project optimism and pride of place. Vogt’s farms and homes appear orderly, prosperous, and booming. The pride of ownership is prevalent. His art was a collaboration with his patrons. The farmers and homestead owners wanted to be remembered as successful, and Vogt obliged by often exaggerating the size of the buildings or the neatness of the grounds. His work validates the "American Dream" for these rural communities, preserving a visual record of what they were most proud of: their homes.
Because he was so precise, Vogt’s drawings serve as excellent historical records of 19th-century vernacular architecture. He captured the specific way homes, barns, and hop houses (a key structure in that region's agriculture) were built and arranged, providing details that photography of the time often missed. Vogt’s works appear on the scene during a time of late century transition. Scholars note that his work documents a "successful, well-organized world" just before it vanished. Vogt preserved the "golden hour" of this specific rural landscape.
Hundreds of his drawings chronicle the homes, the architecture and agriculture of late 19th-century rural New York. The quirky distortions, bright crayon highlights, speak to a man bringing warmth to form. Vogt was truly “on the road”—sleeping in barns, hotels or the very homes he sketched, living the life of an artist laborer paid in room and board or modest sums (some drawings cost just $2, indicated on the back!) (Source: Antiques and the Arts Weekly)
Artist Biography: Fritz Vogt (1841–1900)
Fritz Vogt was a German immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1890, though little is known about his life before his arrival. Unlike many settled studio artists, Vogt lived an (often referred to as a "tramp artist" or vagabond). He traveled on foot across the rural counties west of Albany, New York—specifically Montgomery, Schoharie, Otsego, Fulton, and Herkimer counties.
Vogt funded his travels by offering to draw the homes and farms of prosperous locals. He would often stay with the families he worked for, receiving room, board, and a small fee in exchange for his art. His career in America was brief, lasting only the last decade of the 19th century (1890–1899). He died on January 1, 1900.
Research Sources
Drawn Home: Fritz Vogt’s Rural America (Fenimore Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum).
Maine Antique Digest and The Newtown Bee have extensively covered the market for his work, noting that his drawings, once traded for a night's sleep, now command significant prices at major Americana auctions
- Creator:Fritz Vogt (1842 - 1900, American)
- Creation Year:1896
- Dimensions:Height: 25.5 in (64.77 cm)Width: 37.5 in (95.25 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Saratoga Springs, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU170217320062
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