Gertrude Abercrombie Painting Auction Sets Record at $1.3M
A Gertrude Abercrombie painting bought for $30 at a Michigan estate sale sold for $1.3 million at Freeman’s auction in New York, setting a new record for the painter.
The work, Alderman Merriam’s Shells (1951), had passed through the hands of a flea market buyer who spotted it at an estate sale this summer. According to The Art Newspaper, Freeman’s head of post-war and contemporary art Zack Wirsum called his first glimpse of the painting “gobsmacked,” saying he had never seen this particular example by Abercrombie before.
The sale price blew past the high estimate of $200,000, a gain of 5,000 times the original purchase price. Even the low estimate of $150,000 represented extraordinary appreciation for a work that had sat unrecognized in a private collection.
How the painting resurfaced
Abercrombie (1909-77) had traded Alderman Merriam’s Shells to a Michigan doctor named John Reynolds in exchange for unspecified surgical services. According to art expert Susan Weininger, Reynolds was the only owner on record as far back as the early 1980s. He loaned the work to several important museum shows, but it eventually disappeared into his estate, until a collector discovered it at the Michigan sale.
Wirsum received an email about the painting over the July 4 weekend while preparing for a family hike in Arkansas. “I get a lot of those,” he told The Art Newspaper, “so I didn’t have high hopes. As soon as I clicked on the image I think I exclaimed an expletive, and I knew that it was just an incredible example by her.”
A growing market for Abercrombie
Abercrombie’s career took place largely outside the mainstream gallery world. Her figurative paintings, often depicting isolated figures, floating objects and eerie backdrops, were sometimes displayed and sold at department stores such as Marshall Fields. Yet her distinctive style attracted a devoted, if primarily regional, following.
Growth in Gertrude Abercrombie painting market
Wirsum, son of the famous Hairy Who artist Karl Wirsum, said he and the Freeman’s team are “even happier for our eagle-eyed consignor who saved this masterpiece from staying forever lost to time.”
sparked something” and marked a “kind pop magic moment in the Midwest” in the years after World War II. An acclaimed show at the Elmhurst Art Museum outside Chicago, organized by Jenny Gibbs, followed.
Interest in her work accelerated after 2018, when curator Dan Nadel organized an exhibition at Karma gallery in New York. Nadel described her paintings as having “sparked something” and marked a “kind pop magic moment in the Midwest” in the years after World War II. An acclaimed show at the Elmhurst Art Museum outside Chicago, organized by Jenny Gibbs, followed.
Wirsum, son of the famous Hairy Who artist Karl Wirsum, said he and the Freeman’s team are “even happier for our eagle-eyed consignor who saved this masterpiece from staying forever lost to time.”
What’s next
The record sale may signal growing recognition of Abercrombie’s place in American art history. Collectors and institutions have increasingly sought examples of her work, and prices have risen accordingly. The discovery of Alderman Merriam’s Shells suggests more paintings by the artist may still be circulating in private hands, waiting to be rediscovered.
Reporting from Theartnewspaper contributed to this story.