85 - VIRGINIA BERRESFORD (AMERICAN 1902-1995)

VIRGINIA BERRESFORD (AMERICAN 1902-1995) Breaking Wave, oil on canvasboard 30.5 x 40.6 cm (12 x 16 in.) framed dimensions: 45 x 54.8 cm (17 3/4 x 21 5/8 in.) signed lower left; signed lower left; inscribed “To Marion and Doris (who started me in my long career of painting WAVES!) love Virginia Berresford Christmas 1961” on verso PROVENANCE Gift from the artist, Christmas 1961 Private Collection LOT NOTES Virginia Berresford was born in New Rochelle in 1902. She studied at the Art Students League and spent 1925 to 1930 in Paris, at Amédée Ozenfant’s Académie Moderne. Her early, crisply modernist canvases caught the eye of Frank Crowninshield, who bought several and put one on the cover of Vanity Fair. By the late 1940s she had broken free of that precise style, turning to the palette knife and heavy impasto. In this work a cresting wave of turquoise, cobalt and white is built up in thick knife strokes, its spray flicked across a darkening sky. The dedication on the back credits the recipients with starting her “long career of painting WAVES.” In 1954 Berresford opened the first commercial art gallery in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Keywords: American Modernist, Woman Artist, Martha’s Vineyard Art, Palette Knife Seascape, Berresford Wave, Ozenfant Student N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals LLC and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.