Spinner, Louis P. (American/Pennsylvania, 1851-1929), Elaborate Dinner Still Life on Bookshelf with Fish, Toast, Tomatoes and Onions, circa 1885, oil on canvas,26.5 x 40 inches, an elaborate shelf laid with a whole fish, tomatoes, bread, onions, sweet potatoes or cut melons, pickles, salt and pepper shakers, and silver forks, signed L.P. Spinner lower right, framed 33 x 46.5 inches. Exhibited: McDonald Gallery; James J. White Collection; Exhibited Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, 1984. Provenance: The James J. White Botanical Art Collection. The James J. White Collection encompassed a diverse collection including all of Jim White’s scholarly interests and incomparable taste. The collection included including many American Still Life Paintings dating from the mid 19th Century to the 1950’s. James joined the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University in 1978 as Assistant Curator working with Curator of Art John Brindle. In 1979 James also became a Research Associate in the Section of Botany of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, and in 1982 he became Curator of Art and Senior Research Scholar at the Hunt Institute following Brindle’s retirement, holding both positions until 2009. For thirty years, he curated the Hunt Institute’s art collection and numerous exhibitions (including the globally recognized, triennial International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration), and he contributed many articles for Hunt Institute publications.
In generally good condition apart from an old repair in the center above the fish head, a few surface scratches, pale stretcher bar marks. Merchandise will be packed and transported by the purchaser at their own risk and expense. A list of recommended shippers is on our website: https://www.conceptgallery.com/auctions/shipping/.