Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969) Woodcock by the Brook

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The Winter Sale 2016

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 12, 2016 - Feb 13, 2016

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• Lot Description
  Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969)
  Woodcock by the Brook,c. 1948
  signed "A. Lassell Ripley" lower left
  oil on canvas, 26 1/2 by 39 1/2in.
  
  “This colorful New England scene hung in Dad’s office for most of his lifetime, taking him afield even when he couldn’t be out there. The hunter’s aim at the bird in flight filled Dad with the excitement of that moment just before a difficult, successful shot. (It was) the only painting in his office at home, and probably his most prized."
  
  This signature work by Ripley is in great company. It was selected, along with A.F. Tait's "A Good Time Coming," Thomas Eakins' "Whistling for Plover," and Andrew Wyeth's Coot Hunter, as one of the "Great American Shooting Prints" in Robert Elman's 1972 book. Elman describes the scene of the painting: "Where alder bottoms, aspen groves, and willow swales wander alongside a stream through rolling farmland, the damp earth may be drilled and spattered by woodcock probing for worms, employing sensitive bills nearly as long as their bodies. They are inland sandpipers, related to snipe, shorebirds of the uplands with the strong migratory urge of most shore birds."
  
  "A. Lassell Ripley was fascinated by these unique game birds. One of his last major endeavors before his death in 1969 was the completion of the fine etchings and watercolor frontispiece for William G. Sheldon's noteworthy treatise, "The Book of the American Woodcock."
  
  "Woodcock by the Brook" depicts a "setting where 'flight birds,' early migrants from upper New England or Canada, have joined 'natives' still lingering in relative warmth. For a brief time these hunters can comb the coverts, accompanied by a zealous setter and armed with light, short shotguns for fast shooting at erratic targets. Abruptly the dog checks his trot and sets his body in a firm point - then a button-eyed, neckless ball of feathers, patently incapable of flight, rockets upward with a twittering whistle of air through its stubby primaries."
  
  This painting was reproduced as a color print for a fundraiser in a limited edition of 950, a copy of which accompanies the lot.
  
  "In my twenty-five years in the field, I have come across very few Ripley oils that match the quality and complexity of this important work. The composition, published history, condition, and Webster provenance all combine to make this Ripley top shelf." -Stephen B. O'Brien, Jr., author of "The Art of Aiden Lassell Ripley"
  
  Provenance: William B. Webster, III Collection
  
  Literature: Stephen B. O'Brien, Jr. and Julie Carlson Wildfeuer, "The Art of Aiden Lassell Ripley," Boston, MA, 2009, p. 108, plate 95, illustrated. The Crossroads of Sport, Inc. Catalog, New York, NY, 1970-71, p. 34, illustrated. Robert Elman, "The Great American Shooting Prints," New York, NY, 1972, pl. 56, illustrated.

  Condition

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• Buyer's Premium

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    $1,000,000	15.00