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THBThe Hardy-Chace Crowell Golden Plover by A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952)
About Seller
65 Sharp Street
Hingham, MA 02043
United States
Copley Fine Art Auctions is the world's leading American sporting art auction company. Located in Hingham, MA, Copley specializes in antique decoys and 19th- and 20th-century American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Principal Stephen O'Brien Jr., a fourth-generation sportsman with a refined colle...Read more
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About Auction
LiveJul 11, 2024
Lots 1-253 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com
View Full Catalog (253)
- Lot Description
The Hardy-Chace Crowell Golden Plover
A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952)
East Harwich, MA, c. 1912
10 in. tall
This early plover, with its elegant form, elaborate paint, and strong provenance, is one of Crowell's finest plover carvings known to exist.
The paint detail is among the best to have been executed on any known plover by the maker. The stippled impasto paint technique and subtle ticking that he imparted upon this carving created a lifelike effect on the bird which is virtually unmatched by any carver of his day or since. The transitional plumage choice for this carving allowed the painter to maximize the effect of the bird's color, feather detail, and contrast to great effect. The exceptional bill displays incised mandible separation as well as subtle nostril carving and, true to the species, it broadens at the tip. The wing tips are not only lifted above the tail, they also have rarely seen separation between the primaries.
When Crowell initially began carving he was extremely focused on rendering a perfect likeness for each species. Typical of many artists, as his carvings gained in popularity and demand increased, his attention to detail began to wane. With this particular bird, Crowell went so far as to paint the auricular feathers below the eyes; this plover is believed to be one of the only such goldens with this precise detail. A related curlew with similar auricular treatment was sold by Copley as the cover bird, lot 380, on the Sporting Sale 2011 Catalog.. Crowell historian Gigi Hopkins is credited for shedding light on Crowell’s auricular treatment.
Displays Crowell’s pristine oval brand on the bottom of the base above the patron's “C. A. Hardy” ink signature. A red jelly-jar label identifies the species as “Golden Plover” above the brand.
Anthony Elmer Crowell was born in the town of East Harwich, Massachusetts, the son of Anthony S. Crowell, a Cape Cod mariner and cranberry grower. According to his memoir, Crowell’s father, though not a hunter, gave Elmer his first shotgun at the age of twelve. Of the relevance of receiving the new shotgun, Crowell wrote, “Then, I was some boy!” The legend of Crowell and his famous carvings has many of the common threads of the typical artist’s tale. It is the story of a boy of modest means, born at the right time, and befriended by encouraging patrons. Crowell started out in his teens as a market hunter and a pioneering keeper of live waterfowl. These passions helped Crowell to develop an intrinsic knowledge of both waterfowl and other birds which enabled him to create carved wood sculptures that bear exceptional likeness to their species.
In the third quarter of the 19th century, Cape Cod was a major stop-over for migratory birds and was sparsely populated by people. However, with increased access by train and the advent of the automobile, Cape Cod was quickly becoming a destination for sportsmen in pursuit of outdoor recreation. The concept of the American shooting sportsman was beginning to take root. As a result, the gunning stands and camps that had once been primarily operated by local market gunners were becoming increasingly sought after by sportsmen from Boston. These new gunning stand owners would often invite their influential and wealthy friends down as guests and they needed managers to run the camps.
Referring to themselves as the Three Bears, Charles Ashley Hardy (1874-1927) of Chatham and Wayland, along with his two esteemed partners, G. Herbert Windeler and Loring Underwood, established their hunting camp, “The Three Bears Club,” on Pleasant Lake, one-half mile from Crowell’s gunning stand, where he had been hunting since 1876. Rather than competing with an experienced market gunner, they wisely hired him instead, approaching Crowell about a camp manager position in the late 1890s. Crowell’s employment at the Three Bears’ camp entailed procuring and then caring for a flock of approximately fifty geese. It is often the confidence and enthusiasm of youth that brings forth great experimental breakthroughs. To wit, Crowell rigged electric doors for the live decoy pens so that a gunner could release the flyers from afar. This innovation gave the Three Bears and their guests a tremendous hunting advantage.
Crowell’s innovations in terms of bird carving tell a similar tale. While blessed with natural talent and a thorough familiarity with bird anatomy, it was the encouragement and patronage of his earliest collectors that enabled Crowell to raise his craft to such a high level. The quality of the carvings that Crowell created for Charles Ashley Hardy, Dr. John C. Phillips (1876-1938), and Harry V. Long (1857-1949) illustrates each man’s positive influence and effect on the maker. For example, with the Charles Ashley Hardy plover (lot 29), one has the sense that Crowell was either looking right at a real plover as he painted this carving or he had handled so many that their shapes and feather patterns were etched in his memory.
Over the years, Hardy and his wife, Alice, commissioned Crowell to make many exceptional carvings and obtained a curlew, a golden plover (lot 29), a great blue heron, a common snipe, and a bobwhite quail, along with several other life-size mantel birds. Regarding these carvings, a 1974 Richard A. Bourne auction catalog states, “They are, to the best of our knowledge, the first such birds ever made by Mr. Crowell. It is interesting to note that Mr. Crowell painted these birds in a far different manner, much more like decoys than he did his later mantel birds.”
The special relationships forged through hunting, beginning with Hardy, Phillips, and Long, opened the world to Crowell’s workshop, and other important patrons came knocking, including Joseph B. Chace, Mrs. Alexis Felix DuPont, Stuart Crocker, Dr. Mac Cunningham, Henry Ford, Arthur Gould, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.
Outstanding original paint with light wear, minor flakes to bill edges. Loss to one toe and early touch-up to another.
Provenance: Charles Ashley Hardy Collection, acquired from the maker
Evelyn Thayer Chace Collection, acquired 1974
Private Collection, by descent from the above
Literature: Richard A. Bourne Co. Inc., Rare American Decoys & Ornamental Bird Carvings, Hyannis, MA, October 19, 1974, lot 90, exact carving illustrated. Stephen B. O'Brien Jr. and Chelsie W. Olney, "Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving," Hingham, MA, 2019, pp. 225, 226 and 229, plover with auricular detail illustrated.Condition
Please refer to the description; if you have questions, email colin@copleyart.com.
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