The McCleery Dexter-Gardner Dowitcher Pair by Dexter and Gardner

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Feb 21, 2025

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• Lot Description

  The McCleery Dexter-Gardner Dowitcher Pair
  Dexter and Gardner
  Newton Dexter (1838-1901) and Dr. Clarence T. Gardner (1844-1907)
  Sakonnet Point, Little Compton, RI, c. 1885
  11 3/4 in. long
  
  "Dr. Clarence Tripp Gardner (1844-1907), a prominent surgeon and president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and Newton Dexter (1841-1901), a naturalist associated with the Smithsonian, were hunting and fishing companions who worked together on the creation of a number of remarkable shorebird decoys, including hollow and solid-bodied curlews, yellowlegs, black-bellied and golden plovers, and dowitchers. Both men were skilled in taxidermy and mounted many of the birds they shot; their collection of specimens was later donated to the Roger Williams Park Museum of Natural History in Providence.
  
  "Gardner was precocious and ambitious-he taught school briefly at fourteen, entered Brown University at sixteen, enlisted in the Union Army when the Civil War broke out even though he was two years under age, fought in the first and last engagements of the war, and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1866. In 1883, he built a summer home in Little Compton, Rhode Island, on a spot on Sakonnet Point that is still called Gardner's Bluff, where he hunted and fished with Dexter and his son, Clarence H. Gardner, who was also a skilled taxidermist. In a memorial appreciation, Gardner's colleague Dr. Walter Lee Munroe noted:
  
  "He was a daring and original surgeon ... He was a born mechanic and dextrous in the use of all manner of tools. Many of his happiest leisure hours were spent in his work-shop where he was equally at home whether engaged in fashioning and painting decoys or installing an electric lighting plant. To this mechanical dexterity can be attributed many of his successes as a surgeon ... He was an ardent sportsman, especially with the shotgun, and lost no opportunity when the birds were flying and he was away from business. He had a profound knowledge of natural history and especially ornithology. His collection of shore-birds and sea-fowl at Seaconnet, all shot and mounted by himself, his son, and the late Newton Dexter, would be hard to duplicate. His retentive memory made him a mine of information as to the habits and habitat of the different species.

  "Newton Dexter was a largely self-taught naturalist whose early talents were sufficient enough that he was invited to assist the renowned Harvard scientist Louis Agassiz on an 1865 expedition up the Amazon. The pioneering psychologist William James, who was then a medical student at Harvard, was also an assistant on the trip and became a good friend of Dexter's. Dexter showed such remarkable ability as a naturalist during the trip that Agassiz recommended him to the Smithsonian for a return expedition, after which he gave up the idea of going to college and devoted the rest of his life to scientific studies. He spent several years in the American West, where he lived for a time in a Sioux village and befriended both Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody, and traveled extensively in pursuit of specimens throughout his life. In later years. Dexter wintered at Oak Lodge in Grant, Florida, a boardinghouse frequented by naturalists and sportsmen, on the St. Johns River south of Melbourne, and spent summers with Gardner in Sakonnet. He died there in 1901 after suffering a heart attack while the two men were out fishing." — Robert Shaw, "Bird Decoys of North America"
  
  Newport, Rhode Island, produced some of the best woodworkers the world has ever known, perhaps none more recognized than the cabinet makers John Goddard (1723-1785) and John Townsend (1732-1809). A century later, just a few miles across the bay at Sakonnet Point, the naturalists Dexter-Gardner produced Rhode Island's finest bird carvings.
  
  In the 1930s Frank D. Lisle (1871-1940) purchased the summer home of Dr. Clarence Gardner. The summer home was built In 1883 and perfectly located on the productive shores of Sakonnet Point, ideal for fishing and hunting. Soon after the purchase, Lisle discovered Dexter and Gardener's rig of shorebirds in an outbuilding on the property.
  
  Newton Dexter was an excellent taxidermist. While both gentlemen carved shorebirds, Dexter painted them as well. Information regarding this important rig was first published in Hal Sorenson's 1966-67 "Decoy Collector's Guide." These exact dowitchers are prominently featured in the article written by Frank Lisle's sons, Lawrence and Richard.
  
  Measuring almost twelve inches long, these boldly carved shorebird decoys exhibit hollow, laminated, three-piece, pegged-body construction. One bird has a turned head, while the other displays a tucked head. Both have carved raised wings and a superb dry original surface. The turned-head carving bears the James M. McCleery Collection stamp on the underside.
  
  This peerless pair rank not only among the finest shorebird decoys ever to come on the market, but also, like the Nina Fletcher Little duo of Bunn curlews, Crowell dust-jacket plovers, and Fred Nichols animated plover and yellowlegs, these iconic bird decoys represent the very finest of American folk art. Indeed, they have been selected time and time again by top collectors, curators, and authors.
  
  The pair came to auction in 1990 and McCleery set his sights, stating in a letter to a friend before the sale that "Nothing short of bankruptcy will prevent my bidding on the Rhode Island Pair." He acquired them and they were brought to the attention of a national audience. "Jim McCleery lived in Texas and was an absolutely lovely man," recalled curator and author Gigi Hopkins, "He had one of the three best collections in the country and Stephen B. O'Brien Jr. gave me the enormous treat of a trip to Jim McCleery's in Texas to see in the flesh his collection and meet him."
  
  Gigi went on to be a speaker at Sotheby's during the sale of the McCleery Collection, where the decoys were purchased by O'Brien for top shorebird and sporting art collector Grant Nelson. Ronald Gard then acquired the pair, bringing his favorite shorebirds from his friend Dr. McCleery's collection, back to Texas. Gigi Hopkins then followed them to Texas again, this time not only to admire the Dexter Gardners, but to acquire them on loan as the centerpiece for her exhibition "The Surgeon & The Explorer-Naturalist: The Shorebird Decoys of Clarence Gardner and Newton Dexter" at the Museum of American Bird Art in 2019.
  
  In a featured interview in 2024, Hopkins chose this pair to discuss as a highlight from her lifelong involvement with the finest bird carvings. "If you look at the animation in the [turned-head] bird, it is quite extraordinary for a decoy [and the animation of the tucked-head bird] is quite remarkable," She continues, "The paint is fast and easy and effortless. They definitely are one of my favorite groups of birds."
  Both are in fine original paint with minor gunning wear.
  
  Provenance: Dexter and Gardner Rig
  Frank D. Lisle Collection
  Lawrence Lisle Collection
  James M. McCleery, M.D. Collection, acquired 1990
  Grant Nelson Collection
  Ronald J. Gard Collection
  
  Literature: Hal Sorensen, ed., "Decoy Collector's Guide: 1966-67 Annual," Burlington, IA, p. 64, exact shorebird decoys illustrated. Sotheby's and Guyette and Schmidt, "American Waterfowl Decoys: The Distinguished Collection of Dr. James M. McCleery," New York, NY, January 22, 2000, lots 541 and 542, exact decoys illustrated. Robert Shaw, "Call to the Sky: The Decoy Collection of James M. McCleery, M.D.," Houston, TX, 1992, pp. 32-33, exact decoys illustrated. Ronald J. Gard and Robert Shaw, eds., "The McCleery Auction," Dallas, TX, 2001, back dust-jacket cover and pp. 168-169, exact pair illustrated and discussed. Robert Shaw, "Bird Decoys of North America," New York, NY, 2010, pp. 165-167, exact decoys illustrated. Gene and Linda Kangas, "Decoys," Paducah, KY, 1992, p. 310, exact decoys illustrated. Decoy Magazine, "Museum News: Gardner and Dexter shorebirds on exhibit at Canton Museum," July/August 2019, p. 31, exact pair illustrated. Copley Fine Art Auctions, "The Winter Sale 2014," Charleston, SC, lot 42, exact decoys illustrated.
  
  Exhibited: Houston, Texas, "Call to the Sky: The Decoy Collection of James M. McCleery, M.D.," Houston Museum of Natural History, 1992-1993. Dallas, Texas, "Eye of the Collector," Perot Museum, April - September 2016. Canton, Massachusetts, "The Surgeon & The Explorer-Naturalist: The Shorebird Decoys of Clarence Gardner and Newton Dexter," Museum of American Bird Art, July - October 2019.

  Condition

  Please refer to the description; if you have questions, email colin@copleyart.com.

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