The Sunflower, rediscovering an American icon
On June 21, 2023, Auctie's (Paris- Gien - NY) will have the honor of presenting at Hôtel Drouot a rare masterpiece by American naturalist artist Elbridge Ayer Burbank (1858-1949), "The Sunflower" (1894), a poetic ode to the African-American community.
This work, missing since its last public exhibition in Philadelphia in 1895, is the first painting by the artist to be offered at auction in France. Its beauty, its rarity and its "counter-current" character to its heavy historical context make its rediscovery and sale an event.
Born in Illinois, nephew of a tycoon with a passion for American history and ethnology, Burbank is famous in the United States for his gigantic corpus of nearly 1,200 portraits of 125 Native American tribes. In particular, he painted the only living portrait of the mythical Apache chief Geronimo. His works can be found in major American institutions (Chicago, Washington, New York, etc.), but none have yet been added to French national collections.
Early in his career, in the 1890s, he devoted a few rare paintings to the African-American community, with a simple, benevolent and fraternal outlook that contrasted radically with the violence of the prevailing social climate, characterized by segregationist laws.
At the time, the empathic power of his images earned him criticism from those who considered this familiarity inappropriate.
"The Sunflower", dated 1894, is in keeping with Burbank's characteristic soft, poetic mood. This young boy slumbers, flower in hand, as a kind ofallegory of innocence, where the frictions of recent history are as if erased. Burbank's pioneering eye is devoid of prejudice, and his model escapes the clichés then in vogue: he is neither slave, nor victim, nor exotic, he is American. In fact, "The Sunflower" can be compared with another portrait,"American Beauty", painted in 1893. Depicting a young African-American boy sniffing the scent of a rose, this painting won Burbank a great deal of critical acclaim, helping him to combat his bipolar affective disorders, which would complicate the end of his career.
"The Sunflower", with its visual power worthy of a fraternity manifesto, a key work from Burbank's early years, will be offered with an estimate of 10 to 15,000 euros.
Access the press kit: Burbank press kit
Register with your e-mail address to receive catalogues of our future sales.
