Lot 892: Pinckney Marcius-Simons (American, 1867-1909),

Pinckney Marcius-Simons (American, 1867-1909), "The Lantern and the Sun", oil on canvas, signed lower right, titled en verso of canvas, 29 in. x 21 1/4 in., in a modern frame.

Note: Born in New York City, Marcius-Simons was an infant when his family relocated to Europe. A precocious talent, he began his artistic training at the age of twelve under Jean-Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902) and had his exhibition debut at the Paris Salon several years later in 1882. Though schooled in the French Academic tradition, Marcius-Simons was influenced by J.M.W. Turner, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and later by the experimentalism of the Symbolists. He successfully combined these seemingly conflicting artistic approaches to create a very personal, enigmatic style of painting. As a contemporary critic commented, "Here is realism mingled with the weirdly spectacular." Marcius-Simons merges his deeply pigmented palette, thick brushstrokes, and almost other-worldly subject matter to create works teeming with energy and life, as is evident in the present lot. A popular and successful painter during his lifetime, he exhibited widely including the Royal Academy, London and had one-man shows in New York, Boston, and Chicago. His work was posthumously included in the exhibits American Imagination and Symbolist Painting and The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas.