Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971), "Black Peacocks"
Jessie Arms Botke
(1883-1971)
"Black Peacocks"
Oil and gold paint on Masonite
Signed lower right: Jessie Arms Botke; titled on a small piece of brown paper affixed verso
32 x 26 in.
Provenance:
William Karges Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Saperstein Collection, Oakland, CA
Other notes:
Born in Chicago, Jessie Arms Botke studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and spent some time in Europe before moving to New York. There she worked for Herter Looms under Albert Herter and became a specialist in tapestry cartoons. She was a lead bird artist on a significant mural commission for Herter Looms at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Botke returned to Chicago and married Dutch American artist Cornelis Botke. The couple had a successful partnership working on mural commissions for high profile companies and institutions including University of Chicago and the Kellogg Company.
In 1920, the couple moved to California and purchased a ten-acre ranch in Wheeler Canyon near Santa Paula, California. Botke quickly became associated with the vibrant art communities of Carmel and later Los Angeles. Influenced by Asian Art and the Arts and Crafts movement, she began to incorporate gold and silver leaf in intricate backgrounds of her bird and foliage-focused compositions.
Botke is arguably best known for these richly decorative paintings of birds, particularly her famous peacocks and cockatoos, that blend careful observation of nature with a strong sense of pattern and design. Fowl were another common subject for the artist, particularly after settling in rural Santa Paula where she built an aviary for exotic birds while ducks and chickens roamed freely on the ranch property. Whether exotic or domestic, Botke remained dedicated to depicting birds not just as natural subjects but as elegant decorative forms throughout her artistic practice.
Condition
Visual: Crazing in the areas of the gold paint. A 1/4 inch wide strip of frame abrasion visible along the left edge. Some slightly uneven, unobtrusive looking spots within the gold in the upper left that may indicate touch-up, visible in raking light. A very fine unobtrusive craquelure throughout with nearly unseen pinpoint-sized paint losses scattered in places, especially within the feathers near the center. A pea-sized area of discoloration lower left corner. Blacklight: Very hard to read under blacklight. There are two pinhead to rice-sized spots of brown touch-up in the upper peacock, just above the neck of the lower peacock. It is possible that there are some areas of touch-up within the neck of the upper peacock, with other likely areas elsewhere. A few scattered pea-sized spots of possible mildew in the lower left corner.Frame: 42 x 36 x 3 in.Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.
Jessie Arms Botke
(1883-1971)
"Black Peacocks"
Oil and gold paint on Masonite
Signed lower right: Jessie Arms Botke; titled on a small piece of brown paper affixed verso
32 x 26 in.
Provenance:
William Karges Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Saperstein Collection, Oakland, CA
Other notes:
Born in Chicago, Jessie Arms Botke studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and spent some time in Europe before moving to New York. There she worked for Herter Looms under Albert Herter and became a specialist in tapestry cartoons. She was a lead bird artist on a significant mural commission for Herter Looms at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Botke returned to Chicago and married Dutch American artist Cornelis Botke. The couple had a successful partnership working on mural commissions for high profile companies and institutions including University of Chicago and the Kellogg Company.
In 1920, the couple moved to California and purchased a ten-acre ranch in Wheeler Canyon near Santa Paula, California. Botke quickly became associated with the vibrant art communities of Carmel and later Los Angeles. Influenced by Asian Art and the Arts and Crafts movement, she began to incorporate gold and silver leaf in intricate backgrounds of her bird and foliage-focused compositions.
Botke is arguably best known for these richly decorative paintings of birds, particularly her famous peacocks and cockatoos, that blend careful observation of nature with a strong sense of pattern and design. Fowl were another common subject for the artist, particularly after settling in rural Santa Paula where she built an aviary for exotic birds while ducks and chickens roamed freely on the ranch property. Whether exotic or domestic, Botke remained dedicated to depicting birds not just as natural subjects but as elegant decorative forms throughout her artistic practice.
Condition
Visual: Crazing in the areas of the gold paint. A 1/4 inch wide strip of frame abrasion visible along the left edge. Some slightly uneven, unobtrusive looking spots within the gold in the upper left that may indicate touch-up, visible in raking light. A very fine unobtrusive craquelure throughout with nearly unseen pinpoint-sized paint losses scattered in places, especially within the feathers near the center. A pea-sized area of discoloration lower left corner. Blacklight: Very hard to read under blacklight. There are two pinhead to rice-sized spots of brown touch-up in the upper peacock, just above the neck of the lower peacock. It is possible that there are some areas of touch-up within the neck of the upper peacock, with other likely areas elsewhere. A few scattered pea-sized spots of possible mildew in the lower left corner.Frame: 42 x 36 x 3 in.Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.
