BILL TRAYLOR (American, 1854-1949)
two pigs
sgn. u.r. in pencil Bill Traylor
pencil and watercolor on paper, 8 by 11 in.
Two Traylor's from this collection were sold by CRN Auctions at the September 10, 2017 auction. This is the third and final Traylor from this family.
Acquired in the 1970's by New Yorker Ed Giorandino, a staff photographer for the New York Daily News from the 1940's to the 1980's. He lived in Nassau County, Long Island. In 1957 the Pulitzer Prize for photography was awarded to the photographers of the News. Again later Mr. Giorandino was nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize for photography. Mr. Giorandino retired in the early 1980's. Still in his mid-sixties, he died shortly after retiring.
Well liked, and his work highly admired, Mr. Giorandino frequently attended art openings and celebrity parties during the 1960's and 70's. An artist himself, he was acquainted with artists of the era, including Andy Warhol. Still in the Giorandino family is a personalized sketch Warhol gave to Mr. Giorandino.
Subjects of his iconic photographs include shots of the demolition of historical sites, such as Penn Station; crime scenes; fires and fire rescues; New York City street scenes; and celebrities including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jackie Kennedy and her children at Kennedy airport; a waving Richard Nixon and Pat boarding a plane; Cardinal Spellman's funeral, to name a few. The Giorandino family once owned the land which is now La Guardia Airport
Ed Giorandino's son (b. 1938), Frank, was also a staff photographer at the New York Daily News (starting in 1960). He inherited the Traylors in the early 1980's, at which time the works had been tucked away, unframed and forgotten. Upon Frank's death in 2015, his widow, for decades herself a collector of Americana and folk art, re-discovered the Traylors.
Noted persons in the field have viewed them including Leslie Paisley, paper conservator and folk art expert at the Williamstown Conservation Center, Williamtown, MA. Ms. Paisley catalogued several Traylors for the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia; and is co-author, along with Susan Crawley, of chapters in the book "Bill Traylor Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts". Her conclusion was that the works were created by Bill Traylor.
Inspected by former conservator at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, Michael Heslip, he said the materials and the mediums were of the proper period, and "the smell of the paper alone tells you they are real."
This unusual picture of pigs is included in the soon to be published book by Debra Purdin cataloging Traylor's work.
Original smudges.
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
Realized: $31,000 - Excluding Buyer's Premium
Absence of a condition statement does not imply the lot is in perfect condition, free from flaws, restoration, or the effects of aging. Condition requests can be obtained via email or telephone to our gallery. Any condition statement given either verbally or written is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. CRN bears no responsibility for error or omission. All items are sold as is. All sales are final.
Lot 65 : BILL TRAYLOR (American, 1854-1949)
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