Philadelphia Story

Ruth Havemeyer was born in 1937, the daughter of Frederick Havemeyer of New York. She was the great-granddaughter of James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railroad, and a descendant of Frederick C. Havemeyer, who came to America from Germany in 1779 and was co-founder of the American Sugar Company. She made her debut in 1956 at the Tuxedo Autumn Ball. She married John Norwood, vice president of Sport Magazine and an amateur sports-car driver.

Although not involved in the dog world per se, she had an interest in dog art and artifacts, particularly the works of British artists Henry Crowther and Frances Fairman, but more especially antique dog collars. She was buying collars at a time when Geoffrey Jenkinson on the Channel Islands was active and, although wealthy herself, was no match for his deep pockets and determination. It was he who bought Bonnie Prince Charlie’s and Beethoven’s dog collars. Nevertheless, she did manage to build up a sizeable collection of 43 collars, although there were no outstanding examples.

Following Ruth Havemeyer Norwood’s death, her estate was recently sold in Philadelphia by Freeman’s/Hindman, the Freeman’s part of the partnership being America’s oldest auction house. Under the title “Best in Show: Interiors, Featuring a Collection of Canine Art from the Estate of Ruth Havemeyer Norwood,” her collection of dog art was offered in 36 lots, of which the collars were sold in five lots.

With “come and buy me” estimates, it was no surprise the collars well exceeded expectation, but the prices were no match for when she was buying. A collection of eight silver and brass mounted collars sold for $1,152, and a slver presentation collar in its original display case by Black, Starr and Frost of New York sold for $320. The exterior of the collar was engraved “Bedlington Terrier Club of America: Best of Winners Trophy 1938-1941: won by Rowanoaks Kennels.”

Of local interest was a portrait of the Yorkshire Terrier Ch. Macstroube Kathleen, which sold just below expectation for $192. It was painted by Lois Landauer (1915-2006), a well-known East Hampton animal portraitist and pet-store owner whose store was on a busy stretch of Main Street. Some of her most famous customers included John F. Kennedy Jr., who as a boy came into the shop to buy a portrait of a dog for his mother. When he didn’t have the correct amount of money, she took what he had in his pocket. She was also commissioned to paint portraits of the Queen Mother’s Corgis, but in this case she waived her fee, for she considered it an honor.

There were though some good prices throughout the dog section, none more so than for the two decorative pictures by Lilian Cheviot (1876-1936) and Robert Morley (1857-1941), respectively. Cheviot established her reputation as an equestrian and animal painter thanks mainly to the commission work she did for the Earl and Countess of Lonsdale. Her dogs were always boldly painted and very expressive. Selling for more than double its top estimate at $21,760 was her picture titled “Circus Dogs.” It featured a black Poodle and a Terrier sitting up and wearing a ruff around its neck. Beside them a dressing-up box, the hint of the big top and, perhaps a sign of the times in which it was painted, a whip on the floor.

Robert Morley (1857-1941) was a London-born painter who specialized in animal subjects and genre scenes. There is always a story to tell in his work, and in this case it is a stand-off between a cat and a Terrier on a tennis court. (Which one is going to break first? My guess is the cat, as it’s on the defensive.) Titled “Not a Love Match,” it sold for nearly three times the top estimate for $19,200.

Henry Crowther (c. 1905-1939) was one of the most prolific dog artists about whom little is known. His work frequently appears in specialist sales, and in many cases the subject is named, which adds interest to his work. The Pointer “Flight of Ardagh” was painted in 1924, one of many successful dogs from the kennel of H.E. Whitwell, whose Ardagh kennel became the most prominent in the breed throughout the 1930s.

Frances Fairman (1839-1923) specialized in canine subjects, in particular toy dogs. Her style was soft and impressionistic, and she was sometimes referred to as the “Lady Landseer” for the quality of her work. She was an active member of the Ladies Kennel Association, and her patrons included Queen Alexandra, a Japanese Chin owner, as was Fairman herself. Unlike Crowther she rarely inscribed her work with the subjects’ names, as is the case with her portrait of a Griffon Bruxellois sitting in front of green drapes painted in 1905. It sold way above its top estimate for $8,320. An early woman’s activist, Fairman was taken to court and fined for attempting to prevent a hansom cab driver from whipping his horse and for striking the cabman with her hand after he had hit her.

Arthur Wardle (1864-1849) is one of Britain’s best-known painters of purebred dogs. He had little, if any, formal training, but, like many other artists, studied the animals in London Zoo. His studies of wild cats are comparable to his best canine work, a subject which was his speciality. He was the chief victim of enthusiastic patrons wanting the subject to look better than it really was in reality. His output was extensive: He exhibited 113 works at the Royal Academy, and a great body of his work was reproduced on postcards and cigarette cards, as well as in many books.

His painting of two Irish Terriers with a dead rabbit at foot painted in 1894 sold within estimate for $5,440. The Irish Terrier was one the breeds traditionally cropped, a practice banned in Britain in 1906.