Gertrude Abercrombie's 1951 painting "Alderman Merriam's Shells."
- Courtesy Freeman's
An enigmatic oil painting bought for just $30 at an estate sale fetched more than $1.35 million at auction after it was confirmed to be the work of celebrated surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie.
The 8-by-11-inch still-life was discovered in a "dark corner" of a Michigan home in July, according to Freeman's, the auction house that brought the painting to market this month. An expert has identified it as Abercrombie's "Alderman Merriam's Shells," which had been unseen in public for almost 75 years.
Completed in 1951, the painting depicts a collection of ten seashells — a common motif used by Abercrombie, who is often described as American art's "Bohemian Queen." Over the next two years, it was exhibited at six of the painter's solo exhibitions, then priced between $50 and $150.
Alderman Merriam's Shells
Gertrude Abercrombie's 1951 painting
Upon seeing the signature (reading "Abercrombie, '51"), barely visible against the dark background, the buyer took a $30 gamble. According to Freeman's, they then diverted a family vacation to visit Milwaukee Art Museum, where an Abercrombie exhibition was on show. There, in an exhibition catalog, a 1952 news clipping showed a photo of the painting next to the real-life shells it depicts.
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