MILFORD, CONN.- Shannon’s will host their annual Spring Fine Art Auction on Thursday, May 8th at 6pm Eastern time. The auction, featuring 169 lots, will showcase several examples of quality American art, Modern art and Contemporary art. The diverse offerings will surely attract an international audience of collectors and museums.

Leading the auction is a rare early 1939 painting by Wifredo Lam, a Cuban artist who worked in Paris and collaborated with Picasso beginning in 1938. Picasso proclaimed Lam and his lost cousin and the two were lifelong friends inspiring one another's artistic production.



The rare painting is a portrait of a woman on a red ground painted in a Modernist style. Inspired by his Afro-Cuban heritage and a mental act of decolonization, Lam used motifs from so-called “Primitive” art and his own cultural heritage. Offered at $100,000-150,000 Shannon’s is excited to offer this rare fresh-to-the-market portrait.



From another early-20th century genre, an adorable portrait of a Laughing Youngster named Patience is one of the leading lots of American Art offered at $80,000-120,000. Painted in 1915, the animated young girl is painted with a sweet mess of brown curly hair and a vibrant red dress. This painting has been in a private collection for decades and is an exciting offering this season.



Another Ashcan-era painting leads the American Art offerings. George Wesley Bellows, Old Orchard, Newport depicts a horse next to an orchard with the waterways of Newport visible in the distance. Bellows studied under Henri at the New York School of Art and became a leading American modernist alongside contemporaries Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent. Old Orchard, Newport is estimated at $60,000-80,000.



One of the most unique offerings in the auction is a painting of a Worshipper by Indian Surrealist master artist Bikash Bhattacharjee. The large 40 x 42-inch canvas depicts a person kneeling in prayer on train tracks. This highly expressive painting is being offered for sale at $80,000-120,000.

Shannon’s excels at attracting quality 19th century American paintings and this sale is no exception. A rare oil painting by Henry Roderick Newman depicting a View of Florence will be offered at auction for the first time. Newman, a celebrated watercolorist, is known for his depictions of architectural subjects such as the famed Duomo depicted in the current scene. He is an American Pre-Raphaelite and his attention to detail is evident in this impressive composition. The painting is estimated to bring $40,000-60,000.

Other 19th Century American highlights include a Thomas Moran, East Hampton, 1890 ($25,000-35,000), a rare Louis Remy Mignot, Autumn Landscape ($40,000-60,000), and paintings by William Stanley Haseltine, J. Alden Weir, Antonio Jacobsen, and more.

Painted in the spirit of American Impressionists like Guy C. Wiggins, Shannon’s will offer a large 30 x 24-inch view of The City in Winter by Pennsylvania artist Laurence A. Campbell, estimated at $40,000-60,000.

The auction will also feature Impressionist paintings including May in the Garden by Childe Hassam ($20,000-30,000), a beautiful portrait by William Chadwick of his wife in a Blue Kimono ($12,000-18,000), a collection of paintings by Jane Peterson, and landscapes by Ernest Lawson, Charles Warren Eaton, George G. Symons, Richard Hayley Lever, and more.

The gallery will be open for a public preview beginning on April 28th through May 7th (weekdays from 10AM - 6PM) and Saturday, May 3rd (from 10AM - 3PM). Bidding is available live on shannons.com or by telephone. To view auction updates or to join the mailing list visit shannons.com or contact the gallery at info@shannons.com or 203-877-1711.

To learn more, please visit www.shannons.com.