Our two Schaffner paintings on ebay
This week we are featuring two works of art, an oil painting and a pastel drawing, both by, Walter Shaffner (1867 – 1934). Sometimes memories pass through quickly in my mind of where and when I have found art or other treasures, but it took some searching into the far corners of my mind to recall how the pastel came into my possession. It was several years back, at an estate sale in the Smokey Point area, just north of Marysville, a young fellow advertised an estate sale and held it in a garage of probably an elderly Aunt and uncle who had spent a lifetime as artists and collectors. I bought several treasures and remember thinking how sad that the younger generations are often unappreciative of art . As it turned out the lack of appreciation made good fortune for me.
The other Shaffner painting came our way much more recently, midsummer of last year in a neighborhood of Lake Stevens, a half dozen miles south east from the first find. This one stands out in my mind because I got into a small altercation with another garage sale person who tried to snag it out of my pile . As usual, tensions quickly relaxed with the perpetrator back peddling her way out with a claim that it was all an innocent mistake. UnUh. However, the painting came home with me and found a special place in our personal collection.
I immediately recognized the similarities between the painting and the pastel, especially the signatures. My husband, always quick to nay-say, claimed he saw no resemblance, but what does he know? Not much. Sometime later, an art dealer happened to be at our place who also saw that both works had almost certainly been done by the same hand, but he didn’t know anything about the artist either.
We assumed they had been done around here, and made speculations about the locations that ranged from the upper Skagit Valley to Whidbey Island or Southeast Alaska. The vintage truck in the pastel and the way the surface of the paint and back of the canvas on the oil pointed toward a date sometime in the nineteen twenties or earlier.
Making our best guess at the artists name from the signature, we put both pieces up on eBay. One of the fun things about eBay is that people will often write with interesting information, and sure enough, a few weeks later an email arrived from the great-great grandson of the artist, giving us his full name and something of the man’s bio.
Walter Shaffner was born and raised NYC & attended the National Academy of Design. Most of the examples that the grandson had seen were in either pastel or oil. He painted mostly scenes of the Lower Hudson River Valley and the Connecticut Coast. Our pastel, showing some kind of industrial scene must have been along the Hudson, as the stern of a boat tied up to the dock in the picture looks very much like an old Hudson River barge. The painting must also have been from this area as well.
For a day job, Shaffner worked as a Scenic Artist and Set Designer for the Shuberts and Ziegfelds on Broadway. When he died Sept 30 1934, his widow moved out west with a whole truckload of artwork, which explains part of the story of them landing in our neck of the woods.
The other Shaffner painting came our way much more recently, midsummer of last year in a neighborhood of Lake Stevens, a half dozen miles south east from the first find. This one stands out in my mind because I got into a small altercation with another garage sale person who tried to snag it out of my pile . As usual, tensions quickly relaxed with the perpetrator back peddling her way out with a claim that it was all an innocent mistake. UnUh. However, the painting came home with me and found a special place in our personal collection.
I immediately recognized the similarities between the painting and the pastel, especially the signatures. My husband, always quick to nay-say, claimed he saw no resemblance, but what does he know? Not much. Sometime later, an art dealer happened to be at our place who also saw that both works had almost certainly been done by the same hand, but he didn’t know anything about the artist either.
We assumed they had been done around here, and made speculations about the locations that ranged from the upper Skagit Valley to Whidbey Island or Southeast Alaska. The vintage truck in the pastel and the way the surface of the paint and back of the canvas on the oil pointed toward a date sometime in the nineteen twenties or earlier.
Making our best guess at the artists name from the signature, we put both pieces up on eBay. One of the fun things about eBay is that people will often write with interesting information, and sure enough, a few weeks later an email arrived from the great-great grandson of the artist, giving us his full name and something of the man’s bio.
Walter Shaffner was born and raised NYC & attended the National Academy of Design. Most of the examples that the grandson had seen were in either pastel or oil. He painted mostly scenes of the Lower Hudson River Valley and the Connecticut Coast. Our pastel, showing some kind of industrial scene must have been along the Hudson, as the stern of a boat tied up to the dock in the picture looks very much like an old Hudson River barge. The painting must also have been from this area as well.
For a day job, Shaffner worked as a Scenic Artist and Set Designer for the Shuberts and Ziegfelds on Broadway. When he died Sept 30 1934, his widow moved out west with a whole truckload of artwork, which explains part of the story of them landing in our neck of the woods.
Oil on Canvas - Hudson Valley (see eBay ad for details)
Framed under glass, Hudson River Scene (See eBay ad for details)
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