Emil Carlsen, Danish-American, 1848-1932, "Sketch - Centre - for Hallway Frieze", ca 1889, depicting a peacock in full display, oil on a gold washed canvas, inscribed and signed by Carlsen upper right, with a compassed arc framing the peacock. In the artist's own hand-decorated and gold leafed frame, the stretcher with a fragmentary label from Frost & Adams Co., 37 Cornhill Boston (1889 and later).
NOTE: This work is included as 24619 in the Emil Carlsen Archives and can be accessed at http://emilcarlsen.org.
We thank Bill Indursky for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
According to the Emil Carlsen Archives, "around 1888, Carlsen resigned as director of the California School of Design (San Francisco Art Association School), unhappy with the management and funding methods of the school. He traveled to New York, but returned to San Francisco in 1889 to accept a private commission for the decorative work in the residence of William H. Crocker, heir of the railroad magnet. The commission included designs for the ceilings, walls, and stained glass, as well as advice on the selection of furniture. Unfortunately, no images of the interior can be located, and the home was destroyed in the famous earthquake a few years later. Based on the note at the top of this painting, this peacock may have been part of the decoration of the Crocker house entry hallway located at the rooms center. Several other studies of peacocks exist from Carlsen which exhibit a similar painting style, suggesting they may have been made about the same date. These studies, like most of Carlsen’s, was used to create finished pieces in his studio. That no finished paintings of a peacock has ever surfaced, may support the theory that these were used for the interior decoration of the Crocker house. The person referred to in the drawing could be a craftsperson for the construction of the decoration. Carlsen’s sketches were kept by the artist and handed down to his wife, then son, and finally his daughter-in-law who passed in 1975. Her estate in Falls Village, CT, was broken up among several art dealers at the time, including Irma Rudin and the Wortsman/Rowe Gallery. Other peacock oil sketches were sold by Wortsman/Rowe in 1975 suggesting that the painting may have also been part of the Wortsman/Rowe grouping. It is also possible that the work was purchased by a Connecticut local in around 1975."

The painting verso demonstrates Carlsen’s favored method of butt jointed stretchers versus the more common mitred ones used today. The stretcher configuration is common on original Carlsen works. The painting has notations written and scratched along the edges and corners, another tell-tale sign that the work is most likely a genuine Carlsen. The colors are unusual for Carlsen and also might point toward a clients tastes vs. the artist's preferences. The painting, along with the other peacock studies utilize a lighter palette and background, something that Carlsen started in about 1888 and then "lost" for many years after being influenced by his mentor Antoine Vollon [1833-1900]."
LItchfield County Auctions also speculates that the choice of a peacock motif for Crocker by Carlsen may have been influenced by Whistler's famous Peacock Room of the late 1870's, originally in London, now located at the Freer Gallery in Washington. (JSNO1000)[TC]
Dimensions: 12x30, framed 19 x 37

original canvas, small patch verso, craquelure, frame with losses to composition and gilding