Providence Art Club Benefit Auction

Founded in 1880, the Providence Art Club has been a pillar of Rhode Island?s cultural life for 145 years, nurturing a vibrant community of artists and collectors. This benefit auction reflects this legacy and one of the club's core missions to preserve and exhibit the best works of its artist members in the interest of "art culture". The auction will offer 120 works drawn from private collections and donated by members and supporters of the club. Paintings, photographs, sculptures, art glass, and antiques make up the diverse selection, giving buyers a chance to acquire unique works while directly supporting preservation. The auction items are displayed in five galleries set in the nearby historic Arsenal Building. Highlights include internationally celebrated artists such as glass sculptor Toots Zynsky, famed photographer Yousuf Karsh?represented here by his iconic portraits of Winston Churchill and Georgia O?Keeffe?French polymath Jean Cocteau ceramic plate, and a rare Albrecht D?rer woodcut of Joachim and St. Anne Meet at the Golden Gate, 1511. From closer to home, a drawing by Edward Mitchell Bannister, one of the Club?s founding members and a pioneering Black artist in American art history, takes pride of place. Historic American painters are well represented, with works by Antonio Cirino, Sydney Richmond Burleigh, Angela O?Leary, John Noble Barlow, George Hays, John Enneking, and Adolf Dehn. Printmaking, a tradition deeply woven into Rhode Island?s artistic heritage, is highlighted through works beside Durer by Stowe Wengenroth, Eliza Draper Gardiner and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Meanwhile, 20th-century artists Thomas Sgouros, Theresa Girard and Harley Bartlett underscore the enduring strength of Rhode Island?s artistic voice. Beyond fine art, the auction includes distinctive antiques such as Sheraton and Hitchcock chairs, Bijar Antique Rug, Northeast Persia, circa 1910, antique carved wooden butter molds and Barker Ellis Cranberry Glass.