Visitors to the Pick-Roosevelt Hotel or the Venture-In may recognize a pair of art deco panels that are among the highlights of a four-day auction opening Thursday at Dargate Auction Galleries' new location in McKees Rocks.
Commissioned in 1935, the decorative panels were made for the Omar Room at the Hotel Jermyn in Scranton. Hotelier Albert Pick Jr. bought the Hotel Jermyn in 1948 and moved the panels to the Pick-Roosevelt at Penn Avenue and Sixth Street, Downtown. The panels hung there from 1950 until the hotel closed in 1972. They were auctioned and wound up at the Venture-In, a Downtown bar on Liberty Avenue, until sometime in the '80s.
The panels, each 64 inches high and 68 inches wide, are done in sculpted linoleum, lacquer, gilt and mother of pearl inlay and based on Verse VII of "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam": "Come fill the cup and in the fire of spring, the winter garments of repentance fling, the bird of time has but a little way to fly and lo, the bird is on the wing."
The artist who created them was Pierre Bourdelle, a French artist and son of Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, a famous sculptor. Pierre came to the U.S. in the 1920s and produced many large-scale paintings, murals and panels. He created works for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, the Union Terminal in Cincinnati, railroad cars such as the California Zephyr and the first-class dining room of the SS America ocean liner.
The panels, which will be auctioned Sunday, are listed in the catalog as lot 3127 and expected to sell for $30,000-$50,000.
Sunday's bidding may interest Anglophiles, too. Lot 3177 is a 1908 oil portrait of two British princes who went on to make history in radically different ways. On the left is Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936, giving up his throne to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. On the right is his brother, Prince Albert, who ruled England as George VI during World War II. The king, with the help of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, overcame his stuttering so he could encourage his countrymen during some of England's darkest hours. British actor Colin Firth portrayed George VI in this year's Academy Award-winning film, "The King's Speech."
The painting, expected to fetch $20,000-$30,000, is by Reginald Grenville Eves, who was born in London in 1876 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. He painted a wide array of well-known British figures, including Arctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, author Thomas Hardy, Canterbury Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher, essayist Max Beerbohm and actor Leslie Howard.
It's not clear who commissioned the painting, said David Arnold, manager of Dargate. It may have been a gift to the British royal family from Charles Richard John Spencer Churchill, the ninth Duke of Marlborough. In 1895, the duke married American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt; the couple had two sons and divorced in 1921. The picture wound up in the ballroom of the Vanderbilt mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Before the mansion was torn down, a New Jersey woman purchased the ballroom and its contents, moving it to Arcadia, her oceanfront mansion in Deal, N.J. After her death, the painting found its way to a wealthy man in Cleveland, who consigned it to Dargate.
The picture, which is 5 feet tall, would make a splendid wedding gift for Kate Middleton and Prince William, said Dargate owner Dan Zivko.
Other interesting items available in the four-day auction:
Lot 3191 is a copy of "The Spirit of '76," one of the most famous images in American art. This copy was painted by the original artist, Archibald McNeal Willard (1836-1918), and is estimated to sell for $40,000-$60,000. Though the oil on canvas is unsigned, it came from a collection of his son, Willis Willard.
Lot 3146 is a large blue vase called a macchia and made by artist Dale Chihuly, whose show "Gardens & Glass" broke attendance records at Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in 2007. Its estimated price is $15,000-$25,000.
Lot 3147 is a Persian wall installation made up of 10 pieces of glass by Mr. Chihuly. The installation was designed to resemble an archaeological excavation and hangs on a wall. Its estimate is $30,000-$50,000.
Finally, lot 3021 is a piece of history from Pittsburgh's best-known family. A pocket watch with an estimated price of $4,000-$6,000 belonged to Thomas A. Mellon, the son of Thomas Alexander Mellon, founder of Mellon Bank. Initially, the business was on Smithfield Street and called T. Mellon and Sons.
The engraving reads: "This watch belonged to Thomas A. Mellon who died January 23, 1899. He purchased it out of his first earnings in 1864. Presented to Thomas Mellon Jr., his nephew, by Aunt Mary C. Mellon."
"You have to have good eyesight to read it," said Mr. Arnold.
First Published: April 13, 2011, 8:00 a.m.