Congratulations to G. Farge who placed the winning bid of $1,500 for May's auction painting "Spring", estimated at $1,750- $2,250 and M. Turpin who had the high bid of $1,000 to win May's second auction painting "Trees", estimated at $2,000-2,500.

For June we are presenting one of our best offers to date. A masterful genre portrait" by Nicolai Vasilyevich Vertkov, "Cowboy".

Bidding begins at $250, followed by minimum bidding increments of $250. The auction will end Saturday, June 30th at 9:00 pm.

BID FORM

Nicolai Vasilyevich Vertkov, "Cowboy"
39¼'' x 27¼'', 1965, Oil on Canvas
Estimated Value $6,000 to $7,000, Winning Bid $2,500, A. Hatfield

In Soviet art, portraying the workers in a serious, noble way was very common. It was, in the Soviet thinking, the hard work, commitment and devotion of the normal working class that was going to allow the grand Soviet society to be built. The artist Nicolai Vasilyevich Vertkov was a master at taking the worker in his surroundings and portraying that worker in a genre scene.

The painting 'Cowboy', was obtained by the Gallery on a trip to Siberia in the mid-1990's. It was a long spring trip and there were many more mosquitoes then artists. We had marched through the omnipresent Siberian mud into innumerable studio's and looked at hundreds of paintings the day we wandered into Nicolai Vasilyevich's studio. Nicolai's work stood out with its master full craftmanship, rich brush strokes as well as for his ability to tell a great story on the canvass.

'Cowboy' is not only a great example of 1960's Soviet genre portraiture but it is also a wonderful piece of art that would enhance any collection. That's why we have chosen 'Cowboy' at this month's McCarthey Gallery auction painting.

Nicolai Vasilyevich Vertkov, b. 1935