After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Baldwin, now 90, went west to "paint scenes of cowboys, Indians, and Mexican culture firsthand," Bunch said in a release. Upon returning east, Baldwin worked as a commercial artist for N.W. Ayer, concentrating on scenes of Chester County, and later became master sculptor and design director at the Franklin Mint, where he worked with Norman Rockwell on the company Boy Scout series and Bicentennial medals.
Most of the 115 Baldwin works have presale estimates in the low three-figure range, according to the online auction catalog accessible at www.williambunchauctions.com. Bunch said cataloging the Baldwin works was difficult because his art had not come up at auction.
Pennsylvania impressionists. No such difficulty presents itself with the Pennsylvania impressionist works in the sale, several of which came from a single owner specializing in Bucks County scenes. Works from that collector include a Massachusetts coastal scene by George W. Sotter and a winter scene of a horse-drawn sleigh entering a covered bridge by Edward Willis Redfield (each $25,000 to $35,000).
The Pennsylvania impressionist work with the top presale estimate is a 1906 scene by Charles Rosen of the Delaware River thawing. The painting has been widely exhibited, most recently in a private Main Line collection, and is expected to bring $100,000 to $150,000.
Other major impressionist works include a circa 1920 New Hope bridge scene by Rae Sloan Bredin from a Bernardsville, N.J., collection ($8,000 to $12,000); a 1930s New England coastal scene by S. George Phillips ($15,000 to $20,000); a Nova Scotia seascape by Titusville painter Susan Gertrude Schell ($3,000 to $4,000); and Deborah's Rock by Barclay L.J. Rubincam ($15,000 to $20,000).
