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Sale 33
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Lot 54
Nahl Family Archive. Collection of over fifty letters, documents, photos, postcards, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the famous Nahl family of painters and sculptors that can be traced back to the 1600s in Cassel, Germany. Most of the letters are in French or German; all have translations. Condition is overall very good to fine.
Charles Nahl (1818-1878), who painted the grizzly bear that is on the California state seal and is considered early California's foremost artist, immigrated to San Francisco in 1850 with his half brother H.G. Arthur Nahl (1835-1890), another prominent artist. They opened Nahl Brothers Art & Photographic Gallery at Nos. 10, 12, 14 Montgomery Street, near Market (see photo and flyer).
Over 20 letters in the collection are between Nahl family members; they date from 1825 (Johann Wilhelm upon the death of his father Johann August) to the 1950s, when Augusta Nahl, daughter of Arthur, corresponded with Alex McLeod, who planned to write a book on Charles, and gave detailed descriptions of Nahl paintings in her possession.
Seven letters (over 25 pages) from Arthur to his and Charles' uncle, Johann Wilhelm, a renowned artist in Cassel, contain excellent content. From Paris in the late 1840s, Arthur informs his uncle of their progress in painting, of exhibitions they participated in or viewed, naming specific artists and paintings, and discusses life during and after the revolution of 1848. From San Francisco in 1854, Arthur mentions an 1852 fire in Sacramento that burned a large collection of sketches and refers to panoramas that he is painting for the Americans; they were 8 feet high and 14 feet wide and were all views of California. In 1859, he sends his uncle the certificate of the Mechanic's Institute and the title page of the Sportbook. "Almost all these things are engraved on glass--a new invention by us and then printed in the photographic way….We got a patent from Washington so nobody can imitate it. We received many orders…In every bookseller's shop you can see ’the bear and the lion.’"
Also in the collection are: An 1859 document signed by Charles Nahl, an original auto sketch signed "Nahl 1825," approximately ten photos (includes Charles and Arthur), numerous photo postcards of their paintings, a catalogue for the 1882 exhibition in San Francisco of paintings inherited by Arthur from Johann Wilhelm, various formulas (e.g. retouching and reducing varnish, how to clean a dirty picture, etc.), family documents (a family genealogy, maintaining the family graveyard in Cassel, Johann Wilhelm's death certificate, etc.), handwritten poems, newspaper clippings about the family, and more. This is a very interesting and informative collection. It should be examined personally.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,500.
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| Realized $2,415 |
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