Hello batan-ga:
I don't usually post partial answers, but since several of the experts
I've contacted haven't yet responded, I thought I'd go ahead and post
what information I have found so far, while waiting to hear back. When
I do get more information, I'll post all of that material as an
"Answer Clarification."
Here's what I've found so far:
First, while searching for F. Peleschka, I also found mention of a
sculptor Lunard Peleschka, at this collector's
site:
http://search.lycos.co.uk/searchFrame/searchframe.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww3.icollector.com%2Fcatalogs%2Fview_lots_forprint.cfm%3Fcatalogid%3D2652&query=artist%252BF.%252BPeleschka&SITE=uk&cat=web&qstr=query%3Dartist%2BF%252E%2BPeleschka%26matchmode%3Dand%26mtemp%3Dmain%26etemp%3Derror%26cat%3Dlycos%26family%3Don
(Scroll down to "Lot 156" which is a gilded bronze with ivory"
figurine attributed to Lunard Peleschka.
I contacted several experts on your behalf regarding F. (and "Lunard") Peleschka.
Former Sothebys.com Associate, Mark Winter, who now runs his own
appraisal business:
http://www.winterappraiser.com
Mr. Winter responded to my inquiry:
"Peleschka was a third tier bronze sculptor, probably German or
Austrian but he/she could also have been Czech, at a time when there
were countless bronze sculptors. There is no evidence that he/she was
a member of any noteworthy art association, exhibited at any important
salon, received any substantial commission or is represented in the
collection of any museum of note. Likewise he/she did not leave
behind any masterpiece for which he/she would be remembered.
"Most of his/her works are from the 1890-1910 period, when Austria was
at the center of active bronze production.
"Richard Wagner was an extremely popular figure at the time,
particularly in artistic and literary circles and specially in
southern Germany and Austria, and as such the subject of innumerable
casts. A bronze bust of Wagner in this time period is about as common
as a picture of Elvis Presley today.
"Bronzes by Peleschka are found to be signed Peleshka, F. Peleschka,
F. Peleschka-Long, Peleschka-Lunard. There is a slim possibility these
would have been different individuals but it is more likely the
signature variations simply reflect the passing fancy of the artist,
as is so often the case, or marriage.
"We could probably obtain some biographical information doing specific
research in Austrian or German archives and publications of this time
period."
If you are interested in further information, you can contact Mr.
Winter via his Web site, or toll free at: 1-800-480-4292;
Fax: 386-255-1316; or e-mail: winter@winterappraiser.com
A German seller currently has an auction of one of F. Peleschka's works at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3704653755&category=1212
"well known sculptor F. Peleschka, born and worked in the 19th century
in Germany. . . .The sculptor is listed in several renown artist
encyclopedias . . . .I have found him in Berman book of Bronze where
he is listed with one sculpture but that makes this piece even more
rare." [Note that this seller is quite certain Peleschka was male.]
Value of Peleschka's Works:
By no means am I trying to suggest that the worth of the bust of
Wagner would be comparable to this example; it could be of lesser or
greater value, but just for an example:
Fieldings Auctioneers has a Peleschka sculpture:
http://www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/s17-bronzefigure.htm
That sculpture is valued between 600 -- 800 GBR pounds. Translated
into American dollars at the Universal Currency Converter:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi
that equals $1,135 - $1,513.
Again, as soon as I hear back from other experts, I will post that
information as an "Answer Clarification."
Regards,
nancylynn-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
nancylynn-ga
on
23 Feb 2004 08:32 PST
Hello again Hello batan-ga:
I have e-mailed quite a few art galleries, and appraisers, that
specialize in bronze art, and most of them haven't responded, while
others have been kind enough to let me know:
1): They've never heard of Peleschka.
2): They checked art history reference books and/or databases and had
come up empty re: Peleschka.
Jennifer Streb, a part-time Instructor of Art History at the
Pennsylvania State University, Altoona Campus, kindly checked several
reference databases: Art Index Retrospective, Bibliography of Art,
RLIN and WORLDCAT, but she couldn't find any mention of Peleschka.
I also checked for Peleschka at Kunstlexikon's Online database:
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/language/translation/translatedPage.php?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.lexikon.ch/lexika/lexikondetail.php%3fsubkategorie=Kunst&lp=de_en
(This is a link to the translated page)
But I failed to find "Peleschka" or even a "Lunard" (a name he
sometimes used) in that database.
All of this confirms, at least to me, Mr. Winter's assertion (in the
Answer I earlier posted) that Peleschka might have been popular in his
lifetime, but art historians generally consider his work to be of
little significance.
I did talk to German art collector Christos Chatziapostolou, who'd
auctioned off a Peleschka piece at eBay last week (that auction was
noted in my Answer). He had found only a few very brief references to
Peleschka in some art reference books, including the renowned
"Berman's Book of Bronze." (I'm not sure which edition.)
Thanks to Mr. Chatziapostolou, all we can be certain of is: Peleschka
was male, German, and lived and worked during the mid-late 19th
century. Apparently, he was a fairly popular artist at that time.
The highest value I have seen for the few of his works listed for
auction is about $1,500 in U.S. Dollars.
I contacted an auction house, Fieldings, that recently had a Peleschka
in inventory, figuring they must have some data on him -- but they
haven't responded to my inquiries.
If you would like to try them yourself, it's Fieldings Auctioneers:
http://www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk
The Peleschka they recently had up for auction is at:
http://www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/s17-bronzefigure.htm
Fieldings contact information can be found at:
http://www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/contact.htm
Tepper Galleries in New York also had a Peleschka up for auction. See
this cached link:
://www.google.com/search?q=cache:x6pGGbFf7HYJ:www.teppergalleries.com/NextAuc.html+F.+Peleschka&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Tepper didn't respond to my inquiries, but if you want to try them,
their contact information is:
E-mail: info@teppergalleries.com
Phone: 212-677-5300
Fax: 212-673-3686
If Fieldings or Tepper won't respond to you, or can't help you, your
best bet for learning more about F. Peleschka would be to hire the
aforementioned Mr. Winter (his contact information is listed in my
Answer) to do research. He has access to reference materials that I,
and most laypeople and general public libraries, simply don't.
Regards,
nancylynn-ga
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