66

VERSO
Signed and titled

According to Jack Frye biographer, Randall D. Reynolds, “Jack Frye, then president of Transcontinental & Western Air, discovered this freshly created painting in 1936. He was in Albuquerque, a place he often frequented, as it was one of TWA’s mainline terminals. Jack met with the artist Gerard Delano and chose this sizable masterpiece from several others. The price was $3,600 dollars – a hefty fee for the time. The title, Evening, is understated perhaps, but the perfect description of this harmony between two Native Americans.

“Jack Frye had a deep appreciation for Western art, as he himself, was part Cherokee, and Arizona was his adopted state. This man tamed the Southwest with the very first scheduled passenger airline service from California to Arizona to Texas, which he himself was often the president-pilot of. Shortly after initiating the above mentioned air routes, Frye connected his airline with railway service, establishing the very first trans-continental passenger service for the United States. This service later led to the very first scheduled transatlantic passenger service for the United States, from New York to Paris. In regard to the then primitive Southwest, Jack personally experienced it as few people alive today remember – as a lonely pilot, landing and taking off in sputtering transports from barren, sand-swept runways. A remarkable man, remembered today as one of the country’s foremost entrepreneurs and aviation legends.

“After purchasing the painting, Jack Frye had it shipped by TWA to his executive office in Kansas City where it graced a wall of his five-acre estate at Overland Park. By the early 1940s, after he and Helen Vanderbilt were married, the painting was shipped out to their Smoke Trail Ranch at Sedona where it hung at the ‘Willow House.’ By 1948, it was re-hung at their famous ‘House of Apache Fires.’ Eventually, in 1962, it was moved up to the adjoining Sedona ‘Wings of the Wind House,’ where it hung for another 15 years. After this, it transferred to its current location (in the collection of a close friend of Frye) where it has hung for the last 46-years.”

PROVENANCE
The artist
Jack and Helen Frye, Sedona, Arizona, 1936
John and Marie Stilley, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1977
Present owners, by descent

Condition ReportSurface is in good condition. Faint hairline cracks in sky and foreground.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.