A 1951 oil painting by American surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie was sold at auction for $1.3 million, setting a new record for the artist. The artwork, titled Alderman Merriam’s Shells, was rediscovered in 2025 at an estate sale in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where it was purchased for just $30. The final auction price significantly exceeded the auction house’s initial pre-sale estimate of $200,000.
The Discovery of Alderman Merriam’s Shells
The painting was found in a dimly lit corridor leading to the garage of a deceased doctor’s residence. A collector of vintage furniture and records, who was browsing a mostly picked-over estate sale, noticed the 8×11-inch oil painting. Despite the low light, the buyer identified the signature “abercrombie ’51” and purchased the work for $30.
The artwork’s history is linked to Dr. John T. Reynolds of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In early 1952, Abercrombie gave the painting to Reynolds as payment for a medical operation. The piece remained in his possession until his death, though it had been loaned for exhibitions in New York, Chicago, and Milwaukee between 1952 and 1953. During that period, the painting was offered for sale for prices between $50 and $150, but it remained unsold.
Authentication and Verification
After the purchase, the buyer brought the painting to the Milwaukee Art Museum, which was hosting an Abercrombie survey. By comparing the work to a historical photograph in the exhibition catalog, the owner was found to have the original Alderman Merriam’s Shells. This was confirmed by Abercrombie expert Susan Weininger.
Artistic Style and Subject Matter
The painting depicts nine realistic shells arranged in an unconventional, surrealist arrangement, with one shell appearing to be suspended over a dark void. This aligns with Abercrombie’s own description of her style: “I’m not interested in complicated or commonplace subjects. Instead, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange.”
The shells used as references for the painting were provided by Robert Merriam, an alderman of Chicago’s fifth ward in Hyde Park, where Abercrombie lived for most of her life. The two were acquaintances, and Merriam lent her his shell collection for the painting’s creation in late 1951.
The Rise of Gertrude Abercrombie’s Global Reputation
Born in 1909, Abercrombie was a self-taught artist who initially worked in advertising and for Sears. She focused on painting full-time by the start of World War II. Her first solo exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute in 1944 provided early critical acclaim.
- Financial Struggles: In the early 1950s, due to financial difficulties following a divorce and a second marriage to Frank Sandiford, Abercrombie produced many small paintings that she converted into pins and brooches to sell at local art fairs.
- Local Fame: She became a known figure in the disappeared Hyde Park neighborhood, famously wearing a peaked hat that earned her the nickname “the jazz witch” due to her friendships with jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
- Global Recognition: While she was known as the “Queen of Chicago,” her work reached a global audience in 2018. Since then, her value has surged, with 80 of her paintings having now sold for more than $100,000 at auction.
Zack Wirsum of Freeman’s auction house noted the importance of the recovery of this masterpiece, as detailed in a recent statement. The sale of Alderman Merriam’s Shells for $1.3 million marks the crown jewel of her current market value.
