OAK PARK, IL.- On June 9, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers held its second successful Art & Design sale of 2019. One of the highlights of the auction was an oil on canvas by American Impressionist Charles Courtney Curran, Three Women on Hilltop, 1919 (image attached below), which had a $10,000-15,000 estimate. With active competition among telephone and online bidders, the lot achieved $35,000 including buyer’s premium. This Curran painting was originally donated to the Economy Shop, a charity reseller in Oak Park, Illinois celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Given Toomey & Co.’s impressive result for the Curran, the Economy Shop will be able to offer additional bonuses to each of its six partner agencies in the area: Animal Care League, Children's Clinic of Infant Welfare Society, Oak Park River Forest Day Nursery, Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry, Senior Citizens' Center, and Thrive Counseling Center.

The Economy Shop’s President of the Board Nancy Hines explained: “We currently guarantee each of the [partner agencies] a grant of $15,000 per year, and normally award small bonuses in the fall (~$2,000 to $3,000) after we see how our previous year ended. This year we gave each of the six a bonus of $10,000 at our 100th celebration in May, and thought that would be it for this calendar year. Now we should be able to give them another healthy bonus in the fall, which will be very unexpected.”

In 1919, a group of women led by Mrs. Caroline McCready opened the Economy Shop to sell donated furnishings, clothing, and other items to benefit local charities. To celebrate the shop’s centennial, the Historical Society’s Oak Park River Forest Museum held a recent exhibition, “Donations Through the Decades, Shopping Through the Century” (March 2 - June 1, 2019), which featured the Curran painting prior to Toomey & Co.’s Art & Design auction on June 9.

Charles Courtney Curran was born in 1861 in Hartford, Kentucky and raised in Sandusky, Ohio. After training in New York City and Paris, Curran and his family split time between New York and Ohio until he passed away in 1942. Combining elements of impressionism, naturalism, and tonalism, Curran became known for painting female subjects in various milieus. Three Women on Hilltop was executed in 1919, likely at the Cragsmoor Art Colony in New York’s Hudson River Valley, where the Curran family summered for 40 years.

Somewhat underappreciated, Curran’s works are nonetheless part of the collections of various significant institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Toomey & Co. was honored to auction one of Curran’s paintings to support the Economy Shop’s important mission.


The next Art & Design auction is scheduled for September 15. This sale will be open to the public and held at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. Preview will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT starting September 9 through September 14, with extended hours on September 12 (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

Later in 2019, Toomey & Co. will hold an Interiors auction on October 6 showcasing a wide range of fine art and 20th century design items. On December 8, two auctions will take place: Tradition & Innovation and Art & Design. Last year’s inaugural Tradition & Innovation sale featuring important works from the 19th century through the present had a 94% sell-through rate and fewer than 70 lots brought a combined $1.3 million.

Consignments are currently invited for upcoming auctions.