MILFORD, CONN.- Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers will host a biannual American & European Fine Art Auction on Thursday, May 4th at 6 pm Eastern time, in their gallery at 354 Woodmont Road in Milford, as well as online at www.Invaluable.com. Headlining the auction of 271 lots are works by blue-chip modern and contemporary artists Alexander Calder and Andre Brasilier.

The Calder is a remarkable gouache titled Fleurs d’Ete, dated 1968, a notable year for the artist; he exhibited similar works on paper at Gallery Maeght in Paris and Perls Gallery in New York (est. $50,000-75,000).

The painting by Andre Braslier is a large format oil on canvas titled Cavaliers Sous les Branches a Fere en Tardenoise. It depicts horses and riders, a favored subject for the artist (est. $40,000-$60,000).

Both works are fresh-to-the-market examples from a private collection. They are in excellent, original condition with well-documented provenance.

The sale will also feature several top-quality New York City paintings, led by a beautiful street scene by Birge Harrison, titled Bryant Park at Evening, New York. Harrison, a noted American Tonalist, captured the mood of a quiet evening in Bryant Park (est. $60,000-80,000).

Another featured lot is an early view of Winter, Washington Square by Guy Carleton Wiggins (est. $50,000-75,000). Wiggins maintained an apartment near Washington Square throughout the 1930s and 40s and the park was a favored subject for him. Another smaller view of Washington Square will also be offered, along with two more works by the artist, City Hall Park and Snow Storm at the Plaza.

There are 24 paintings of New York City in the sale, a trove for collectors of the genre, including works by Ken Keeley, Lee Lash, Edmund Greacen, Johann Berthelsen and Bruce Braithwaite.

Headlining the Hudson River School offerings is a large-format landscape titled Lake Mohonk by Daniel Huntington (est. $30,000-50,000). Other highlights include paintings by John Williamson, Albert Bierstadt, Worthington Whittredge and Hermann Herzog. Overall, more than two-dozen quality Hudson River School works will be offered from a notable private collection, including paintings by William Mason Brown, George L. Clough, Charles H. Gifford, William M. Hart and more.

There are several French-School works in the sale, led by an important Raoul Dufy work on paper titled Nature More au Jardin (est. $30,000-50,000). This work comes from a series of watercolors Dufy did depicting a still-life composition in front of a garden. Other highlights include two paintings by French-Vietnamese artist Le Pho and six paintings by Marcel Dyf.

Regionalist art will be featured in the sale with large-format paintings by Dale Nichols and Daniel Celentano. The Nichols, Mid-Nation Winter, 1967, dates from a desirable period in the artist’s career and is an impressive 30 x 40 inch canvas (est. $50,000-75,000).

The Celentano painting depicts Long Island Potato Farmers (est. $20,000-30,000). A partial label on the reverse indicates it is probably Homage, 1943 from the Carnegie International exhibition that year. Celentano was Thomas Hart Benton’s first and youngest student and this painting is clearly a tribute to his teacher’s famous regionalist style.

American watercolors will include Grouse Hunter in a Landscape by Ogden M. Pleissner, in remarkable condition (est. $25,000-35,000); The Thoroughfare, 1922 by Frank Weston Benson (est. $25,000-35,000); and two watercolors by Jane Peterson: At the Foot of the Rialto Bridge (est. $15,000-25,000) and Venice, Late Afternoon (est. $12,000-18,000).

Leading figurative works will include J.G. Brown’s adorable Shoeshine Boy estimated at $8,000-12,000; and a whimsical Ralph Cahoon mermaid group titled Mother’s Little Helpers, expected to bring $10,000-15,000.

The sale will also feature other fresh-to-the-market contemporary art. An early allegorical painting by top-tier artist Mark Tansey, done in his characteristic monochromatic style, will be offered together with an etching, with an estimate of $25,000-35,000. Other offerings in American modern and contemporary art will include a pair of sculptures by Louise Nevelson expected to bring $12,000-18,000; and an abstract painting by Alice Mattern, estimated at $15,000-25,000. Shannon’s set a record price for Mattern in its last sale, at $31,200.

Previews will be held daily, starting Monday, April 24th, and continuing through Thursday, May 3rd (closed April 30th). Preview hours are 11-6 Eastern time, except on Saturday, April 29th, when the preview will end at 3 pm. There will also be a preview on Thursday, May 4th, the date of sale, from noon until 5:30 pm. The auction will start promptly at 6 pm. Live, internet, phone and absentee bidding will all be permitted.