Here we are, the first grand feature auction of 2024! What better way to embrace the February aesthetic of frozen hills, snowy mountains and a lingering chill before the March mud season than celebrating what weather New England brings us.

We always enjoy providing a diverse array of fine art, especially landscapes. Our popular landscapes are usually summertime, coastal paintings with a few popular mountains, forestry in spring or fall. But what about wintry paintings? It’s such a niche category among collectors, as a large majority of art enthusiasts enjoy luscious, floral colors to bring life to their spaces.

Winter colors, however, can provide a serene, calming energy to any interior. We'd like to take this moment to highlight a special artist we have coming up in our February feature auction that brings that soft, sleepy aesthetic to the canvas.

Andrew Winter created this stunning piece entitled “Captain Upton’s House, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.”

Andrew Winter was born in 1892 in Estonia, and spent his early life on American and British ships, which led him to have a passion towards the beauty of the coast and the sea. He later immigrated to the US and became a citizen in 1921. Shortly after, he enrolled at the National Academy of Design. He took his artistic studies with him to Paris and Rome in 1925.

Winter and his wife, Mary Taylor, who also was an artist, found their forever home on the island of Monhegan, becoming full-time residents in the 1940s. He built his own studio, right where he could get a perfect view of the ocean to keep him inspired in all his paintings.

Not much else is known about the artist, but he is an artist that certainly captures both the duality of Maine and coastal beauty and ruggedness in his paintings.

Maine artists like Winter provide a lifeblood to the state, especially since the artistic ‘boom’ with the tourist economy. Winter, the Wyeth Dynasty, Carroll Thayer Berry, Dahlov Ipcar, William Stubbs, Winslow Homer, these artists are the main reason that Maine is now recognized throughout both the continent and the world as the home state of iconic artists.

Having fine art and sculpture from a Maine artist doesn’t just support the state, it supports and upholds the smaller artistic world that’s hidden just beneath the coastal mist.

Spotlight Artist: Andrew Winter