The Distinguished Collection of
Dr. Paul Cushman Jr.

Dr. Paul Cushman, Jr. epitomized the modern Renaissance man. A pioneering and compassionate physician at the forefront of treating opiate addiction, he was also a historical biographer of early Americans, a masterful bridge player, and a connoisseur of fine and performance arts.

Born in New York City to Paul Cushman, Sr., a stockbroker and children's welfare advocate, and Cordelia Hepburn, a civic and welfare leader, both art collectors, Dr. Cushman was exposed to the arts and the importance of service early in life. In addition to attending The Buckley School, Exeter, Yale, and Columbia Medical School, Dr. Cushman served in the US Air Force as a medical officer. While stationed abroad in England, he met and married Paulette Bessire Cushman.

Following his service, Dr. Cushman returned to New York and became a devoted researcher and early champion of methadone for the treatment of opiate addiction. A founder of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Cushman ran one of the best regarded methadone clinics in New York in the 1970s and helped to treat thousands of people struggling with addiction. As a Professor of Medicine at the Medical Colleges of Wisconsin and Virginia, he worked to integrate substance abuse medicine into medical school curricula.

In addition to an impressive medical career, Dr. Cushman was an avid patron of the arts, including opera, ballet, and collecting fine paintings. He possessed an impeccable eye for quality and beauty, as can been seen in each of the works presented within the collection he acquired over 50 plus years.

Celebrating his astute eye as a collector, we are pleased to offer The Dr. Paul Cushman Collection across several upcoming auctions.

Édouard Vuillard
Gabrielle Jonas et sa fille Irène Montanet devant la cheminée

From the Distinguished Collection of Dr. Paul Cushman, Jr., Gabrielle Jonas et sa fille Irène Montanet devant la cheminée by Édouard Vuillard transports the viewer to a sumptuous yet intimate scene. Some of the artist's best-known works focus on women – such as his mother – at leisure or occupied with ordinary tasks within a domestic setting. Vuillard depicts these absorbing vignettes by situating single or multiple figures within an interior constructed of richly layered patterns and colors.

The present lot celebrates both family and the home as well as the Roaring Twenties, an era of exhilaration standing between the bleakness of World War I and the Great Depression, during which America and Europe were swept up in a decade of excess, grand parties, and progressive social mores.

Asher Brown Durand
Landscape

From the Distinguished Collection of Dr. Paul Cushman, Jr., Landscape by Asher Brown Durand was created in a time where the ever-increasing pressures of the Industrial Revolution came to bare and Americans sought refuge in the tranquility of pastoral scenes such as this.

Inspired by Thomas Cole and with the patronage of the prominent New York merchant and art patron Luman Reed, Asher B. Durand ended a successful career as an engraver to dedicate himself to painting full time. In 1837 he accompanied Cole on a sketching trip to the Adirondacks, which led to Durand completing nine landscapes; these were exhibited at the annual National Academy of Design exhibition the same year. During the 1860s Durand continued to sketch in the summers and paint in New York during the winters, completing the present work in 1867.