# Fairfield Porter artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/fairfield-porter/
Profile generated: 2026-05-04T22:06:47.791Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1907-06-10
- Death date: 1975-09-18
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Realism
- Common media: oil painting, lithography, drawing

## About Fairfield Porter

Fairfield Porter (1907–1975) was an American painter, lithographer, and art critic whose career spanned nearly five decades from the late 1920s until his death. Born into a cultivated family — his father James Porter was an architect, his mother Ruth Furness Porter was a poet, and his brother Eliot Porter became a celebrated photographer — Fairfield Porter developed a commitment to representational painting at a time when many of his American contemporaries turned toward abstraction. He worked primarily in oil, producing luminous landscapes, domestic interiors, and portraits, while also creating lithographs and drawings. Porter was also a perceptive art critic whose writings engaged with both modernist and contemporary practice. His work is held in major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he remains a significant figure in twentieth-century American realist painting.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most frequently encounter Fairfield Porter's oil-on-canvas landscapes and domestic interior scenes, often depicting views around his homes on Great Spruce Head Island, Maine, and in Southampton, New York. He also produced portraits of family and friends, lithographic prints, watercolors, and ink or pencil drawings. Lithographs and works on paper are more common at auction than large-format oils, and unsigned or lightly documented pieces do surface occasionally, making attribution review important.

## Market and appraisal context

Fairfield Porter commands an active and well-documented secondary market spanning more than three decades of auction records. The Appraisily auction index traces 344 catalogued lots from June 1991 through March 2026, of which 269 carry realized prices. Price dispersion is exceptionally wide — from $20 for small works on paper or prints to $2,843,200 for major oil paintings — reflecting the full range of media Porter practiced. The interquartile spread ($900–$25,000) anchors most activity in the affordable-to-mid range, while the median of $2,100 confirms that entry-level works on paper and prints dominate by volume. The price ceiling is driven by large-format oil paintings sold through blue-chip houses: Christie's realized $441,000 for the oil-on-canvas "A Short Walk" (May 2025) and $189,000 for "South Meadow, Afternoon" (April 2025), both well above the p75 mark. Liquidity has moderated recently — 10 lots in the trailing 12 months versus 29 in the prior period — which may reflect ordinary market cycling rather than structural softness. Ten or more distinct auction houses appear in the top-seller list, led by Christie's and Sotheby's, with strong representation from regional specialists (Barridoff, Thomaston Place, Rago, Toomey & Co., Skinner) that typically handle mid-tier and works-on-paper inventory.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Fairfield Porter commands an active and well-documented secondary market spanning more than three decades of auction records. The Appraisily auction index traces 344 catalogued lots from June 1991 through March 2026, of which 269 carry realized prices. Price dispersion is exceptionally wide — from $20 for small works on paper or prints to $2,843,200 for major oil paintings — reflecting the full range of media Porter practiced. The interquartile spread ($900–$25,000) anchors most activity in the affordable-to-mid range, while the median of $2,100 confirms that entry-level works on paper and prints dominate by volume. The price ceiling is driven by large-format oil paintings sold through blue-chip houses: Christie's realized $441,000 for the oil-on-canvas "A Short Walk" (May 2025) and $189,000 for "South Meadow, Afternoon" (April 2025), both well above the p75 mark. Liquidity has moderated recently — 10 lots in the trailing 12 months versus 29 in the prior period — which may reflect ordinary market cycling rather than structural softness. Ten or more distinct auction houses appear in the top-seller list, led by Christie's and Sotheby's, with strong representation from regional specialists (Barridoff, Thomaston Place, Rago, Toomey & Co., Skinner) that typically handle mid-tier and works-on-paper inventory.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use these 344 auction records as a comparable-sales framework, cross-referenced against the specific work being appraised. The critical appraisal inputs are: (1) medium — oil on canvas commands the strongest results by a wide margin; oil on masonite or cardboard sits lower; lithographs, watercolors, and pencil drawings cluster at the accessible end; (2) dimensions — the $441,000 Christie's result was a 62 × 48 in. canvas, while small pencil drawings and prints regularly sell below $1,000; (3) subject — Maine coast landscapes, interior scenes, and still lifes are the most sought-after subjects; New York street scenes appear frequently but at mid-range prices; (4) date of execution — later works from the 1960s–1970s tend to be more market-visible; (5) condition and provenance — institutional provenance or exhibition history can materially lift value; (6) signature and attribution — the source pack includes lots described only as "signed Fairfield Porter" or bearing no detailed authentication notes, so catalogue raisonné checks or expert review remain essential. For any individual appraisal, Appraisily would filter comparables by medium, size bracket, subject, and sale date to establish a defensible value range.

### Valuation factors

- Medium is the single strongest price driver: major oil paintings on canvas have realized $56,700–$441,000 at Christie's, while lithographs and pencil drawings typically sell for $400–$1,900
- Size materially affects value: large-format canvases (48 in. and above) dominate the top results; small works on paper and prints cluster below $2,000
- Subject matters: Maine coastal landscapes and interior scenes are the most commercially desirable; street scenes appear frequently at mid-range prices
- Auction house tier correlates with result: blue-chip houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams) concentrate the high-value oil paintings; regional houses handle most prints and works on paper
- Provenance and exhibition history can significantly elevate value given Porter's institutional representation at MoMA and other major museums
- Condition and date of execution are material factors, particularly for oil paintings where surface condition and craquelure affect buyer confidence
- Attribution certainty matters: unsigned or lightly documented works (e.g., the oil-on-cardboard "Seascape" at $120) sell at steep discounts to signed, well-attributed canvases
- Market liquidity has softened recently (10 lots in the trailing 12 months versus 29 in the prior period), which may widen bid-ask spreads for consignors

### Collector notes



### Market caveats

- Auction results span 344 lots but represent a mix of fully authenticated works and lots with limited attribution detail; individual lot records should be verified against the Fairfield Porter catalogue raisonné before relying on them as comparables.
- The 24 most recent lots skew toward prints, drawings, and smaller works on paper; high-value oil paintings are less frequent in the trailing period, which may distort perception of current market strength.
- The trailing 12-month lot count (10) is significantly lower than the prior period (29), but this may reflect consignment timing or catalog scheduling rather than demand softness; a longer observation window is needed to confirm a trend.
- Two Christie's lots in April–May 2025 did not publish realized prices ("Maine Coast"), which means the actual top-end results may differ from what the source pack records.
- The $120 oil-on-cardboard "Seascape" result is an outlier that likely reflects attribution uncertainty rather than Porter's market level; it should not be used as a standalone comparable.
- Prices are in USD and reflect hammer or realized prices at auction; they do not include buyer's premiums, which typically add 20–28% at major houses.
- Regional house results (Thomaston Place, Davis Brothers, Orion Antiques) may include attribution-at-risk lots that sold as "attributed to" or "after" Fairfield Porter; these require case-by-case verification.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/fairfield-porter/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable (Christie's catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-1907-1975-a-short-walk-oil-on-canvas62-x-48-in-157-5-587-c-4ad456095e
- Invaluable (Christie's catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-1907-1975-south-meadow-afternoon-oil-on-masonite24-x-14-c-6914097b12
- Invaluable (Christie's catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-1907-1975-still-life-with-flower-basket-shells-scisso-86-c-88e42238ee
- Invaluable (Christie's catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-1907-1975-maine-coast-oil-on-canvas20-x-36-1-2-in-50-8-85-c-74d4fe09b0
- Invaluable (Rago catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-untitled-130-c-6c9289050d
- Invaluable (Barridoff catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-am-1907-1975-hymn-to-life-1974-watercolor-on-paper-framed-under-glass-51-c-0484c9bb84
- Invaluable (Davis Brothers catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-oil-on-canvas-painting-898-c-d2743029c2
- Invaluable (Barridoff catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-am-1907-1975-ocean-i-1973-color-lithograph-framed-under-glass-39-c-425450e9e8
- Invaluable (Rago catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-elizabeth-porter-and-bruno-155-c-b0945ae806
- Invaluable (Locati catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-1907-1975-lithograph-259-c-d04aa63682
- Invaluable (Toomey & Co. catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-new-york-street-scene-215-c-23449b2800
- Invaluable (Eldred's catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-new-york-illinois-1907-1975-truro-1972-pencil-on-paper-9-x-11-25-framed-13-75-x-15-75-3016-c-0cd4f0798a
- Invaluable (Thomaston Place catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-fairfield-porter-ny-il-1907-1975-3410-c-e6f46ddaad
- Invaluable (Orion Antiques catalog): https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-oil-cardboard-seascape-signed-fairfield-porter-229-c-9e24c96179

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum records, library authority files, and published references with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Fairfield Porter, identity data is supported by the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, RKD, Wikidata, and the Museum of Modern Art.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81040826
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/64363
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4701
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/79458482/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5430337
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfield_Porter