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An auction of “odds and ends” from a Milwaukee County farmhouse netted $339,000 last week in Chicago.

(clockwise from top left) orange and blue upright, composition no. 16, donkey under tree

It should be noted, however, that this is no ordinary farmhouse – it’s the former country home of Peg Bradley, wife of Harry Bradley, founder of Milwaukee’s Allen-Bradley company.

Proceeds from the auction of painting and prints, held at the Leslie Hindman Auction Gallery, will benefit the 35-acre Lynden Sculpture Garden that surrounds the River Hills home.

These were “odds and ends,” but only in the context of the Bradley Family. A 1960 painting by Sir Terry Frost, “Orange and Blue,” fetched $67,100.

It was expected to bring between $40,000 and $60,000. “I am delighted the hammer price came well above the minimums,” Lynden Sculpture Garden director Polly Morris tells NewsBuzz. The sale, like the rest of the auction, will be used “for acquisitions and maintenance” of the garden, she adds. “It’s not like we can use it to put a new roof on the house.”

Another British painting, “Donkey under Tree” by Scottish artist Craigie Aitchison, brought $61,000 while the same artist’s “Black Faced Sheep” painting snagged $41,480. A 1958 abstract oil painting, “Composition No. 16” by Cuban Luis Martinez-Pedro, sold for $34,160, shattering the presale estimate of $1,000 to $2,000.

These paintings and prints were among the works of art that decorated Peg Bradley’s River Hills retreat.

The sculpture garden opened to the public on a regular basis for the first time last year. Previously, the garden was open only one day per year for an annual garden party.

NewsBuzz recently reported that Hindman plans to open a new auction gallery in Milwaukee. Read more here.

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