Frank V. Dudley - Across Hills and Valleys

The Next Bid Increment	$3,900
with 28% Buyer's Premium	$4,992
Your Selected Maximum Bid	$3,900
with 28% Buyer's Premium	$4,992

The Current Bid (You're leading)	$3,800
with 28% Buyer's Premium	$4,864
Your Maximum Bid
with 28% Buyer's Premium

The Estate of Nancy Madden offers a vivid glimpse into the life of a passionate and discerning art collector. Influenced by her parents, John and Eleanor Madden — both avid collectors — Madden built on their foundation, curating a collection blending the modern and the classical. She inherited a number of watercolors and oils, with an emphasis on Italian and French painters, along with Asian art acquired during her parents’ travels in the 1970s and her father’s military service in World War II.

As she purchased art for herself, Madden focused on paintings, prints, pottery and glassworks, often drawn to bright colors and recurring subjects, such as harbor scenes, sailboats, women, nature and fruit. Madden’s former husband, Jonathan Alk, was also a respected Green Bay antique dealer. In the seventies and eighties they together selected treasures from auctions, estate sales and their various travels to enhance his independent business.

Madden’s collection today includes works from galleries across the Midwest—Traverse City, Chicago, Door County—as well as Montreal, Quebec, Hawaii and beyond. Both she and her parents took pleasure in discovering unknown artists and investing in works that reflected their respective evolving tastes. While her inherited collection was anchored in European and Asian works, Madden expanded on this, embracing contemporary emerging artists alongside more well-established names. Combining the traditional and the unconventional, the Nancy Madden Estate reveals a bold approach to assembling and shaping an eclectic collection.