Classic sporting artwork will hit the block during Copley Fine Art Auctions’ annual Winter Sale, including paintings by top-tier artists of the genre and fine decoys. The sale will return to Charleston, South Carolina, for the sixth year in conjunction with another wildlife and sporting art event, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. This year’s two-day sale, February 14 and 15, will take place at the Charleston Marriott beginning at 10 a.m. each day.
Ogden M. Pleissner (1905-1983), Western Pheasant Hunting. Watercolor, 27 x 37 in. Estimate: $40/60,000
In the paintings category a rare watercolor, Western Pheasant Hunting, by Ogden M. Pleissner, is the standout offering. The work, with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000, features a subject that Copley’s fine art specialist Leah Tharpe says “is incredibly rare and possibly unique within the artist’s body of work. The way Pleissner has captured the light and shadows, and the dynamic composition with two hunters, two dogs and two pheasants make it a masterwork.”
Percival Rosseau (1859-1937), New England. Oil on canvas, 28¼ x 34¼ in. Estimate: $30/50,000
Dog artwork is a prominent category in the sporting art genre, as many breeds are known for their hunting abilities. Included in this sale is Percival Rosseau’s New England (est. $30/50,000). “This painting may be the most well known and widely published work by Rosseau, as it was made into a print for the Federal Cartridge Company in the 1930s and was used as a sales display in sporting goods stores across the country,” says Tharpe. Also arriving at auction are an oil of two setters by Gustav Muss-Arnolt that is estimated at $16,000 to $24,000 and a painting of an English springer spaniel with a pheasant by Thomas Blinks—owned by actor Robert Montgomery—that is expected to sell between $18,000 and $24,000.
Gustav Muss-Arnolt (1858-1927), Two Setters. Oil on canvas, 22¼ x 34¼ in. Estimate: $16/24,000
The works on paper session is led by a bound set of seven octavo volumes of John James Audubon’s Birds of America with three volumes of Quadrupeds of North America. The artist created the Quadrupeds with his son John and Dr. John Bachman of Charleston. The set has an estimate of $50,000 to $60,000.
The decoy category includes Charles Birch’s circa 1920 Mackey-Muller Birch Swan (est. $150/250,000). A. Elmer Crowell’s “Dust-Jacket” Yellowlegs decoy, which was carved around 1910, also hits the market with an estimate range of $100,000 to $150,000. —
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