Coming off its stellar American Art Signature Auction in July that earned $6.5 million, Heritage Auctions is pulling out heavy hitting works in its prime categories for the December 3 sale of the same category. “We are intentionally molding this sale into more of a boutique style sale that focuses on our strengths,” says Aviva Lehmann, vice president and director of American art at the auction house. “There’s great Western art, wildlife, Golden Age illustration and also fabulous works from other areas.”
Louis Ritman (1889-1963), Sunspots. Oil on canvas, 32 x 39½ in., signed lower right: ‘L. Ritman’. Estimate: $40/60,000
Among the notables lots of the sale, which will include around 150 items, is Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover study from April 6, 1963: Portrait of John F. Kennedy, which is estimated to sell between $150,000 and $250,000. “It’s really great to have a work featuring one of the most iconic presidents. Everyone knows JFK, and he has a strong connection to Dallas,” Lehmann says. “It’s the final study for his Saturday Evening Post cover. Rockwell was asked by the Post to depict a number of presidents, including an Eisenhower cover, which we sold at $150,000, so we are excited to offer this one.”
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Saturday Evening Post cover study, April 6, 1963. Oil on canvas, 20 x 13 in. Estimate: $150/250,000
The sale also has two illustrations by LeRoy Neiman, including the 5-foot wide painting Roulette, which has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. The work captures the artist’s fascination with opulence and ritzy atmospheres.
In the Western segment of the sale the standouts are William Robinson Leigh’s The Best in the Bunch, 1941, at $300,000 to $500,000; Thomas Moran’s Mountain Lion in Grand Canyon (Lair of the Mountain Lion (est. $500/700,000); and Oscar E. Berninghaus’ Open Country, which has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. The Leigh is of particular interest, as it arrives to auction from the estate of Philip R. Jonsson of Dallas, which was the consignor of the record-setting work by Leigh, Home Sweet Home, that Heritage sold for $1.195 million in 2011. This Leigh was originally purchased by Eric Jonsson, who was the mayor of Dallas from 1964 to 1971, before it descended in his family.
LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012), Roulette. Oil on canvas, 49 x 60 in. Estimate: $80/120,000
A notable American impressionist piece in the sale is Louis Ritman’s 1916 painting Sunspots. The piece, which has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000, is described by Lehmann as having “great impasto” and being “from an estate, so it’s super fresh to the market.” Other highlights include two landscapes by Robert Scott Duncanson and two pieces by Charles Ethan Porter from the same New York collector. Also available will be an abstract work titled Fantasy by Thomas Hart Benton that will hit the block for $80,000 to $120,000. “What’s interesting is Benton’s market is very strong right now, but rather than being a classic regionalist subject, this is abstraction,” says Lehmann. “He was a teacher of many abstract expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, and [with this work] you can see how he influenced and inspired a generation.”
William Robinson Leigh (1866-1955), The Best in the Bunch, 1941. Oil on canvas laid on aluminum, 41½ x 60½ in. Estimate: $300/500,000
Being the first sale at the auction house’s new facility, where the company moved in April, Hertiage will include a small-scale painting by Julian Onderdonk, who traditionally appears in their Texas art sales. The painting, Bluebonnet Field, 1921, is a 5½-by-8½-inch pastel that captures one of the artist’s most beloved subject matters. It has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.
Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952), Open Country. Oil on board, 28 x 22 in. Estimate: $60/80,000
The sale will kick off at 11 a.m. with social distancing protocols in place. There will be previews by appointment only in Dallas and at Heritage’s New York City and San Francisco locations with select highlights.
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