On November 24, Bonhams will hold its autumn sale of American art in Manhattan, right around all of the major New York end-of-year auctions. As usual, bidders can expect to see a wide range of rare and interesting works spanning the 19th and 20th centuries from prominent artists like Albert Bierstadt, Wolf Kahn, Milton Avery and Frederick Carl Frieseke, among many others.
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Entrance to Golden Gate, ca. 1872. Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 16 x 22 in., signed lower left with conjoined initials: ‘ABierstadt’. Estimate: $200/300,000
Wolf Kahn (1927-2020), Evening Encampment, 1974. Oil on canvas, 36½ x 523⁄8 in., signed lower right: ‘W. Kahn’; inscribed with title (on the stretcher) and inscribed on verso with artist’s inventory number: ‘#9 1974’. Estimate: $30/50,000
“We are delighted to be offering a rare and definitive work by Albert Bierstadt from his time spent in San Francisco in the early 1870s and to be offering an exemplary surrealist work by Gertrude Abercrombie that features some of her iconic tropes, “like the owl and the chalice,” says Aaron Anderson, Bonhams’ cataloguer and acting specialist for the sale. Bierstadt’s Entrance to Golden Gate, painted around 1872, highlights the artist’s mastery of light and his fondness for the Golden State, with Bierstadt having spent a great deal of time in California during his Western travels studying the topography of the state. The oil featured in Bonhams’ upcoming sale is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000. Additionally, Abercrombie’s Untitled (Owl and Strange Objects of the Night) has a presale estimate of $8,000 to $12,000.
Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939), Embroidery, ca. 1927. Oil on canvas, 321⁄8 x 321⁄8 in., signed lower left: ‘F.C. Frieseke’. Estimate: $20/30,000
Milton Avery (1885-1965), Fruit Bowl, 1957. Oil on canvasboard, 117⁄8 x 157⁄8 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘Milton Avery 1957’. Estimate: $20/25,000
“We are [also] pleased to be offering a wonderful piece by the famed American impressionist Frederick Carl Frieseke and a charming still life by Milton Avery painted in the later part of his career,” says Anderson. Among these works is Frieseke’s circa 1927 figurative oil Embroidery, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000, as well as Avery’s 1957 still life Fruit Bowl (est. $20/25,000).
Anderson continues, “We also have a monumental evening landscape by Wolf Kahn that includes an original handwritten letter by the artist that describes his inspiration for the work in detail.” The Kahn piece, Evening Encampment, is a stellar representation of the artist’s skill in depicting the atmospheric conditions in any given scene—in this work, swaths of vivid, fiery oranges fill an evening sky situated above bright green grass illuminated by the dramatic light.
Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), Untitled (Owl and Strange Objects of the Night), 1945. Oil on panel, 4 x 5 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘Abercrombie 45’. Estimate: $8/12,000
Kahn completed the oil on canvas—which has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000—in 1974 at his summer home in Vermont, drawing inspiration from recent memories of a trip he made to Kenya. —
Powered by Froala Editor
