On October 28, Christie’s will be offering more than 70 pieces, many of them masterpieces of Western art, from the T. Boone Pickens Collection. The sale, titled The Legend of the West: Iconic Works from the T. Boone Pickens Collection, will take place immediately before Christie’s fall American art sale.
N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Indian Love Call, 1927. Oil on canvas, 46 x 69¼ in., signed lower right: ‘N.C. Wyeth’. Estimate: $2/3 million
Pickens, who died in 2019 at the age of 91, was a prominent businessman whose career took him from oil and natural gas to politics and philanthropy. “People collect art for different reasons,” says Christie’s Western specialist Tylee Abbott. “Some might buy art to buy the best of the artist or the period, but Mr. Pickens bought what he liked, and when you buy what you like the work becomes an extension of yourself, your beliefs and your feelings, which is why his collection is so important.”
Frederic Remington (1861-1909), The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak), 1900. Oil on canvas, 40 x 27 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘Frederic Remington-/ 1900/ Copyright 1901 by Frederic Remington’. Estimate: $3/5 million
One of the highlights from the collection being offered is Remington’s 1900 painting The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak), showing a Native American rider waiving a buffalo skin from atop a rearing horse. The work is estimated at $3 million to $5 million, and if it goes much over its high estimate it could set a painting record for the artist, which currently stands at $5.6 million. “Remington is virtually synonymous with the West, and between him and Russell they are the titans of the West,” Abbott says. “A lot of what Remington painted has influenced what we think of as the West today. And this piece is no exception.”
Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952), Overland Mail, 1946. Oil on canvas, 35 x 40 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘O.E. Berninghaus/-46’. Estimate: $250/350,000
Another major highlight is N.C. Wyeth’s Indian Love Call, a 1927 oil on canvas showing a Native American man in a canoe playing a flute-like instrument to a woman who can be seen amid several trees. The painting, estimated at $2 million to $3 million, is massive at nearly 70 inches wide. It was originally a commission to a Philadelphia collector, and has since become a classic image for Wyeth that appears in many of the books on the artist. “It’s just extraordinary, especially in its scale. It’s hard to imagine until you see it, but paintings like this were consumed the way people today consume television and film, which is fitting because this really has a cinematic design and experience,” the Christie’s specialist says, adding that the painting still sparkles with life. “The color is just magnificent. The jewel tones—the emerald greens and sapphire blues—all across the surface are just wonderful.”
Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939), Wyoming Cattlemen, 1934. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘F. Tenney Johnson A.N.A./ 1934.’ Estimate: $250/350,000
Other works include Oscar E. Berninghaus’ stagecoach scene Overland Mail (est. $250/250,000) and Frank Tenney Johnson’s Wyoming Cattlemen (est. $250/350,000).
“All history is a resource from which to draw wisdom,” Pickens once said. “The history of the West is particularly rich in wisdom because of the strength of the individuals who lived it. They have given us an unsurpassed legacy of human values founded on such basics as morality, truth, duty, honor and country. I have collected Western art with a hope that it will help preserve these values for successful living and perpetuate them for future generations.” —
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