Market Reports

What we're hearing from galleries, auction houses and museums across the country

The exterior of Bonhams’ Los Angeles location.

Scot M. Levitt
Director, Fine Arts
Bonhams

My area of focus is on early California paintings and Western art. I have been overseeing these auctions for over 30 years, believe it or not. I am always amazed at how consistent many of our auctions have fared through those years. Although the market overall took a dip after the 2008 recession hit, our auction results have been quite steady ever since. Quality and rarity continue to be what sells well, of course. Works that are a bit different compositionally and particularly well-executed tend to grab the most attention. I think there is plenty of money in the hands of collectors that are always waiting for just the right work to come along. The vast majority of our buyers today are private collectors.

American modernism is still very popular in the market. I find that identifiable city scenes, urban scenes, Depression era scenes, if well painted, are always popular. The building of a freeway or an old cable car scene, city squares filled with pedestrians and cars, for example. Works from notable collections are always desirable, the most recent examples being the works offered from the Estate of T. Boone Pickens, or our sale last year of the Estate of L.D. Brinkman from Kerrville, Texas.

That could be a long list as there are so many artists that produced quality works, yet sell for modest prices. I think many women artists are still under-appreciated and quite affordable. A local author, Maureen St. Gaudens, recently wrote a book about some of the lesser known women artists working in California alone over the last 100 years. She meant to write one book and ended up with four!

Bonhams
7601 W. Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046
www.bonhams.com