Competitive Bidding

Interest in artwork from multiple collecting categories pushed Heritage Auctions’ December 3 American art sale to $4.2 million

Heritage Auctions hosted its December 3 American Art Signature Auction to enthusiastic bidding from participants using the company’s online platform as well as by telephone and absentee. The sale was notable from start to finish with seven lots reaching the six-figure mark, more than half of the items selling above estimate and a grand total of more than $4.2 million.Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Portrait of John F. Kennedy, The Saturday Evening Post, cover study, April 6, 1963. Oil on canvas, 20 x 13 in. Estimate: $150/250,000 SOLD: $187,500

“It was a very exciting sale and followed up on the success of our July auction of American art,” says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage’s New York-based vice president and director of American art. “It was a great year for American art at Heritage, and with this sale we exceeded the aggregate value of the auction at the end of the day.”

The top lot of the sale was Thomas Moran’s Mountain Lion in Grand Canyon (Lair of the Mountain Lion), which sold just above its low estimate at $471,000. “We had 13 bidders on the work, which was amazing and very exciting for us,” Lehmann shares. “We always begin the auction with Western lots and that set the tone for the sale.” Moran also landed in the top 10 lots with two Venetian Scene paintings, estimated at $60,000 to $80,000 each, and sold for $106,250 and $81,250, respectively. Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Mountain Lion in Grand Canyon (Lair of the Mountain Lion), 1914. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. Estimate: $400/600,000 SOLD: $471,000

“One of the biggest and most surprising lots of the sale was Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait’s Late Autumn, Long Lake, Hamilton Co., New York, Adirondacks. It was a beautiful, large sporting scene in the Adirondacks with extraordinary provenance,” explains Lehmann. “It could be traced back to the artist and was only owned by three people since it was created in 1881. And it was in good condition for a work of this age.” The painting had 16 bidders, who pushed it to a price well above its $30,000 to $50,000 estimate at $200,000.

This was particularly exciting for Lehmann, who says 19th-century artwork hasn’t been as popular, but this shows that segment of the market “is very much alive and well, and rallying in a big way.” She continues, “A few younger, new collectors were interested in it, which is music to our ears having them bidding so aggressively on the traditional work.”

Illustration is always a strong category for the auction house, and that continued with this sale for a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover study of John F. Kennedy. The work, estimated at $150,000 to $250,000, achieved $187,500. “It was a study that was very brushy and measuring 20 by 13 inches. It had a great exhibition history and hung at the Bennington Museum in Vermont,” Lehmann explains. “It was a big price for a late portrait that was atypical of Rockwell’s work.”Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905) Late Autumn, Long Lake, Hamilton Co., New York, Adirondacks, 1881. Oil on canvas, 27 x 41 in. Estimate: $30/50,000 SOLD: $200,000

The star of the modernism segment of the auction was Thomas Hart Benton’s painting Fantasy (est. $80/120,000), which sold for $150,000 after five bidders expressed interest in the work. “It was an abstract from 1946,” Lehmann describes, “and people loved it because Thomas Hart Benton was a teacher of the abstract expressionist and color field artists. You can see that in a work like this. It’s atypical and quite rare.” Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Fantasy, 1946. Oil on canvas laid on panel, 26½ x 19 in. Estimate: $80/120,000 SOLD: $150,000

Other standouts from the sale included Louis Ritman’s Sunspots (est. $40/60,000) at $68,750; Charles Ethan Porter’s Floral Still Life (est. $12/18,000), which sold for $60,000 after five bidders vied for the work; and Marguerite Thompson Zorach’s watercolor Sunbather, Provincetown, which achieved $21,250 after a dozen bidders drove up the price from its $4,000 to $6,000 estimate. A John Singer Sargent charcoal drawing of Henry Sturgis Russell from 1924 also had competitive bidding, with 10 buyers pushing it to $68,750 against an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. —

Top 10 sales
Heritage Auctions, American Art Signature Auction, December 3, 2020 (including buyer’s premium)
Artist Title Low/High ESt. SOLD

Thomas Moran Mountain Lion in Grand Canyon (Lair of the Mountain Lion) $400/600,000 $471,000
William Robinson Leigh The Best in the Bunch $300/500,000 $312,500
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait Late Autumn, Long Lake, Hamilton Co., New York, Adirondacks $30/50,000 $200,000
Norman Rockwell Portrait of John F. Kennedy $150/250,000 $187,500
Fritz Scholder Indian on Blue Horse $40/60,000 $162,500
Thomas Hart Benton Fantasy $80/120,000 $150,000
Thomas Moran Venetian Scene $60/80,000 $106,250
Thomas Moran Venetian Scene $60/80,000 $81,250
William Bradford Off the Coast of Labrador $70/100,000 $81,250
Childe Hassam Lighthouse, Isle of Shoals $30/50,000 $81,250