The spring American art sale at Christie’s is returning May 18 in New York with a large selection of works that should delight collectors of American art. The sale will offer around 100 lots, including many from top artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Startled, 1879. Watercolor, gouache and charcoal on paper, 14 x 19¾ in., inscribed lower left: ‘Winslow Homer/79’. Estimate: $600/800,000

Tylee Abbott, the new head of the American art department at Christie’s, says he’s excited about the sale and the direction the market is headed. “Last year it was a supply challenge because people were holding onto what they had, but now we’re starting to see tremendous interest among sellers so we’re optimistic that the market is in a good place,” he says. “Now is the time to sell, especially as interest is high and the financial markets are all high.”

He adds: “[We have] some really great 19th- and 20th-century works from a range of artists, and at a range of prices, from $20,000 to $200,000 and beyond. These sales are really great opportunities for new collectors to get a smaller work from an important artist, or maybe a bigger work from a lesser-known artist.”N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), The Guardians (War or Peace?) (“Nothing would escape their black, jewel-like, inscrutable eyes…”), 1911. Oil on canvas, 467/8 x 377/8 in., signed lower left: ‘N.C. Wyeth’. Estimate: $600/800,000

One of the highlights of the May sale is N.C. Wyeth’s illustration The Guardians (War or Peace?) (“Nothing would escape their black, jewel-like, inscrutable eyes…”). The large and early Wyeth work, which first appeared in a November 1911 issue of Harper’s, is a well-known painting that has appeared in numerous museum exhibitions and in books on the artist, including Douglas Allen’s 1972 publication N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals. The painting shows three Native American elders perched on the top of a hill as they gaze down at unseen people below them. The work is estimated at $600,000 to $800,000, but could easily soar past those numbers. “We think it’s conservatively priced for its size and rarity, but these estimates are a good starting place,” Abbott adds. “These paintings regularly break a million dollars, so it should be fun to watch.”Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), Frozen Lake, Alaska, 1918-19. Oil on canvas laid down on panel, 28¼ x 341/8 in., signed lower right: ‘Rockwell Kent’. Estimate: $300/500,000

Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, 1860. Oil on canvas, 12 x 23 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘S.R. Gifford. 1860.’ Estimate: $300/500,000

Similarly priced is Winslow Homer’s watercolor, gouache and charcoal work on paper, Startled, from 1879. The piece, estimated at $600,000 to $800,000, shows a woman in a dress and hat on the beach with crashing waves behind her. “This was likely inspired by Coney Island, and it really anticipates the beach scenes Homer would go on to paint,” says American art specialist Paige Kestenman, who adds that Startled closely resembles a smaller work with the same name and from a year earlier in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “The one we have is a bit more modern and it’s a more tightly cropped composition, with a more abstracted presentation of the water for which Homer was well known.”Milton Avery (1885-1965), Sleeping Nude, 1950. Oil on canvas, 26 x 42 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘Milton Avery/1950’. Estimate: $300/500,000

Rockwell Kent’s Frozen Lake, Alaska will be available with estimates of $300,000 to $500,000. The almost minimalist landscape, with white sky and white snow in the foreground, comes to the sale with an impressive provenance. It has descended through he family of Joseph James “J.J.” Ryan, who was a painting friend of Kent. 

Several other noteworthy landscapes include Sanford Robinson Gifford’s 1860 oil Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire (est. $300/500,000), which has been in a private collection for a century; Victor Higgins’ scene of the English countryside Moorland Gorse and Bracken (est. $70/100,000); Gerald Cassidy’s Grand Canyon landscape The Rainbow, Desert View, Arizona (est. $15/25,000); George Inness’ 1894 oil Picnic in the Woods, Montclair, New Jersey (est. $100/150,000); and Thomas Hill’s 1871 painting Yosemite (est. $200/300,000). Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900), October, 1887. Oil on canvas, 32 x 46½ in., signed and dated lower left: ‘J.F. Cropsey/1887’. Estimate: $100/150,000

“[The Hill] is just a top-notch example. Of course it shows the whole expanse of the valley in that classically grand 19th-century style, but there are also some very nice added figure elements in the foreground,” Abbott says. “These figures are important to establish the size and scale of the nature Hill was painting.”

An additional landscape painting is Jasper Francis Cropsey’s 1887 work October, which shows children crossing a makeshift bridge over a stream with cows in the background. The painting, estimated at $100,000 to $150,000, comes from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to benefit the acquisition fund. Thomas Hill (1829-1908), Yosemite, 1871. Oil on canvas laid down on cradled Masonite, 36½ x 60½ in., signed and dated lower left: ‘T. Hill/1871.’; and signed and dated again lower right. Estimate: $200/300,000

The fall and spring American sales almost always offer strong pieces from Milton Avery, and this year is no different with two strong lots: Woman on the Rocks (est. $80/120,000) and Sleeping Nude (est. $300/500,000). The works are quite different from each other, and both speak to different styles that were coming out of Avery’s studio around the same time: Woman on the Rocks has numerous elements and colors amid a composition that features several large forms, while Sleeping Nude contains just several colors amid its large single form in the center of the painting. 

Other lots in the sale include an Eastman Johnson portrait of Alexander Hamilton (est. $100/150,000), as well as works by Paul Manship, Charles Schreyvogel, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth and many others. 

The May 18 sale will take place at 11 a.m., immediately after Christie’s single-owner sale Fields of Vision: The Private Collection of Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason. —

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