After a strong American art auction in May, Heritage Auctions is looking to continue its success with Golden Age illustrations, Western art and more during its November 5 sale. Taking place at 11 a.m. Dallas time, the fall American Art Signature Auction will include work by blue-chip artists as well as rare finds that will excite bidders. The auction will have around 200 lots, and a special session titled Soul of a Nation: African American Art from a Distinguished Collector will have 100 pieces telling the story of African American art.Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Home for Thanksgiving, The Saturday Evening Post cover, November 24, 1945. Oil on canvas, 35 x 33 in. Estimate: $4/6 million

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951), Summer, The Saturday Evening Post cover, August 27, 1927. Oil on canvas, 26½ x 19½ in. Estimate: $200/300,000

In the illustration category of the sale Norman Rockwell’s iconic Saturday Evening Post cover Home for Thanksgiving (est. $4/6 million) will hit the market. “It’s a really special piece, and perfect timing with the sale being right before Thanksgiving,” says Aviva Lehmann, vice president and director of American art. “We’re really honored to be handling the sale of this work.” This particular piece depicts a soldier and his mother peeling potatoes on Thanksgiving, and it has a special provenance that elevates the work. It is being sold by the E.M. Connor Post #193 American Legion in Winchendon, Massachusetts, to benefit operational and building funds.

“The Legion was gifted the work around circa 1950 by Monsignor Wilfred Tisdale, and it’s been there ever since,” says Lehmann, adding the work has toured two times, most recently in the Rockwell Four Freedoms tour. “Aside from those two showings, it hasn’t been seen in over 70 years. The condition is spectacular…and it has this Rockwellian story and is coming full circle. It’s of a military hero and it’s being sold by military heroes.”Romare Bearden (1911-1988), Harlequin, ca. 1956. Ink, pencil, paint, with collage on paper, 24½ x 17½ in. (sheet), signed lower right: ‘Romare Bearden’. Estimate: $250/350,000

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), Rough Pasture, 1939. Watercolor on paper, 21¾ x 29¾ in. Estimate: $60/80,000

Other Rockwells in the sale include Portrait of Richard Nixon (est. $200/300,000), which appeared on the cover of the November 5, 1960, edition of The Saturday Evening Post; the charcoal study for the same work with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000; and the study of Vacation: Boy Riding Goose from the collection of the late Mort Walker with an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000.

Nine works by Joseph Christian Leyendecker will hit the market including three top examples of Saturday Evening Post covers. Summer is a fun and vibrantly colored scene depicting a couple in their bathing suits; it is expected to sell between $200,000 and $300,000. A 1918 military scene titled Croix de Guerre, and depicting a French solider bestowing the medal of distinction on a U.S. soldier, is also estimated at $200,000 to $300,000. The whimsical work Circus Dog, showing a clown holding a hula hoop in the air as a poodle jumps through it, is set at $100,000 to $150,000.

In Western art, collectors will be thrilled to find two newly discovered Charles M. Russell watercolors that since being authenticated and will be added to the catalogue raisonné. Untitled (The Lone Scout) has a presale estimate of $150,000 to $200,000 and Untitled (Scouting Party) is at $70,000 to $100,000. A grouping of Birger Sandzén artworks will include the standout Twilight on the Smoky (est. $300/500,000), while Albert Bierstadt is represented by Sentinel Falls and Cathedral Peaks in the Yosemite Valley (est. $300/500,000).Robert Henri (1865-1929), Sarah Burke, 1926. Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in., signed lower left: ‘Robert Henri’. Estimate: $150/250,000

George Wesley Bellows (1882-1925), Portrait of Florence Budd, 1914. Oil on panel, 39 x 31 in., signed and inscribed verso: ‘Portrait of Florence Budd / Geo Bellows / 146 E. 19 St. / New York’. Estimate: $150/250,000

There will be notable Ashcan School, impressionist and modernist works in the auction as well. Robert Henri’s 1926 portrait of Sarah Burke is expected to land between $150,000 and $250,000. George Wesley Bellows’ Portrait of Florence Budd (est. $150/250,000), a society portrait in his trademark simplified and gritty style, has been in one family for many years and is very fresh to the market. Three standout Andrew Wyeth paintings estimated at $60,000 to $80,000 each are Rough Pasture, the watercolor portrait Dee and the still life-style work Picnic (Tea for Two study). The latter two pieces come from the same consignor.Sargent Johnson (1888-1967), Head of a Youth, ca. 1930s. Terra cotta, 7 in. high on a 3½ in. high wood base, inscribed on back of head: ‘Sargent Johnson’. Estimate: $30/50,000 Images courtesy Heritage Auctions, ha.com.

To close the first session of the sale, prior to the start of the Soul of a Nation: African American Art from a Distinguished Collector segment, the auction house will present a spectacular mixed media collage work by Romare Bearden titled Harlequin (est. $250/350,000). “This work is an homage to Picasso, and it was gifted by Bearden to important African American art scholar Halima Taha,” says Lehmann. The work was later acquired from Taha by an important collector, and it has been on view at the National Gallery of Art and other institutions as part of the exhibition The Art of Romare Bearden.

After a short break the Soul of a Nation session will begin. Describing the offerings, Lehmann says, “It’s a modern-day handbook on the history of African American art.” Included will be Sargent Johnson busts; James Lesesne Wells’ Wanderers, circa 1930, with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000; and many other strong pieces. —

Powered by Froala Editor