Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Park at Vancouver, ca. 1889. Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 19 x 13½ in., 27 x 21½ in. (framed); signed lower left: ‘ABierstadt’. Courtesy Sotheby’s. Estimate: $25/35,000 SOLD: $107,100
New York, NY
Sotheby’s
September 22-October 6
Two Centuries: American Art
$2.4 million
This fall, Sotheby’s presented its Two Centuries: American Art sale, which featured American paintings, sculptures and works on paper in a diverse range of subject matter representing the 19th and 20th centuries. The sale featured abstract paintings from the Gouterman American Art Collection as well as 19th-century paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and Hudson River School landscapes from the Collection of Orin Lehman.
Two of the top lots in the auction were vertical-oriented pieces by Albert Biertadt and Nicolai Fechin. The oil on canvas Indian Girl (Portrait of Lolita), by Fechin, bested its $250,000 low estimate when it achieved $302,400. Bierstadt’s circa 1889 painting Park at Vancouver, depicting the dramatic wilderness of Canada in summer, more than tripled its high estimate of $35,000, selling for an astonishing $107,100.
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Isabel (Wolff) Bishop (1902-1988), Strap Hangers. Oil and pencil on Masonite, 18½ x 13 5/8 in. Artist World Auction Record. Courtesy Doyle. Estimate: $3/5,000 SOLD $63,000
New York, NY
Doyle
September 28
Fine Art Auction
$542,123
Doyle held a successful sale in its popular fine art category on September 28. The auction had competitive bidding, with 82 percent sold by lot and 100 percent sold by value, totaling $542,123. The sale offered affordable paintings, prints and sculpture by prominent artists spanning the late 19th through 20th centuries. Highlights in the sale included world auction records for both Isabel (Wolff) Bishop and Harold J. Rabinovitz. Strap Hangers, an oil and pencil on Masonite, sold for a phenomenal $63,000, more than 10 times its high estimate of $5,000, while Rabinovitz’s tempera on Masonite Man with Pick nearly doubled its $4,500 high estimate when it reached $8,190.
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Percival Leonard Rosseau (1859-1937), The First Brace. Oil on canvas, 28¼ x 383/8 in. Courtesy Skinner, Inc. Estimate: $30/50,000 SOLD: $68,750Marlborough, MA
Skinner, Inc.
September 30
American Works of Art
The American Works of Art sale marked the first auction hosted by Skinner, Inc, and focused entirely on American art. With range of periods and styles represented, the sale was boosted by several successful lots by women artists, including Elizabeth Nourse’s Etude, Fleurs, which achieved $35,000, as well as Marguerite Thompson Zorach’s Factory at Night at $9,375 and Emma Fordyce MacRae’s 1935 portrait A Belgium Girl at $7,500.
A highlight in the sale, which took place September 30, was Percival Leonard Rosseau’s The First Brace, a sporting scene with two setters from the Townsend estate in New Haven that brought $68,750 against a presale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. A Frederick Carl Frieseke portrait of a young woman, Dress of 1860, more than doubled its high estimate of $30,000, achieving $68,750.
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Robert Peak (1927-1992), Apocalypse Now, movie poster illustration, 1979. Mixed media on paper, 40 x 30 in. Artist World Auction Record. Courtesy Heritage Auctions. Estimate: $50/70,000 SOLD: $212,500
Dallas, TX
Heritage Auctions
October 4
Illustration Art Signature Auction
$2.18 million
Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art Signature Auction had a successful run this past October, reaching a sales total of $2.18 million. Leading the auction was a world record sale of a Marlon Brando painting by Robert Peak, known as “The Father of the Modern Movie Poster,” that was made for Apocalypse Now. The piece achieved $212,500, shattering its estimate of $50,000 to $70,000.
Science fiction and fantasy masterpieces from the Gary Munson Collection also broke numerous auction records—with works by James Allen St. John, Robert Gibson Jones and Lee Browne Coye. Pulp and paperback, pin-up and Golden Age illustration saw strong sales as well.
“Because of our deep and unrivalled commitment to all facets of the category for close to 20 years, Heritage owns the illustration art category from high to low, and the continued expansion of collector interest and cultural awareness is extremely gratifying to see,” says Todd Hignite, Heritage Auctions vice president and senior illustration and comic art expert.
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Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), January Sun, 1948/57. Watercolor on joined two sheets of paper, 39 x 33½ in., numbered lower left: ‘62’. Courtesy Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Estimate: $150/250,000 SOLD: $375,000
Milford, CT
Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers
October 28
Fall Fine Art Auction
$3.6 million
Lively bidding over the phone and online drove the results at Shannon’s online-only Fall Fine Art Auction on October 28. Nearly 80 percent of the 177 lots offered were sold and the sale achieved a total of $3.6 million.
One of the top works of the sale was a large watercolor on two sheets of paper by Charles E. Burchfield titled January Sun, which was also the cover lot. The painting sold for $375,000 over the phone (est. $150/250,000). A second Burchfield work, Lincoln Avenue at Main Street, Salem, Ohio, sold for $100,000. Sugar Cane, an oil study by Thomas Hart Benton from the same collection, sold for $275,000 to a Midwestern institution.
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Everett Spruce (1908-2002), Prairie Night - Eclipse of the Moon, 1970. Oil and crayon on canvas, 35½ x 40 in., signed lower left: ‘Spruce’. Courtesy David Dike Fine Art. Artist World Auction Record. Estimate: $40/60,000 SOLD: $120,000
Dallas, TX
David Dike Fine Art
October 30
Texas Art Auction
$2.25 million
David Dike Fine Art celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Texas Art Auction this past October with more than 400 people in attendance. The sale achieved a whopping $2,250,600 in total sales. With more than 460 lots of Texas art ranging from early to traditional and contemporary works, the Texas Art Auction had a number of standout lots, including an abstract by Ben L. Culwell from around 1962, Job II, No. 62-2 (est. $30/40,000), which achieved $39,600, a new auction record for the artist. Another star of the night was undoubtedly the nocturne Prairie Night - Eclipse of the Moon by Everett Spruce. The oil and crayon on canvas reached $120,000 against a presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and set a new auction record for Spruce.
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Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923), Birds in a marsh landscape. Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in., 22½ x 19½ in. (framed). Courtesy Eldred’s. Estimate: $20/30,000 SOLD: $37,500East Dennis, MA
Eldred’s
November 1
Women in the Arts Auction
$267,000
Eldred’s held its first Women in the Arts Auction in November, with an oil painting of marshlands by Fidelia Bridges being one of the leading lots in the sale. “I was very pleased with the results of the inaugural Women in the Arts Auction,” says Josh Eldred, president of Eldred’s. “The top lots performed exceptionally well and we saw good strength in the mid-market as well.” Birds in a marsh landscape (est. $20/30,000) by Bridges sold for $37,500 to a private collector bidding on the phone. Additionally, Mary Cassatt’s Louise, in a Fluffy Bonnet and a Coat, Held by Reine sold for $15,000 to an online buyer against a presale estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.
A portion of the proceeds from the 260-lot sale will be donated to WE CAN, a women’s empowerment organization on Cape Cod. Eldred says he was more than encouraged by the results and plans to make the Women in the Arts Auction a yearly event. The second installment is currently scheduled for fall 2022.
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Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974), Untitled, 1965. Acrylic on paper, 20 x 15 in. Courtesy Grogan & Co. Estimate: $70/100,000 SOLD $93,750
Boston, MA
Grogan & Co.
November 8
Fall Auction
$3.7 million
Modern and contemporary American art were the stars of Grogan & Company’s annual Fall Auction, which featured 226 lots of fine art as well as jewelry. Bidders participated live online, on the phone and through absentee bids. The sale totaled more than $3.7 million, with a 92 percent sell-through rate.
More than 109 lots made up the fine art section of the sale. Among these highlights were Lips & Paper, an impressive work by Ellen Gallagher that more than doubled its $70,000 high estimate when it sold for $156,250. Among other top lots in modern fine art was a 1965 painting by Adolph Gottlieb titled Burst, which sold for $93,750, and a vibrant Elaine De Kooning painting titled Theme of the Bull #14 (est. $15/25,000), which reached $40,000.
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William Franklin Jackson, (1850-1936), California landscape with poppies and lupine, 1929. Oil on canvas laid to canvas, 20¼ x 30 in. Courtesy John Moran Auctioneers. Estimate: $8/12,000 SOLD: $22,500Monrovia, CA
John Moran Auctioneers
November 16
California & American Fine Art
The California & American Fine Art sale hosted by John Moran Auctioneers brought collectors a wide range of fresh to market artworks by major names such as Edgar Alwin Payne, Percy Gray, Jack Wilkinson Smith, Ben Abril, Millard Sheets, Jessie Arms Botke, William J. McCloskey and more.
Top lots in the November 16 sale include Abril’s 1959 oil painting 3rd Street East Los Angeles, an aerial cityscape capturing the streets and buildings of the major West Coast city. The piece sold for $28,125 against an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. William Franklin Jackson’s California landscape with poppies and lupine, painted in 1929, achieved $22,500 against an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000; Granville Redmond’s study of October, bested its $10,000 low estimate when it sold for $13,750; and selling for $15,000 was Sierra Nevada Mountains by Marion Kavanagh Wachtel.
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Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), Artist’s Paradise (Laguna Beach) 26 1/8 x 30 in., 35 x 39 in. (framed). Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $70/100,000 SOLD: $100,312
Los Angeles, CA
Bonhams
November 23
California Art
Bonhams held its California Art sale, featuring a wide range of superb works reflecting the artists and aesthetic of the West Coast state. A major highlight in the sale was Artist’s Paradise (Laguna Beach), a plein air oil by Joseph Kleitsch, in which the artist mixed his paints “with fervor and speed in an effort to give the surface more movement and passion.” The painting, depicting several houses nestled in the hills, surrounded by abundant greenery, fetched $100,312 against a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000.
Other top lots include Edgar Payne’s landscape Matterhorn, selling for $47,812; Jessie Arms Botke’s avian still life Decoration at $75,312; and Granville Redmond’s Approaching Storm, an oil on canvas showcasing the dusty orange glow that descends on a landscape when a storm is looming, achieved $44,062. —
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