All Corners

Sotheby’s fall American art sale highlights major works from all areas of the market

On November 22, Sotheby’s presented 53 lots in its annual fall American Art sale in New York City. Featuring a stunning array of artwork from across the spectrum of American art—from the Hudson River School and Pennsylvania Impressionism to Golden Age illustration and abstraction—the sale realized $14.2 million with a 79 percent sell-through rate. Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), The Glen, 1936. Oil on Masonite, 27 5/8 x 22½ in., signed and dated lower right: ‘Maxfield Parrish © 1936’; signed and dated again, numbered ‘897’ and titled verso. Estimate $1.5/2 million Sold for $3,287,000

The sale’s top lot was Maxfield Parrish’s 1936 oil The Glen, an intimate nature scene showing the artist’s distinct color palette and sumptuous composition. “He depicts a torrent of turquoise water rushing over craggy rocks through towering trees, creating a rich tapestry of color and light effects,” the auction house notes in the catalog. “The dynamic winding composition underscores the energy of the water swirling through the vale and the radiant glow of sunlight through the trees captures Parrish’s idyllic vision of New England. He concerned himself with the effect of the place rather than purely its scenic quality, articulating his intention, ‘to get the that peculiar cathedral quality of a dark glen in the woods like entering another world from the sunlit fields outside.’” The work, once owned by Andy Warhol, sold for more than $3.2 million, well beyond its $2 million high estimate.Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), The Jester, 1939. Oil on canvas, 31 1/8 x 2 5/8 in., signed lower right: ‘Norman Rockwell’.
Estimate: $1/1.5 million SOLD: $1,169,500Tied for second place among the top lots were two unique painters whose works are vastly different in all the ways that make American art so fascinating: illustrator Norman Rockwell’s 1939 Saturday Evening Post cover titled The Jester (est. $1/1.5 million) and Harlem Renaissance painter Jacob Lawrence’s The Family (est. $1.2/1.8 million). Each work sold for $1,169,500.

Fairfield Porter’s Landscape with Child and Dog (est. $1/1.5 million) just missed its estimate when it sold for $927,500, and coming in right behind it were two N.C. Wyeth paintings: Independence Day (At Concord Bridge) (est. $700/1,000,000) that sold for $867,000 and The Horse Race (Cursing and Whipping like a Madman, the Scarlet Jockey Drew up on the Turn, Hung Knee to Knee, Passed Him by) (est. $500/700,000) that sold for $685,500. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Family, 1964. Tempera on board, 24 x 20 in., signed lower right: ‘Jacob Lawrence ‘64’. Estimate: $1.2/1.8 million SOLD: $1,169,500Several works that dramatically exceeded their estimates were Charles E. Burchfield’s Zinnias that sold for $625,000, more than doubling its $300,000 high estimate, and John Marin’s Movement Lower Manhattan, which nearly doubled its high estimate of $80,000 when it closed at $189,000. Toward the middle of the sale, a John Clymer piece, The Big Snow (est. $40/60,000), more than tripled its high estimate after selling for $214,000. —

Top 10 Sales
Sotheby’s, American Art, November 22, 2021 (including buyer’s premiums)
Artist Title Low/High Est. SOLD
Maxfield Parrish The Glen $1.5/2 million $3,287,000
Norman Rockwell The Jester $1/1.5 million $1,169,500
Jacob Lawrence The Family $1.2/1.8 million $1,169,500
Fairfield Porter Landscape with Child and Dog $1/1.5 million $927,500
N.C. Wyeth Independence Day $700/1,000,000 $867,000
N.C. Wyeth The Horse Race $500/700,000 $685,500
Charles E. Burchfield Zinnias $200/300,000 $625,000
Henry Koerner The Pigeons $300/500,000 $576,600
Martin Johnson Heade Sunset: Sky and Marsh $300/500,000 $564,500
Milton Avery Woman with Mandolin $300/500,00 $504,000