Gustave Baumann, Wash Barns Cabin, 1912. Color woodcut, ed. of 50, 19¾ x 26 5/8 in. Courtesy Santa Fe Art Auction. Estimate: $8/12,000 SOLD: $31,200

Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Art Auction
December 11
Gustave Baumann Sale
$728,000

The December 11 Gustave Baumann Sale, held by Santa Fe Art Auction, saw tremendous results. The 61-lot sale achieved $728,000 in total sales and spanned the full range of Baumann’s diverse career, from his New York City days, to his time in Chicago and Brown County, Indiana, all the way up to his final home in New Mexico. Baumann’s Wash Barnes Cabin, set a record price when it sold for $31,200, more than doubling its $12,000 high estimate.

Other major lots came from the artist’s New Mexico series of works, like Sanctuario Chimayo (est. $10/15,000), which also sold for $31,200, and San Geronimo Taos at $26,400, besting an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000. Additionally, Coast Range achieved $21,600 against a presale estimate of $8,000 to $12,000, and the 1928 Singing Woods (est. $8/12,000) reached $19,200.

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N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), When Drake Saw for the First Time the Waters of the South Sea, 1906. Oil on canvas, 38 x 24 in., signed lower right: ‘N.C. Wyeth’ and dated (verso). Property from the Trusts of Barbara V. and William K. Wamelink, Gates Mills, Ohio. Courtesy Hindman. Estimate: $200/400,000 SOLD: $275,000

Chicago, IL
Hindman
December 13
American and European Art
$1.64 million

Hindman rounded out the 2021 year with an American and European Art sale that featured a noteworthy selection of paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Ashcan, modernist, impressionist and illustration artists. The sale, held December 13, reached $1.64 million in total. 

N.C. Wyeth’s When Drake Saw for the First Time the Waters of the South was the top earner. The oil painting, commissioned by American sporting magazine Outing in 1906, sold for $275,000 against an estimate of $200,000 to $400,000. Other top performing lots were Wyeth’s Leaping from Rock to Rock in Sheer Delight, which broke past its $120,000 low estimate when it sold for $162,500, and The Cobbler’s Shop by David Gilmore Blythe that sold for $137,000–more than triple its high estimate of $25,000. 

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Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), Woman With Pink Ribbons, ca 1833. Oil on canvas. Courtesy Christie’s. Artist World Auction Record.  Estimate: $800/1,200,000 SOLD: $3.87 million

New York, NY
Christie’s
January 20
The Collection of Peter and Barbara Goodman
$10.85 million

Christie’s recent single-owner sale of The Collection of Peter and Barbara Goodman, an artful and astute curation of American folk art, was a massive success. The sale soared past its estimate of $2 million to $4 million when it achieved a total of $10,852,875. The numbers shake out as such: 97 percent sold by lot, 340 percent hammer sold above low estimate, as well as six new world auction records. 

“The incredibly strong results demonstrate the strength and depth of the folk art market. Peter and Barbara Goodman assembled a remarkable collection that celebrated color, surface and form, and today the market celebrated their eye and vision,” says Cara Zimmerman, Christie’s head of Americana and Outsider Art.

Ammi Phillips’ circa 1883 Woman with Pink Ribbons snagged the top lot of the sale, achieving a whopping $3.87 million against an estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million–a world auction record for Phillips. Additionally, John Brewster’s portrait of Captain John Bourne (1759-1837) absolutely demolished its $250,000 high estimate when it sold for $2.67 million. Other major lots include Samuel Shute’s Woman with Two Canaries at $1.17 million and Thomas Chamber’s View of Nahant [Sunset] at $437,500. 

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Edmund Dulac (1882-1953), The Snow Queen, illustration for the chapter Second Story: A Little Boy and a Little Girl from The Snow Queen, 1911. Watercolor, gouache, pen and ink. Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries. Artist World Auction Record.  Estimate: $50/70,000 SOLD: $125,000

New York, NY
Swann Auction Galleries
December 16
Illustration Art
$852,333

Swann Auction Galleries held a spectacular edition of its Illustration Art sale on December 16, bringing in a total $852,333 and establishing five artist records. Works were met with enthusiastic collectors eager to bring home original artworks from some of the genre’s most esteemed artists.  

The top lot in the sale was The Snow Queen, by Edmund Dulac, illustrated for the chapter “Second Story: A Little Boy and a Little Girl” from The Snow Queen published in Stories from Hans Anderson with Illustrations by Edmund Dulac. The work sold for $125,000, more than doubling its $50,000 low estimate and establishing a record for the artist. Other literary works of note included Arthur Rackham’s Sabrina Fair, a 1921 watercolor created for Milton’s Comus, which sold for $35,000. 

House favorite Edward Gorey also drew collectors in with his enigmatic drawings, with all four works selling above their high estimates. Most notable was the cover art designed by Gorey for the black printing plate used for Frank Belknap Long’s The Dark Beasts: and Eight Other Stories from the Hounds of Tindalos, achieving $27,500. —

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