Joint Auction Report

Dallas, Los Angeles, New York

Gunnar Widforss (1879-1934), Catalina Island. Watercolor on paper, 17½ x 13½ in., signed and dated lower left: ‘Widforss - 1921’; and numbered, titled and dated on verso: ‘No. 8 / 12’. Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $10/15,000 SOLD: $113,775

Los Angeles, CA
Bonhams
April 12, California Art, $1.82 million
April 26, Western Art, $1.54 million
The April 12 California Art sale, held by Bonhams in New York, achieved a grand total of $1,829,515. “We were enormously pleased by the robust bidding on historic California art offered in our...California Art auction,” says Scot Levitt, vice president and director California/Western & Contemporary Art at Bonhams. “Works by top California plein air practitioners including Edgar Payne, Granville Redmond and William Wendt all sold above estimate. Perhaps the most exciting lot in the sale was the incredible and rare Catalina Island watercolor by Gunnar Widforss which sold for more than 10 times its presale estimate of $10/15,000 for an astounding $113,775.” Another major work in the sale was Granville Redmond’s Lupine and Poppies, selling for $126,375 against a $100,000 to $150,000 estimate.Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), Glory After Storm. Oil on canvas laid to artist’s board, 20 x 16 in. Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $60/80,000 SOLD: $126,375

Two weeks later, was the Western Art sale, bringing in more than $1.5 million. “We are delighted with the performance of the works by Maynard Dixon–all sold well–especially Glory After the Storm,” says Katherine Halligan, Bonhams’ Western art specialist. The piece drew a great deal of interest and sold for more than double its $60,000 low estimate for a total of $126,375. “Two lots by Harry Curieux Adamson were also crowd favorites with Autumn Prelude - Pintails achieving $44,475, the world auction record for the artist, and almost triple its presale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.”

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Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951), First Long Suit, The Saturday Evening Post cover, September 18, 1937. Oil on canvas, 27¾ x 22¼ in. Courtesy Heritage Auctions, HA.com. Estimate: $300/500,000 SOLD: $615,000

Dallas, TX
Heritage Auctions
May 10
American Art Signature Auction
$6 million
Heritage Auctions’ latest American Art Signature® Auction set numerous auction records durings its May 10 sale, leading to a phenomenal $6 million finish. Leading historic lots in the auction was Joseph Christian Leyendecker’s First Long Suit, painted for the September 18, 1937, cover for The Saturday Evening Post. The piece broke past its $500,000 high estimate, achieving $615,000. Another Saturday Evening Post cover by Leyendecker, Playing Hooky for $300,000 ($200/300,000).

A major lot by Gertrude Abercrombie titled Lonely House, painted in 1938, sold for $175,000, more than doubling its $80,000 high estimate. And the 1850 Still Life with Fruit and Flowers in a Landscape, a masterwork by Severin Roesen, sold for $300,000 (est. $250/350,000).

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Martin Wong (1946-1999), Quong Yuen Shing & Co., 1992. Acrylic on canvas, 721/8 x 58¼ in., signed and dated 1992. Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $1/1.5 million SOLD: $1,260,375

New York, NY
Bonhams
May 18, Impressionist & Modern Art
May 19, Post-War & Contemporary Art
$9.4 million
Bonhams held two more sales in mid-May, both of which had stellar results. Leading the Impressionist & Modern Art sale was 19th to 20th-century artist Gabriele Münter’s oil Friedhoftor (Murnau), which sold for $277,575, within its $250,000 to $350,000 estimate. Additionally, Albert Gleizes (1881-1953), one of the influential founders of the cubism movement, had his Composition rythmique, les bleus (dit aussi Peinture rhythmique, les bleus ou Les bleus) sell for $214,575 (est. $120/180,000).

The May 19 Post-War & Contemporary Art sale was led by a masterpiece by visionary artist Martin Wong (1946-1999), achieving an artist’s world record at $1,260,375 (est. $1/1.5 million). The large-scale painting, Quong Yuen Shing & Co., is a superlative example of the artist’s practice, which depicts the storefront of the longest continuously operating business in New York’s Chinatown first opening in 1891. Also featured were nine animated digital artworks by Andy Warhol, which sold for $252,375. —