Joint Auction Reports

Dallas, Milford, Monrovia, Thomaston

Lynne Mapp Drexler (1928-1999), Untitled, 1963. Oil on canvas, 33½ x 29 in. Courtesy Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Estimate: $50/75,000 SOLD: $450,000

Milford, CT
Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers
October 27
Fall Auction
$3.75 million

Shannon’s October 27 Fall Auction offered fresh-to-market fine art in its 179-lot sale, which sold over 85 percent and grossed more than $3.75 million.

A major highlight of the fall sale was a 1963 painting by Monhegan artist Lynne Mapp Drexler. Drexler’s prices have skyrocketed in recent years, with the artist’s Untitled, 1963 painting ultimately selling for $450,000 after lively online and phone participation. The piece had a presale estimate of $50,000 to $75,000. Scott Kahn’s painting The Woods achieved $212,500, and saw global bidding from more than six countries and multiple states. Daniel Garber’s oil on canvas Elm Bough sold for $262,500.

Mark Rothko (1903-1970), A Last Supper, 1941. Oil on canvas, 221/8 x 26¼ in. Courtesy Heritage Auctions. Estimate: $1.5/2.5 million SOLD: $1.4 million

Dallas, TX
Heritage Auctions
November 4
American Art
$7 million

Heritage Auctions’ most recent American Art sale achieved $7,015,750—an explosion of bidding with a spectacular sell-through rate. In addition, the sale broke auction records for a number of beloved American artists who have shaped the art of the last century, including Mark Rothko and Stevan Dohanos.

Leading the sale was Rothko’s 1941 A Last Summer, an early figurative work and one of the very few private loans in a recent major Rothko retrospective at Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The piece achieved a massive $1.45 million, just shy of its $1.5 million estimate. In addition, Joseph Christian Leyendecker’s Town Crier, The Saturday Evening Post cover, 1925, shattered its $120/180,000 when it sold for $423,000.

“Our unmatched level of bidding, our constant record-shattering, and our stellar sell-through rate affirm Heritage Auctions’ standing as a permanent leader in the American art field,” says Lehmann. “I am already excited to see where we go from here.”

Unsigned Portrait of Washington with Sadik Attribution to Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), Classic Bust Portrait. Oil on canvas, with 2010 letter verso from Marvin Sadik, the former Director of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC., stating this is by Stuart. Courtesy Thomaston Place Auction Galleries. Estimate: $2/3,000 SOLD: $40,800

Thomaston, ME
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries
November 11-13
Autumn Majestic
$1.3 million

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ recent Autumn Majestic sale generated just under $1.35 million including buyer’s premium, attracting large numbers of in-house bidders, as well as action from telephone and internet bidders located throughout the United States and globally.

The star of the sale was an unsigned portrait of George Washington attributed to Gilbert Stuart, which demolished its $3,000 estimate when it sold for $40,800. Other American art lots in the sale include two paintings by Dahlov Ipcar, Black Zebra and Raintree, which sold for $24,000 and $20,400 respectively, against presale estimates of $15,000 to $20,000. In addition, a bronze by American sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor achieved $20,400, breaking past its $15,000 high estimate.

William Wendt (1865-1946), So Lone a Lake (Malibou Lake, CA), 1940. Oil on canvas, 25 x 30¼ in. Courtesy John Moran Auctioneers. Estimate: $20/$30,000 SOLD: $53,125

Monrovia, CA
John Moran Auctioneers
November 15
California and American Fine Art

John Moran Auctioneers curated an impressive selection of fresh-to-the-market works from private collections throughout California, the Southwest and beyond during the fall edition of its biannual California & American Fine Art Auction. The top lot in the November 15 sale was William Wendt’s oil So Lone a Lake (Malibou Lake, CA), painted in 1940. Estimated at $20,000 to $30,000 the piece ultimately sold for $53,125. Other highlights include Ediza Lake, near Mammoth, Eastern Sierras by Edgar Alwin Payne, which realized $34,375 against an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000; Theodore Earl Butler’s Poplar Trees Along the Epte, 1908, that sold for $40,625 (est. $20/30,000); and John Marshall Gamble’s Poppies and Lupine near Sta. Paula, which sold for $34,375 (est. $20/30,000).