Solid Sales

Freeman’s achieves nearly $4 million in record-breaking American Art Week auctions

Across three consecutive sales, Freeman’s American Art Week reached $3,908,835—testament to the strength of the market for fine 20th-and 21st-century paintings, particularly for women artists and Pennsylvania Impressionist works.

William Herbert Dunton (1878–1936), Grizzly Bear. Oil on board, 103/8 x 83/8 in., signed bottom right: “Dunton”; on reverse: pencil titled. Estimate: $30/50,000 SOLD: $302,400

Held December 4, 2022, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists set new auction records for multiple artists, including Bo Bartlett, whose monumental 2015 canvas The Promised Land led the sale at $352,800. William Herbert Dunton’s Grizzly Bear followed closely at $302,400, a remarkable result that exceeded the painting’s pre-sale high estimate by six times—the result of heated bidding among nearly a dozen collectors.

Charles Burchfield (1893–1967), The Garden Path. Watercolor, pen, colored crayon and pencil on paper, 11¾ x 91/8 in., signed bottom left: artist’s monogram; dated bottom left: ‘1917’. Estimate: $40/60,000 SOLD: $119,700

Sale prices likewise exceeded their estimates for landscapes by Edith Lucille Howard and Susette Keast, breaking records for the two Philadelphia Ten painters. Venetian Canal (Ponte dei Bareteri), an Italian scene by Jane Peterson, another woman artist who captured the attention of collectors, sold for $107,100.

Works by the coveted Pennsylvania Impressionists continue to shine in the market, with Edward Willis Redfield’s Winter Brook leading the selection at $151,200, and winter scenes by Walter Elmer Schofield and John Fulton Folinsbee likewise outperforming their estimates. American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists also featured fine works by Daniel Garber, George William Sotter, and Robert Spencer, whose Courtyard at Noon achieved $63,000.

Emma Fordyce MacRae (1887–1974), Stelka, 1929. Oil on canvas 36 x 32 in., signed bottom left: ‘EMMA FORDYCE MAC RAE’; stamped on reverse ‘The Estate of the Artist’; inscribed on stretcher and frame reverse: artist. Housed in a Richard Kuehne frame (son of Max Kuehne). Estimate: $10/15,000 SOLD: $69,300

A Beautiful Reality: The Fine Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Rifkin, held December 5, featured an impressive 94 percent sell-through rate and was led by Charles Burchfield’s The Garden Path, which achieved $119,700, nearly doubling its pre-sale high estimate. Burchfield’s Country Church in June (Country Churchyard) likewise exceeded pre-sale estimates to achieve $66,150. The Rifkin Collection also featured record-breaking results, including the $37,800 sale of Carl Sprinchorn’s The Blue Ice Forest, which set an auction record for works by Sprinchorn.

Edward Willis Redfield (1869–1965), Winter Brook, ca. late 1920s. Oil on canvas, 32 x 26 in., signed bottom left: ‘W.E. REDFIELD’. Estimate: $120/180,000 SOLD: $151,200

American Art Week saw robust overall interest in Ashcan School artists like Everett Shinn, whose winter scene Philadelphia Docks sold for $113,400.

On December 6, the week’s final auction, Collect: American Art, was also led by a Bo Bartlett canvas, Tar Man Study, which sold for $23,940, with Louis Aston Knight’s Canal View Through Gate and Paul Sawyier’s Riverscape both soaring past their pre-sale estimates to achieve $20,160 and $19,530, respectively.

Susette Inloes Schultz Keast (1892–1932), Steeplechase and Steel Piers, Atlantic City, ca. 1926. Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in, signed bottom right: ‘Susette Keast’; inscribed on bottom stretcher on reverse: artist and ‘Steel Pier’. Estimate: $60/100,000 SOLD: $75,600

“This week’s auctions broke a series of records for individual artists, from Susette Keast to Bo Bartlett,” says Alasdair Nichol, chairman and head of Freeman’s fine art department. “We’re honored to have brought important single-owner collections to market in these sales, and we continue to see the impressive results of bringing such focused, narrative-driven collections to market.”