John Marin (1870-1953), Lobster Boat, Cape Split, Maine, 1938. Oil on canvas, 22 x 28 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘Marin 38’. Estimate: $600/800,000 SOLD: $1,925,500

The day began with a single-owner sale, Modern American Masterworks from the Ted Shen Collection, which totaled $12,124,930 in a white glove affair. Charles Sheeler’s Precisionist watercolor, Home Sweet Home, was acquired by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum added Ashcan School artist John Sloan’s Cornelia Street to its permanent collection. John Marin’s Lobster Boat, Cape Split, Maine led the Shen Collection sale, realizing $1,925,500. Other highlights of the sale include Arthur G. Dove’s Through a Frosty Moon, which topped out at $1,744,000, and a landscape by Georgia O’Keeffe, Lavender & Green Hill—Ghost Ranch, that realized $1,071,000. Marsden Hartley’s seminal abstract composition from 1916 to 1917, Trixie, went for $1,008,000.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Lavender & Green Hill—Ghost Ranch, 1935. Oil on board, 8 x 13½ in., signed with initials ‘OK’ in artist’s star device and inscribed with title on a piece of the original backing. Estimate: $600/800,000 SOLD: $1,071,000

“Ted Shen’s commitment to collecting the best of American modernism, especially by artists in the circle of Alfred Stieglitz, resonated with a broad spectrum of collectors, driving strong results and remarkable sell through,” says Tylee Abbott, head of American art at Christie’s. “This 100 percent sold, ‘white glove’ auction is a testament to Mr. Shen’s eye and the growing appreciation for this era in our nation’s artistic history.”

Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893-1967), Haunted Twilight, 1957. Mixed media on paper laid down on board, 17½ x 22 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘CEB/1957’; dated and inscribed with title in verso. Estimate: $250/350,000 SOLD: $655,200

The day continued with a strong various-owner auction, Modern American Art, which made $14,365,202 with a 93 percent sell-through rate and produced the most expensive lot of the day, Milton Avery’s Woman by the Sea, which sold for $1,986,000. Other standout results included Edward Hopper’s 1942 watercolor, Four Dead Trees, which fetched $1,502,000; Nicolai Fechin’s Cesarita in Violet, which garnered $1,134,000; and John Marin’s New York Abstraction, which went for $913,500. Head of sale Caroline Seabolt says, “We are thrilled to see such strong results in our inaugural Modern American Art sales, which realized our strongest sell-through rate by lot since the 1990s. Engagement from new and existing clients as well as strong institutional participation realized exceptional prices for our consignors, with more than 55 percent of lots selling above the high estimate.”