Big Names on the Block

Bonhams New York hosts its fall sale featuring an impressive array of historic American Art

November 7, 2023

Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
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Collectors will not want to miss Bonhams’ fall sale which brings works by some of the most sought-after names in historic American art to the block on November 7. Beginning at 2 p.m., both online and in person at their New York location, the auction features roughly 90 lots by artists that include Martin Johnson Heade, Childe Hassam, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Mary Cassatt, George Tooker, Andrew Wyeth, Wolf Kahn and Ernie Barnes.

Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) High Aspirations, 1971, 36 x 18 in. Estimate: $500/700,000

“We have a great selection of works from the late 19th century to the late 20th century to offer this season,” says Aaron Anderson, Bonhams associate specialist of American art. “We are also thrilled to be offering paintings from the William Dana Lippman collection. Mr. Lippman was a phenomenal collector and the paintings from the collection we are offering this season speak to both his eye for quality and great appreciation of American art.”

Leading the sale is Ernie Barnes’ High Aspirations with a high estimate of $700,000. Painted in 1971 and one of Barnes’ most recognizable “peach basket” scenes, the piece is one of the artist’s most prized works and is one of the most widely reproduced open edition prints. High Aspirations inspired numerous similar works that feature his El Greco-styled figures playing basketball. The piece was part of his landmark 1972 exhibition, The Beauty of the Ghetto, and is one of a series of works that explore aesthetics of Black America, and the challenges and beauty of life in “the ghetto.”

George Tooker (1920-2011), Sleepers IV, 1978, 12½ x 243⁄8 in. Estimate: $200/300,000

A piece of particular note for Anderson, and one of his personal favorites, is George Tooker’s Sleepers IV “given how limited Tooker’s iconic Sleepers series is and given Tooker’s overall artistic output in his career.”

Estimated to achieve between $200,000 and $300,000, the piece is a quintessential example of the artist’s oft-revisited depictions of psychologically arresting figures who are neither asleep nor awake, but rather in spiritually profound, meditative trances. Painted in 1978, Sleepers IV is the culmination of decades of experimentation and refinement, resulting in the most compelling and sought-after work in his metaphysical explorations of the liminal state.

Another anticipated lot in the sale is Martin Johnson Heade’s Point Judith, Rhode Island, which is expected to fetch $250,000 on the high end. Painted in the 1850s, the piece is a stellar example from his celebrated series of stormy coastal and marsh scenes at twilight. The painting demonstrates Heade’s mastery of the tonalist style, creating an evocative mood through the rich palette, subdued scene of sailboats in the distance and a lone figure who appears to drag a net, perhaps to find shelter ahead of the gathering storm.

Andrew Wyeth’s White Dress is also a highlight of the sale, estimated to bring in between $150,000 to $200,000. The piece is a prime example from Wyeth’s series depicting his neighbor in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Helga “Testy” Testorf. From 1971 to 1985, Wyeth produced 240 works of the model, in tempera, drybrush, watercolor and pencil. White Dress is unique in that it contains two of Wyeth’s most beloved subjects—Helga and windows.

Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914), Across the Common, ca. 1894, 445⁄8 x 32¼ in. Estimate: $40/60,000

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), White Dress, ca. 1980, 15 x 235⁄8 in. Estimate: $150/250,000

One of the earliest works Childe Hassam produced on the Isles of Shoals, a grouping of small islands and tidal ledges off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire, will be up for auction in the fall sale. Executed in 1886, White Island Light is one in a small series of works that Hassam created in his island haven before departing for Paris that same year. The piece is valued between $50,000 and $70,000. Hassam is believed to have gifted the present work to American writer, Celia (née Laighton) Thaxter (1835-1894) before it descended into the collection of her brother, Cedric Laighton (1839-1899) in 1894 upon her death. Both the Heade and the Hassam are part of the William Lippman Collection.

American impressionist Frederick Carl Frieseke is best known for his paintings of young women at leisure in the lush landscapes of Normandy. Sun Spots, which has the same estimated value as the Hassam, is a remarkable example of one such works and demonstrates his finesse with rich textures and light. Dappled sunlight pours through the canopy of trees casting sublime patterns of light and shadow throughout the composition. Frieseke’s technique to employ sun spots as a method to highlight his subjects is one that he repeats in numerous works, but in the present work, Frieseke’s technique is rendered so effectively that the sun spots themselves become a primary subject.

Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939), Sun Spots, ca. 1926, 25¾ x 32 in. Estimate: $50/70,000

One final lot of note is Charles Sprague Pearce’s Across the Common, which was executed during the last decade of the 19th century, when landscapes and figurative works set in the provinces of France saw growing popularity with American collectors. His rendering of a young women in a peasant dress progressing down a dirt path through a field, walking stick in hand, demonstrates his prowess as one of the great 19th-century American painters working in France.