Fresh Bidders

New collectors and high registration marked a successful Scottsdale Art Auction

Propelled by active bidding and new bidders, Scottsdale Art Auction achieved more than $10.5 million during its April 12 and 13 sale in Arizona. The auction, held over two sessions, also achieved a 97 percent sell-through rate, which is exceptionally high by any auction standards.

Tom Lovell (1909-1997), Cottonwood Gazette. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Estimate: $200/300,000 SOLD: $339,300The top lot was illustrator-turned-artist Tom Lovell’s narratively rich painting Cottonwood Gazette, which featured three Native American riders trying to decipher a pictogram from an opposing tribe on a tree. The work, which exemplifies Lovell’s fondness for storytelling within the Old West, was estimated at $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $339,000. The work, which was the cover of the April issue of our sister publication Western Art Collector, also came with a small study showing an early version of the painting.

John Ford Clymer (1907-1989), Clearing the Palo Duro. Oil on canvas, 24 x 48 in. Estimate: $175/275,000 SOLD: $304,200A Lovell friend, John Clymer, scored the second and third best-selling lots at the April sale. His Clearing the Palo Duro sold for $304,000, surpassing the high estimate of $275,000 with room to spare. Trading the Sweetwater, with a high estimate of $120,000, sold for $292,000 after frantic bidding drove the piece to higher than twice its estimate.

Nicolai Fechin’s master portrait Carmelita, which hung for a lengthy period at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, sold for $292,000, just missing its low estimate of $300,000.

Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), A Bronc Twister. Bronze, 17¾ in. Estimate: $200/300,000 SOLD: $222,300

Other artists with top-selling pieces include Eanger Irving Couse, Birger Sandzén, Joseph Henry Sharp and Maynard Dixon. In the sculpture category, Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, both cited as the most iconic Western artists, scored huge sales with bronzes. Remington’s sculpture The Cheyenne (est. $100/150,000) sold for $128,000, and Russell’s A Bronc Twister (est. $200/300,000) sold for $222,000.

Birger Sandzén (1871-1954), Summer in the Mountains. Oil on canvas, 60 x 80 in. Estimate: $250/350,000 SOLD: $280,800

“There were many things in this weekend’s auction that stand out to me,” says Brad Richardson, partner of the Scottsdale Art Auction. “First of all, we saw many new faces in the room who were quite active in the sale. Secondly, our online bidding was higher than it has ever been and, lastly, we sold 99 percent of the lots during the first session and 97 percent overall. The market for historic and contemporary Western art is as strong as it’s ever been, and we were thrilled to bring so many quality pieces to auction this year.”