John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), Portrait of a Wealthy Boston Brahmin Writing, ca. 1770. Oil on linen, OS: 44 x 35 in., SS: 35 x 26 in., unsigned, label verso from Comienus Fine Arts of Boston. Courtesy Thomaston Place Auction Galleries. Estimate: $7/10,000 SOLD: $21,250
Thomaston, ME
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries
August 23-25
Summer Grandeur
$4 million
Collectors from more than 60 countries registered to participate in the Summer Grandeur sale at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, which achieved a total of $4 million in sales this past August. A noteworthy piece in the summer sale was a portrait by John Singleton Copley titled Portrait of a Wealthy Boston Brahmin Writing that achieved $21,250 against a presale estimate of $7,000 to $10,000. In addition, a beautiful 6-by-4-inch mountain landscape by Mary Bartow Cole, daughter of Thomas Cole, sold for $13,750, an astonishing 17 times more than its high estimate of $800.
Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), The Magician, 1956. Oil on Masonite, 7¾ x 10 in., signed ‘Abercrombie’ and dated (lower right). Property from the Estate of Charles H. Reich Sr. Courtesy Freeman’s | Hindman. Estimate: $70/90,000 SOLD: $469,900
Chicago, IL
Freeman’s | Hindman
September 22
For the Love of Barnes, The Collection of Dr. Richard J. Wattenmaker
$618,681
Freeman’s | Hindman’s sale featuring the collection of Dr. Richard J. Wattenmaker achieved a total of $618,681, including buyer’s premium. A major highlight of American art in the fall sale, a watercolor on paper by Maurice Prendergast titled Women in Landscape, sold for $31,750, while William Glackens’ still life of three apples splashing in water sold for $19,050. In addition, French artist Jean Hugo’s oil and gouache Le Peintre dans son Atelier (Autoportrait), painted in 1929, achieved a solid $44,450.
Maurice Prendergast (1858-1924), Women in Landscape. Watercolor on paper. Courtesy Freeman’s | Hindman. SOLD: $31,750
Chicago, IL
Freeman’s | Hindman
September 25
Post War and Contemporary Art
Leading the Post War and Contemporary Art sale this September was a captivating 1956 surrealist painting by Gertrude Abercrombie titled The Magician. The painting, featuring a levitating woman and a black cat, demolished its $90,000 high estimate when it sold for $469,900. The sale fueled an intense bidding war via phone from the firm’s Chicago saleroom, marking another record-breaking moment for Abercrombie’s work.
Other American art highlights include Louise Nevelson’s Night Image 1, which sold for $165,100, and Claire Falkenstein’s Untitled (Large Fusion), selling for $95,250.
Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), Untitled (Greenwich Village Street, New York), ca. 1945-46. Oil on canvas. Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries. SOLD: $629,000
New York, NY
Swann Auction Galleries
October 3
African American Art
$3 million
The October 3 African American Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries brought in $3 million in sales and set six auction records. The top lot of the sale was a newly resurfaced impasto painting by Beauford Delaney. After several intense minutes of back-and-forth bidding, the piece ultimately sold for $629,000.
Artist auction records include Suzanne Jackson’s 1972 There is Something Between Us ($281,000), Albert Alexander Smith’s circa 1930 My Bank ($87,500), Timothy Washington’s 1970 engraving on aluminum Silent Majority ($81,250), Nelson Stevens’s 1978 acrylic Uhuru – Nina ($62,500), Don McIlvaine’s 1970 oil Miles Davis ($40,000), and Ben Hazard’s Gum Drops, a 1972 molded and painted acrylic that sold for $30,000.
Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908), Morning at Narragansett - The Turn of the Tide, 1871. Oil on canvas, 20½ x 41 in., signed and dated. Courtesy Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Estimate: $150/200,000 SOLD: $337,500
Milford, CT
Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers
October 24
American Art and American Impressionism
$3 million
Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneer’s 19th-century American Art and American Impressionism sale saw big results, totaling more $3 million with 80 percent of lots sold. A new world auction record was set for Alfred T. Bricher at $337,500 for his painting Morning at Narragansett - The Turn of the Tide, featuring a family spending time on the beach.
Other strong results for 19th-century American art include a George Inness landscape from 1875 that sold for $101,600, a large William Bradford in remarkably good condition that sold for $93,750, and an autumn landscape by Jasper Francis Cropsey for $81,250.
Paul Sample (1896-1974), The Horse Show, South Woodstock, Vermont, ca. 1949. Oil on canvas, 313/8 x 44¼ in. Courtesy Grogan & Co. Estimate: $50/70,000 SOLD: $118,750
Boston, MA
Grogan & Co.
November 2
Fine Art Auction
$1.53 million
The 250-lot Fine Art Auction at Grogan & Co. offered fresh-to-market 19th- and 20th-century American artwork, achieving over $1.5 million with a sell-through rate of 90 percent. New England artist Paul Sample’s The Horse Show, South Woodstock, Vermont attracted strong phone and online bidding, finally settling at $118,750, a record at auction for Sample’s verdant Vermont views. Another view of the Green Mountain State, Eric Sloane’s Vermont Hill Farm, soared past its estimates, selling for $40,625.
Other prominent artists with successful results include Guy Carleton Wiggins, Albert Bierstadt, George Inness and Clyde Aspevig.
Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), The Rattlesnake, 1897. Oil on board, 12¼ x 18½ in. Courtesy Coeur d’Alene Art Auction. Estimate: $250/350,000 SOLD: $1,028,500
Coeur d’Alene, ID
Coeur d’Alene Art Auction
November 9
Live Online Auction
$3.8 million
The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction concluded its 2024 Western and American art calendar with its live online auction, realizing over $3.8 million in sales with a 99 percent sales rate. The mark represents the highest-grossing total for a Western and American art online auction and brings Coeur d’Alene’s total 2024 sales to over $24.6 million.
After highly competitive bidding, Charles M. Russell’s The Rattlesnake emerged as the star of the November 9 sale, shattering its presale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000 when it sold for $1,028,500.
Catharine Carter Critcher (1868-1964), Self Portrait. Oil on canvas, 38¾ x 31¼ in. Courtesy Santa Fe Art Auction. Estimate: $12/18,000 SOLD: $30,750
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Art Auction
November 8-9
30th Anniversary Signature Live Sale
$2.5 million
Santa Fe Art Auction’s 30th Anniversary Signature Live Sale saw a full house and robust bidding activity on the 450 lots offered. The auction landed total sales of nearly $2.5 million, with a remarkable sell-through rate of 94 percent. Session One, held on November 8, featured a selection of Gene Kloss artist proofs and drawings, followed by highlights from Gustave Baumann and Edward Curtis. Session Two on November 9 featured Native pottery, textiles and basketry, as well as a stand-out collection of Western paintings and bronzes by the Cowboy Artists of America from the Patsy P. and William L. Hutchison Collection.
Major lots include an oil by Dorothy Eugenie titled Brett Indian Women Watching Horse Race (est. $10/20,000) that sold for $43,050, and a self-portrait by Catharine Carter Critcher that sold for $30,750 against a presale estimate of $12,000 to $18,000.
Lynne Mapp Drexler (1928-1999), Expectant Passage, 1962. Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in. Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries. SOLD: $57,500
Monrovia, CA
John Moran Auctioneers
November 12
California & American Fine Art
California-based John Moran Auctioneers recently held its California & American Fine Art sale on November 12 at noon. Leading the sale was Joseph Christian Leyendecker’s circa 1910 Lucky Bag Girl, soaring past its $20,000 high estimate for a total of $139,700. The auction had a number of other noteworthy results as well, among them George E. Hughes’ Screaming Child On Santa’s Knee at $57,150, James Taylor Harwood’s Poplars at $44,450, and Edgar Alwin Payne’s Trees - California at $22,860.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951), Lucky Bag Girl, ca. 1910. Oil on canvas, 20½ x 18 in. Courtesy John Moran Auctioneers. Estimate: $15/20,000 SOLD: $139,700
New York, NY
Swann Auction Galleries
November 12
Modern & Post-War Art
$457,995
The November 12 Modern & Post-War Art auction at Swann Galleries reached $457,995 in total sales with a 71 percent sell-through rate. The 139-lot sale was dominated by abstract artists. A vibrant oil on canvas by Lynne Mapp Drexler titled Expectant Passage was the star of the sale, selling for $57,500. The abstract painting features varying geometric shapes in bursts of bright oranges, pinks, blues and greens.
Also of note, Milton Resnick’s acrylic Hawkeye #2 and Sonia Sekula’s gouache-and-ink paper collage XI each sold for $11,250. —
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