Classic Americana

Rockwell, Leyendecker and Parrish lead Heritage Auctions’ $8.3 million fall sale

Heritage Auctions’ November 15 American Art Signature Auction broke numerous auction records, bringing in a total of $8.2 million in sales. Chief among the signature sale was a collection of 25 works from the Boy Scouts of America Settlement Trust, which hammered at $3,715,500.

“We were honored to present this museum-caliber collection, which not only celebrates the artistry of Norman Rockwell and other luminaries of the Golden Age but also embodies the rich cultural heritage at the core of our mission as America’s largest auction house,” says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage’s senior vice president of American art.

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Homecoming, 1961. Oil on canvas, 44 x 33 in., signed lower right: ‘Norman / Rockwell’. Property from the BSA Settlement Trust, Sold for the Benefit of Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse. SOLD: $843,750

Among the highlights in the BSA Trust collection were five works by Norman Rockwell, whose collaboration with the Boy Scouts of America lasted for 64 years. To Keep Myself Physically Strong, published in 1964 in the Boy Scouts of America Calendar and on the February 1964 cover of Boys’ Life magazine, achieved $1.1 million. In addition, his 1961 painting Homecoming sold for $843,750; Boy and Dogs, New Puppies (1958) sold for $781,250; and his 1972 charcoal study We Thank Thee, O’ Lord reached $175,000.

Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Fisk Tire advertisement, 1919. Oil on paper laid on board, 24 x 52½ in. SOLD: $1,156,250

J.C. Leyendecker’s Weapons for Liberty, created for a Saturday Evening Post cover published in 1918, sold for $312,500.

Auction records include William Arthur Smith’s oil on canvas National Archives, which sold for $45,000; Remington Schuyler’s 1922 triptych Indian in Canoe at $18,750; and Joseph Csatari’s 1978 painting Scouting Through the Years, which achieved $47,500.

Outside of the BSA offerings, the November sale saw major success with works by Maxfield Parrish, John Singer Sargent, Ernie Barnes, Carl Rungius and more. —