Enduring Allure

Works by the Wyeth family steal the show at Bonham’s American Art sale

Although all bets were placed on Norman Rockwell’s 1940 oil, A Scout is Loyal, to be the star of Bonham’s November American Art sale. After all, the Rockwell painting was on the market for the first time since 2013 when it sold for just over $4 million in the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction. But when the auction closed, the top lot went to N.C. Wyeth’s Self-portrait in Top Hat and Cape from 1927 when it sold for $508,500.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Self-portrait in Top Hat and Cape, ca. 1927. Oil on canvas. 40½ x 36½ in. Estimate: $400/$600,000 SOLD: $508,500

The Wyeths, N.C. and Andrew, dominated the sale, with N.C.’s 1905 oil Hungry, but Stern, on the Depot Platform (The Imitation Bad Man) achieving the second top lot when it sold for $381,500, slightly shy of its high estimate of half a million.

The Wyeth sweep was briefly interrupted by the sale of Ernie Barnes’ 1972 acrylic The Native Gift, when it fetched $330,700. The piece, depicting an elongated Black figure slam-dunking a basketball into the net is emblematic of the painter’s style and movement-oriented compositions. Barnes, who was also a professional football player, actor and author, is seeing increasing demand in the market, with his most famous work, The Sugar Shack, selling for $15.3 million at a Christie’s sale in May 2022.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Hungry, but Stern, on the Depot Platform (The Imitation Bad Man), 1905. Oil on canvas. 32¼ x 26¼ in. Estimate: $300/500,000 SOLD: $381,500

After the Barnes, the Wyeths took the next three lots with The Gam by Andrew going for $203,700, Untitled (View of Kelp Beds, Port Clyde) by N.C., far exceeding its high estimate of $30,000 when it went to the highest bidder for $152,900, followed by another Andrew Wyeth, Island Dawn which achieved a little over $150,000.

The remainder of the top 10 lots were works by Paul Cadmus, whose Winter, Version #2 achieved $140,200, Robert Henri and John R. Grabach, whose paintings each sold for $89,400, and Anne Mary Robertson “Grandma Moses,” whose Sugaring Off from 1945 more than doubled its high estimate at $61,440. Overall, Bonhams’ November American Art sale achieved $3.4 million with 76 percent sold by lot. —