Left: Tylee Abbott;  Right: Exterior Christie’s, New York.

Tylee Abbott
Head of Department, American Art
Christie’s New York
As 2024 ends and we move into 2025, we have a lot to be thankful for. For more than a decade now, through economic and political turbulence, the market for historic American art has continued to show enduring strength, and all signs point to that trend continuing. A big part of this is the high quality of the works available in this category across a wide range of styles, movements and genres, and the bedrock passion of the collectors who pursue them. 

Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904), Cattleya Orchid with Two Brazilian Hummingbirds, 1871. Oil on canvas, 13¾ x 18 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘M.J. Heade 1871’. CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. Estimate: $1.2/1.8 million SOLD: $3,438,000

 

In the waning months of 2024, Christie’s saw this strength assert itself in the sub-genre of American impressionism. This is an area that has struggled somewhat over the past decade, but there is extraordinary quality to be found in American impressionist pictures and a tremendous value proposition. The art made by Americans who studied with and worked alongside some of the great names in French impressionism is attractive and important, moving and inspiring, and paints a vibrant picture of an era of change and energy. 

Our dedicated off-season sale in October titled American Atmosphere: An Important Private Collection showed that this genre is resilient and appeals to a wide range of clients, both established and new. When the dust settled, the auction was 95 percent sold by lot and achieved 185 percent of the total low estimate. Impressively, over half of all bidders and buyers were new to the collecting category, with many coming to the sale from around the globe. Paintings at the high-end did extremely well, with the top lot of the sale, Louis Ritman’s Hollyhocks doubling its low estimate to sell for $403,200. Yet, we also had great success at the entry-level with collectors snapping up a fabulous array of pictures offered without reserve. 

Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Afterglow, Green River, Wyoming, 1918. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in., signed with initials in monogram and dated with artist’s thumbprint device lower right: ‘TMoran./1918’. CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. Estimate: $1.2/1.8 million SOLD: $2,228,000

 

Earlier in the year, we continued the ongoing success of our innovative sale strategy of meeting current collectors’ interests by offering separate sales for 19th-Century American Art and 20th-Century Modern Art. This has allowed us to inspire added interest in each area of the market by focusing our offerings, and emphasizing quality and value. Our January sale of 19th Century American & Western Art made the largest total ever for an auction since we switched to this pioneering sale format, earning $13,153,212 with a sell-through rate of 84 percent, and realizing 116 percent by dollar compared to low estimate. The star lot in the 19th-century selection was Martin Johnson Heade’s Cattleya Orchid with Two Brazilian Hummingbirds, which made $3,438,000; and in Western art, Thomas Moran’s Afterglow, Green River, Wyoming, which made $2,228,000. 

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), White Horse, 1955. Oil on canvas, 22 x 30 in., signed and dated: ‘Benton ’55’ and inscribed with title (on the reverse). CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. Estimate: $1.5/2.5 million SOLD: $2,228,000

 

Just three months later, in April, we had the honor of offering Modern American Art, which totaled a touch more than the January sale at $13,286,378, with an 82 percent sell through rate by lot and nearly 100 percent sold by value. Christie’s set a number of records in this sale for artists including Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe, Florine Stettheimer, Henry Fitch Taylor and Charles Goeller. The lead lots were Thomas Hart Benton’s White Horse, which realized $2,228,000, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue Morning Glory, which earned $1,744,000. Another ongoing dynamic that our Modernism sale exhibited, is the ever-growing interest in collecting works by artists overshadowed, whether that’s women artists like Ida O’Keeffe or Stettheimer, or Black artists like Jacob Lawrence, as we saw when offering a superb example of his work in the international 20th-Century Evening Sale last May. 

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Blue Morning Glory, 1934. Oil on canvas, 7 x 7 in., signed with initials ‘OK’; dated ‘34’ and inscribed with title (on original backing). CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. Estimate: $700/1 million SOLD: $1,744,000

 

Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe (1889-1961), Flowers (Gardenias in a Pitcher), 1932. Oil on canvas, 8 x 7 in., signed and dated on the reverse: ‘Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe/1932’. Courtesy Christie’s Images LTD., 2024 Estimate: $25/35,000 SOLD: $302,400

 

The strength we saw across sales this year is simply the result you can achieve when setting up auctions that accurately reflect buyer appetite and seller expectations, in turn creating a healthy environment for collecting. We are also seeing that in our vibrant, private sale program, we have been having great success, especially by matching rare and important pictures with well-established and dedicated collectors, including institutions. The main limit on what we can do is the supply of quality pictures available for sale, and that remains a challenge, especially for masterpiece-quality works of art. Even so, demand remains strong, and that should give potential sellers confidence in the market... 

Louis Ritman (1889-1963), Hollyhocks. Oil on canvas, 31¾ x 31¾ in., signed lower right: ‘L. Ritman’. Courtesy Christie’s Images LTD., 2024. Estimate: $200/300,000 SOLD: $403,200

 

All of us at Christie’s are looking forward to 2025 with the thrill that comes from having wonderful works of art to present, starting with our 19th Century sale at the start of the year, and Modern sale in spring. —

Christie’s New York
20 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020
(212) 636-2000 www.christies.com

Powered by Froala Editor