As part of a series of auctions that comprise Christie’s American Art Week, the esteemed auction house presents Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collection, featuring major 19th- and 20th-century artworks from the Hudson River School to impressionism and beyond, across two consecutive sales. The evening sale commences at 4 p.m. on January 22, and is followed by a day sale on January 23 at 11 a.m.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910), A Mountain Climber Resting, 1869. Oil on canvas, 10½ x 14½ in. Available in Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collection American Art Evening Sale. Estimate: $1.5/2.5 million
The evening sale will showcase roughly 30 lots that represent the top and most highly valued examples from each category Berry collected. Leading the sale, with an estimate of $1.5 to $2.5 million, is Winslow Homer’s Mountain Climber Resting from 1869. “The scene depicts a contemplative moment overlooking a panoramic view of the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, a location he explored in his works of the late 1860s as tourism developed in the area,” explains Quincie Dixon, associate specialist and head of sale in Christie’s American art department. “The painting was formerly in the collection of the glamorous socialite and art collector Millicent Rogers.”
Other highlights in the evening portion of the sale include a tempera, gold leaf and pencil on three panels by Charles E. Prendergast (1863-1948). Executed in 1937, Dixon notes that Screen (est. $600/800,000) is a rare work that not only underscores Prendergast’s skill as an artist and craftsman, but also Berry’s “refined eye for quality works across media.”
Charles E. Prendergast (1863-1948), Screen, 1937. Tempera, gold leaf and pencil on three incised gessoed panels, each panel: 56 x 20 in. Available in Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collection American Art Evening Sale. Estimate: $600/800,000
Other highly anticipated paintings include Albert Bierstadt’s Mirror Lake (Yosemite Valley, Sunset), an example of his iconic, sublime Western landscapes, and Robert Spear Dunning’s post-Civil War still life Straw Hat with Cherries. Dixon also points to Robert Pratt’s The Young Connoisseur and Louis Moeller’s Another Investment as significant in the context of Berry as a collector. Both “are kind of autobiographical scenes in Max’s collection,” explains Dixon. “The former depicts a child browsing art and the latter an older collector whose walls are teeming with paintings.
“Max immersed himself in the world of collecting and developed an impressive level of connoisseurship across a variety of categories,” Dixon continues. “His genuine interest in and passion for collecting is palpable through the sheer quality and rarity of the works he selected…which underscores his pursuit for a full understanding and appreciation of the breadth of American art history.”
Maurice Brazil Prendergast (1859-1924), Still Life with Fruit and Flowers, circa 1910-13. Oil on canvas. Available in Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collection American Art Day Sale. Estimate: $60/80,000
The day sale and a concurrent online sale will feature another 140 lots collectively that provide collectors with the opportunity acquire examples by slightly more obscure artists such as Fidelia Bridges (1835-1924) and Charles Ethan Porter, whose works Berry collected in depth. Known best for her delicate renderings of naturalistic scenes like the present piece, Bridges’ Birds in a Marsh Landscape is expected to fetch between $25,000 and $35,000. Another work of note in the Day Sale is Maurice Brazil Prendergast’s impressionistic piece Still Life with Fruit and Flowers (est. $60/80,000) from circa 1910-13.
Fidelia Bridges (1835-1924), Birds in a Marsh Landscape, 1873. Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in. Available in Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collection American Art Day Sale. Estimate: $25/35,000
“Christie’s American Art Week each January brings together the finest examples of historical American folk and fine art available on the market,” adds Dixon. “It is only fitting that in celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary that we bring some of the finest collections ever assembled to auction, as well as some of the rarest and most historically significant objects to commemorate the occasion.” —
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