One of the most important private collections of Western art will be offered by Christie’s on January 20 and 21. The William Koch Collection is filled with “masterpieces among masterpieces,” says Tylee Abbott, head of American art at Christie’s, who notes that the sale is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own major works of the American West. 

“Mr. Koch’s collection is one of the greatest well-known and well-documented Western art collections ever assembled. His commitment to the genre is long lasting and goes back decades. It is truly one of the most storied collections in Western art, the likes of which we will never see come to the market again,” Abbott says. “This is a personal highlight of my career to see these materials, at this high caliber, come to auction. Christie’s has certainly had some incredible single-owner sales in the past, including the Knoblock and T. Boone Pickens collections, but nothing of this stature has ever occurred.”

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), Coming to the Call, ca. 1905. Oil on canvas, 27 x 40 in., signed lower left: ‘Frederic Remington.’ Estimate: $6/8 million

 

The sale will take place over two sessions on January 20 and 21 at Christie’s New York City headquarters. The January 20 sale will be an evening event, followed by a “high noon” sale on January 21. Estimates for the sale start at $50 million, which would make it the most successful sale of Western art ever recorded. 

Titled Visions of the West: The William I. Koch Collection, the 76-lot sale has many major highlights, though none as important as the works by Frederic Remington, who will be represented in the sale by 16 lots, including five bronzes. One of the standout lots is the marvelous 1905 painting Coming to the Call, which shows a knife-like protrusion of land that slices through a sunset seen in the sky and in reflection in the still waters of a lake. In the center of the painting is a moose seen only in silhouette. A hunter, his gun raised, hides in a canoe on the dark bank of the water’s edge. The painting, considered one of the great Remington masterpieces, was not only in the exhibition Frederic Remington: The Color of Night—which traveled to the National Gallery of Art, Gilcrease Museum and Denver Art Museum in 2003 and 2004—but it was on the cover of the exhibition’s catalog. 

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), Argument with the Town Marshall, ca. 1905. Oil on canvas, 27 x 40 in., signed lower right: ‘Frederic Remington.’ Estimate: $4/6 million

 

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), Coming Through the Rye, modeled in 1902, cast by 1916. Bronze with dark green patina, 28 in., inscribed: ‘Copyright by./Frederic Remington’ and with foundry mark: ‘ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-’ and inscribed with ‘No. 11.’ Estimate: $4/6 million

 

The work is a masterpiece today, but it was also identified as such in 1904. “That Mr. Remington can get away from his ochres and ambers and siennas, he shows in a gorgeous sunset glow, in which a big moose at the edge of a lake is outlined against a resplendent sky,” wrote the New York Evening Post in 1905. Coming to the Call is estimated at $6 million to $8 million. 

Another work in the sale from The Color of Night is An Argument with the Town Marshal, which shows Remington confidently pushing his nocturne’s to their utter breaking point, and yet still holding his delicate sense for color and detail together amid his moonlit action scene. The work appears across from Coming to the Call in The Color of Night’s catalog. An Argument with the Town Marshal is estimated at $4 million to $6 million. 

The Remington bronzes include a 1916 edition of his iconic Coming Through the Rye (est. $4/6 million) that is the 11th cast of the timeless piece, and The Horse Thief (est. $3/5 million), of which there are only three casts. “This speaks to the remarkable rarity of this piece: only three were created and two are in museums. This is the only opportunity to acquire one,” Abbott says. “Remington is and was the titan of the West. And works like this show how his work was incredibly energized, and also theatrical, adventuresome and compelling.”

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), The Horse Thief, modeled in 1907. Bronze with brown patina, 27 in., inscribed: ‘Copyright 1907 by/Frederic Remington’ and stamped with foundry mark along base: ‘ROMAN BRONZE WORKS/N.Y.’ Estimate: $3/5 million

 

Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), Dust, 1925. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in., signed and dated lower left: ‘CM Russell/1925’ with artist’s skull device. Estimate: $5/7 million

 

Often paired with Remington pieces are works by Charles M. Russell and this sale offers several important examples from the artist. One is the 1925 oil painting Dust (est. $5/7 million), showing a grouping of Native American riders on top of a hill bathed in a golden sunset, and the 1910 oil The Sun Worshippers (est. $4/6 million), which shows a Native American rider raising his arms to caress the last rays of light of the day. Both are 36 inches wide. Russells at that size, in oil, are rare.

Also available is N.C. Wyeth’s 1916 oil Wild Bill Hickok at the Cards (est. $1/1.5 million) showing a tense game of cards. The Brandywine Museum of Art, which includes the Wyeth home and studio, notes an alternate title: The man with the hatful of cards picked a hand out of his reserves, put the hat on his head and raised Bill a hundred. Bill came back with a raise of two hundred, and as the other covered it he shoved a pistol into his face observing: “I’m calling the hand that is in your hat.” The image was one of 10 paintings made for the Hearst Magazine series “The Great West That Was – Buffalo Bill’s Life Story,” by William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who actually witnessed the scene in the painting and is depicted in the top right.

Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874), The Buffalo Hunt, ca. 1850. Oil on canvas, 30 x 50 in. Estimate: $2/3 million 

 

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Wild Bill Hickok at the Cards, 1916. Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in., signed and inscribed: ‘N.C. Wyeth/to Elva Corson/1921/from/ N.C.W.’ Estimate $1/1.5 million

 

Other lots include Alfred Jacob Miller’s 1850s oil The Buffalo Hunt and Albert Bierstadt’s oil Mountain Lake, both quintessential examples from the important American artists who were both active inside and outside the West. Both paintings are estimated separately at $2 million to $3 million. 

Other artists represented include Frank Tenney Johnson, William R. Leigh, James Earle Fraser, Cyrus Dallin, Charles Schreyvogel and others. “It’s a greatest hits everywhere you look,” Abbott says. Many of the high-dollar stars of the sale will be sold during the evening auction on January 20, with many of the works estimated at $1 million or below being offered in the day sale on January 21. A cutoff for $1 million and over is further proof this sale is on another level. —

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