Joint Auction Reports

New York, Los Angeles, Boston

Geoffrey Holder (1930-2014), Carmen, ca. 1960. Oil on board, 47½ x 36 in. Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries. Estimate $15/25,000 SOLD: $120,650

New York, NY
Swann Auction Galleries
African American Art
April 2
$2.6 million
Swann Auction Galleries’ spring African American Art sale reached a solid $2.6 million, with seven auction records being set. Historic highlights include Geoffrey Holder’s Carmen, from around 1960, which achieved a record-setting $120,650 against estimates of $15,000 to $25,000. Actress, choreographer and dancer Carmen de Lavallade was married to Geoffrey Holder until his death in 2014. The portrait is emblematic of the couple’s personal and professional relationship. Also, by Holder was The Family, oil on board, 1958, which brought $35,560, the second highest price for Holder.

Additional 20th-century highlights include Charles White’s oil Woman in Blue (Woman with Folded Arms), 1956 to 1966, which achieved $114,300; Beauford Delaney’s 1964 watercolor Ibiza at $69,850; Romare Bearden’s 1971 Jazz Men, a collage of papers, acrylic and pencil on board at $63,500; and Hughie Lee-Smith’s 1953 oil, which sold for $63,500.

“We were thrilled to see a very active audience of bidders engaged throughout this large auction,” says Nigel Freeman, auction specialist. “There was excitement across modern, post-war and contemporary artists with strong results and high levels of participation.”

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Franz Kline (1910-1962), Harleman. Courtesy Sotheby’s. Estimate:$12/18 million SOLD: $14.4 million

New York, NY
Sotheby’s
The Collection of Robert Mnuchin
May 14
$166.3 million
Sotheby’s May 14 sale was dedicated to a selection of works from the collection of renowned collector, dealer and financier Robert Mnuchin, featuring works by powerhouse artists that Mnuchin championed throughout his lifetime, including Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Jeff Koons. The white-glove auction achieved an astounding $166.3 million in total sales, led by Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Reds, which sold for $85.8 million, besting its $70 million estimate. This is also the second highest price for the artist at auction.

Additional highlights include Kline’s Harleman (est. $12/18 million) that sold for $14.4 million and de Kooning’s Untitled XLII (est. $9/12 million) that sold for $12.4 million.

Artist records were achieved for Kenneth Noland, Ding Shilun, Joseph Yaeger, Yu Nishimur and Florian Krewer, alongside new benchmarks for Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Ed Ruscha and others.

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Oscar Howe (1915-1983), War Dancer, 1961. Casein on paper. Courtesy John Moran Auctioneers. SOLD: $139,700

Los Angeles, CA
John Moran Auctioneers
Art of the American West
April 7
$650,000
More than 400 lots were on offer during the latest Art of the American West auction, which achieved nearly $650,000 in total sales, with an impressive 97 percent sold by lot. Fine art highlights were led by Oscar Howe’s 1961 War Dancer, which sold for $139,700, reinforcing strong demand for the Yanktonai Dakota artist’s bold, modern vision. Kathryn Woodman Leighton’s Weaving in Her Hogan realized $51,300, while Hernando G. Villa’s Wagon Train, 1925, achieved $16,510.

Beyond fine art, the sale also offered a strong selection of decorative and collectible objects, including a monumental Apache pictorial basketry olla, Navajo regional rugs, a Tiffany Studios floor lamp, Rockwood pottery and Stickley furniture. In addition, a 17-lot collection of Bauer pottery drew notable interest from collectors.

John Moran Auctioneers’ next Art of the American West sale is set for Tuesday, June 30.

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Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951), Eiders (Ducks Aflight), 1924. Watercolor, 14 ¾ x 21 ½ in. Courtesy Grogan & Co. SOLD: $137,500

Boston, MA
Grogan & Co.
Fine Art Auction
May 3
$1.7 million
The May edition of Grogan & Co.’s Fine Art Auction achieved a total of $1.7 million with a 96 percent sell-through rate. Momentum built with several successful sales, including a classic farm landscape by Aldro Thompson Hibbard that sold to a local Massachusetts bidder over the phone for $25,000, as well as an Ogden M. Pleissner watercolor landscape that sold for more than ten times its high estimate at $28,125.

The standout of the sale was Frank Weston Benson’s Eiders (Ducks Aflight), which had more than seven phone lines active as bidders vied for the avian seascape. The painting ended up going to a local collector for $137,500. The energy continued with the following lot, an early Aldro Thompson Hibbard work titled The Catboat, which also attracted strong presale interest and competitive phone bidding before selling for $28,125. Further highlights included two works by William Trost Richards that each soared past their presale estimates.

Grogan & Co.’s next Fine Art Auction will take place in the fall on November 15.