By Greg Smith

NEW YORK CITY — In a sale featuring a selection of notorious American artists, Sotheby’s May 16, 2016 American Art auction hammered down at $27,132,500. The sale achieved a sell thru rate of 72% by lot.

The auction featured 65 lots with 48 artists represented including John Singer Sargent, Norman Rockwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, Milton Avery, Jamie Wyeth, Thomas Wilmer Dewing and others.

The combined top three lots of the sale, two John Singer Sargents and a Norman Rockwell, grossed over $15,600,000, topping half of the sale’s total revenue.

Sargent, who accounted for four works in the sale, continues to bring in strong numbers against a worrisome market. Three out of four of his works sold above high estimate, with just one going in between the uprights.

Keep an eye on our continued coverage of the American Art sales throughout the week.

John Singer Sargent

The top lot of the sale was a John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925) 1886 oil on canvas entitled “Poppies (A Study of Poppies for “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”).” The lot achieved $ 6,858,000 against a $ 4/$ 6,000,000 estimate.

Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978) achieved the second highest lot by sale price in the auction coming in at $ 4,730,000 against a $ 4/$ 6,000,000 estimate. This work, entitled “Road Block (Bulldog Blocking Truck; Traffic Conditions)”, is a highly profiled work projecting an emotional and lighthearted feeling that Rockwell so excellently captured. Rockwell staked out two works in the sale, the other, “Hobo and Dog (Tramp and Dog), failed to find a buyer at a $ 1.5/$ 2,500,000 estimate.

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

A Thomas Wilmer Dewing (American, 1851-1938) oil on canvas brought $ 1,810,000, falling below a $ 2/$ 3,000,000 estimate. “The White Birch” is one of a group of large-scale landscapes Dewing painted while in the artists’ colony of Cornish, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Maria summered from 1895 to 1905.

Jamie Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth (American, b. 1946), one of three living artists in the sale, finished well above the $ 3/$ 500,000 estimate, hammering down at $ 1,690,000. The work, entitled “Pumpkinhead- Self-Portrait”, is a 30 inch square oil on canvas, completed in 1972. Wyeth was elected to the esteemed National Academy of Design in New York in 1969 at the age of 23. The Academy requires all members to submit a self-portrait as part of the induction process, and Wyeth entered “Pumpkinhead” upon its completion in 1972. Reflecting on the process, he remarked, “I didn’t want to do myself in a self-portrait, but I love pumpkins. It’s the sinisterness, the Halloween I’ve always loved. It’s a little bit edgy. So I did it and of course they were furious and rejected it”

Maxfield Parrish

This Maxfield Parrish (American, 1870-1966) oil on masonite, appropriately named “Winter Sunshine”, depicts a radiating winter scene of the artists New England home. The painting brought $ 850,000, comfortably over the pre-sale estimate of $ 4/$ 600,000.

John George Brown

John George Brown (American, 1831-1913) came in above the $ 3/$ 500,000 estimate at $ 670,000 with an oil on canvas entitled “Our Gang.” The large scale 1894 painting depicts a raucous group of boys parading through the streets en masse as onlookers take notice and a concerned mother holds her boy close so as to not get caught up in the revelry.