Earning “best in show” at $339,300 was “Cottonwood Gazette” by Tom Lovell, 1983, oil on canvas, 40 by 30 inches, which was sold alongside an original oil study ($200/300,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Led by robust results in a variety of different collecting categories, Scottsdale Art Auction (SAA) boasted a 97 percent sell-through rate and set several world auction records during its two-day sale, April 12-13. Both historic and contemporary Western art achieved high results over the 406-lot auction, which achieved a strong $10,479,549 overall.
“There were many things in this weekend’s auction that stand out to me,” says Brad Richardson, partner of the Scottsdale Art Auction as well as owner of Legacy Gallery. “First of all, we saw many new faces in the room who were quite active in the sale. Secondly, our online bidding was higher than it has ever been and, lastly, we sold 99 percent of the lots during the first session and 97 percent overall. The market for historic and contemporary Western art is as strong as it’s ever been, and we were thrilled to bring so many quality pieces to auction this year.”
The “historic” works Richardson was referring to are those blue-chip Western American “old masters” — artists working in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century — who created a nascent collecting category in the early Twentieth Century that are still the bread-and-butter of SAA’s sales. Subsequent generations, however, are now coming into their own and an increasing number of them saw works figured in the highest ranks of this auction.
Topping the first day of sales at $105,300 was “Living on the Edge” by Mark Maggiori, 2017, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 inches, signed and dated lower left ($50/75,000).
Exemplifying this was Tom Lovell (1909-1997), an early member of the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA), whose “Cottonwood Gazette” saw the highest price for the weekend. Earning $339,300, it exceeded its $300,000 high estimate. Lovell’s works not only depict Native Americans as a proud people dedicated to their culture and way of life but also as curious and eager to explore and help the ways of visitors to their lands. As the catalog noted, “‘Cottonwood Gazette’ fits squarely into this theme with three Native American riders analyzing carvings in the light bark of a cottonwood tree.” Consigned from a private Texas collection, the painting had been illustrated in Don Hedgpeth and Walt Reed’s The Art of Tom Lovell: An Invitation to History (William Morrow & Co., New York, 1993).
Staking out the second- and third-highest placing results of the event was Lovell’s contemporary, John Ford Clymer (1907-1989). According to the catalog, Clymer painted more than 80 covers for The Saturday Evening Post beginning in 1942. His 1980 oil on canvas composition “Clearing the Palo Duro” depicts a herd of buffalo making a dramatic arrival in the Palo Duro Valley, which was known as the Grand Canyon of Texas. With history in the private Texas collection of Erivan and Helga Haub, it also exceeded expectations when it achieved $304,200. Following closely behind at $292,500 was Clymer’s “Trading Down the Sweetwater,” which had history with the Grand Central Art Galleries of New York City and a private Tulsa, Okla., collection. In both of these paintings, as well as some of his greatest works, the artist’s fascination with rivers is apparent.
Sailing to third overall and $292,500 was “Trading Down the Sweetwater” by John Ford Clymer, oil on board, signed lower left and titled verso, 24 by 35 inches ($90/120,000).
Living artist and current member of CAA, Martin Grelle (b 1954), was represented in the sale by five works. Of these, “Distant Signal” brought the most: $257,400. Though painted in 2015, the work had been included in the Eiteljorg Museum’s 2015 exhibition, “Quest for the West.” The auction catalog noted it included the characteristic and desirable elements of “gorgeous color, a composition that allows for an intriguing narrative, breathtaking scenery and historical accuracy.”
Mark Maggiori (b 1977) is another contemporary Western artist and CAA member whose works have achieved record-setting prices in recent years. SAA offered 10 of his works in this edition, led at $222,300 by “And the Mountains Echoed,” an expansive 2017 composition that included clouds rendered in a billowing, majestic manner. “Living on the Edge,” painted during the same year, brought $105,300, the highest price of the first day of the sale.
Another highlight in the contemporary category was the work of Western still life painter Kyle Polzin (American, b 1974). Polzin had five paintings in the auction that achieved a combined $330,575. Leading the group was “Oak and Amber,” a complex painting of antique liquor bottles and labels, which sold for $93,800 against an estimate of $35/55,000.
“The warm glow of aged whiskey radiates from a collection of half-empty bottles. The play of light and shadow accents the intricate details of each label, weathered by the years. The composition captures a sense of quiet contemplation, inviting viewers to remember bygone moments and the allure of well-aged spirits” was how artist Kyle Polzin described “Oak and Amber,” oil on canvas, 22 by 37 inches, signed lower right. Bidders raised their paddles high, toasting it to $93,600 ($35/55,000).
Leading the Western “Old Masters” was Nicolai Fechin’s (Russian American, 1881-1955) “Carmelita,” which had, in 1967, been included in a monographic exhibition of Fechin’s work at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (now called the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum) in Oklahoma City, Okla. It was subsequently exhibited in 1971 and published in 1975 in Mary N. Balcomb’s Nicolai Fechin (Northland Press, 1975). Provenance to the Hammer Galleries, a private New York City collection and the Biltmore Art Gallery in Scottsdale helped drive interest in the boldly rendered composition that found a new home for $292,500.
Birger Sandzén (Swedish American, 1871-1954) was another foreign-born artist who was irresistible to the lure of the American West. “Summer in the Mountains,” one of two works by the artist in the sale, sold within estimate, for $280,800. Described in the catalog as “massive” (it measured 60 by 80 inches), the painting was first acquired from the artist by John S. Ankeney, the director of the Dallas Fine Art Museum, who later bequeathed it to Bethany College.
Eanger Irving Couse (American, 1866-1936), a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists and its first president, had half a dozen works in the sale. Not surprising for a work by such a prominent Western American artist, “Kachina Doll Maker” had a lengthy provenance that included the H. Lieber Company in Indianapolis, Ind.; Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M.; the Hewlett Bay Park, N.Y., collection of Larry and Utta Kravet; and a Coeur d’Alene Auctions sale in 2014. Publication in E. Irving Couse: 1866-1936 by Nicholas Woloshuk (Santa Fe Village Art Museum, 1976) and inclusion in exhibits in St Louis, Mo.; Indianapolis, Taos, N.M.; and Louisville, Ky., were also among its desirable features and bidders pushed it to $245,700.
Charles M. Russell’s most iconic sculpture, “A Bronc Twister,” was published in Charles M. Russell: The Artist in His Hayday (Gerald Peters Gallery, 1995) and Bronzes of the American West by Patricia Janis Broder (New York, 1973). This edition, cast at the California Art Bronze Foundry in Los Angeles, rose to $222,300 ($200/300,000).
About 70 bronzes were offered across both days. Renowned sculptor Charles M. Russell’s (American, 1864-1926) “A Bronc Twister,” which some scholars consider to be the artist’s most iconic bronze piece, on par with Frederic Remington’s “The Bronco Buster.” Despite the rigidity of the medium, the artist captures a fluidity of motion that denotes his skill. Previously owned by private collectors in both California and Wisconsin, the 19-inch-tall work, which bore the skull mark of the California Art Bronze Foundry, found a new home for $222,300.
Scottsdale Art Auctions’ next sale will take place April 11-12. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, www.scottsdaleartauction.com or 480-945-0225.
