The auction’s top price of $18,450 was achieved by this 70-inch-tall bronze “Franciscans” sculpture by Gib Singleton (1936-2014). Made in 2008, it was edition five of seven and was 31 inches across at its widest ($8/12,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
SANTA FE, N.M. — Santa Fe Art Auction’s New Mexico Now sale was conducted on July 21, during the week of Santa Fe’s annual Spanish Market, which brought in roughly 10,000 to 20,000 attendees this year. Showcasing a combination of folk art and devotional works that exemplify the region’s rich stylistic dialogue and religious history, the sale featured 274 lots. The auction, which set several records for artists, saw “strong bidding activity for many lots on offer, with a sell-through rate of over 90 percent and total sales of nearly $375,000,” Olivia Sherman, the firm’s press and research associate, reported.
“The sale highlighted rare examples of Early American folk art as well as modern works that continue these historic traditions, so most works in this sale sold to knowledgeable regional collectors. However, global bidder interest was high and there were nearly 7,000 registered bidders from over 40 countries.”
In addition to the regional devotional art, large-scale sculpture, Spanish Colonial furniture, textiles, bultos, tins and retablos, Sherman added that the auction “included a fine selection of self-taught and outsider artworks, which has been recently emerging as a prominent new collecting category.”
Rising to the sale-high price of $18,450 was one of eight bronzes by sculptor Gib Singleton on offer. The leading work, Singleton’s 2008 “Franciscans,” was 84⅝ inches tall on its base that was inscribed with the title and artist’s name. Additionally, the group of charitable friars was marked “Singleton” and “5/7” for its edition. The second-highest flier was “Noah,” a 2007 figure standing 29¾ inches tall on its base. This was edition 12 of 99 and bested its $2,500 high estimate to achieve $12,160.
Sold together, these stamped tin and reverse-painted works, a mirror (35 by 31 inches) and chandelier (24 inches long by 38 inches wide by 38 inches deep), were made by Maurice Dixon (Twentieth/Twenty-First Century); they brought $15,990 ($3/6,000).
Metals, not only in sculptural form, continued to generate exciting bidding competition. Reaching $15,990, well beyond its $6,000 high estimate, was a lot comprising two stamped-tin and reverse-painted glass objects by Contemporary New Mexican tinsmith Maurice Dixon. The lot included a 1999 mirror that was inscribed “Cornerstones ProjEct” and a chandelier with tin birds. Both pieces featured stamped floral designs and the octagonal mirror had tin leaves marking each point.
Twentieth Century Mexican sterling silverware in Prince Tati’s Aztec pattern set the table for $10,455. The service for eight included 85 pieces, all in good to very good condition, and had provenance to a private collection in Indiana, purchased from Nedra Matteucci Galleries (Santa Fe) in 1996.
Ford Ruthling, a multi-talented folk artist from Santa Fe, was represented by three works in the auction, one of which resulted in a new world record. Ruthling’s stamped tin foliate arch, measuring 42 inches across, was from a private collection in New Mexico and closed well past its $1,200 high estimate at $9,600. Signed to the reverse, the oxidized vines were ready to be hung once more. Selling for $8,320 just a few lots earlier was the artist’s 1986 piece called “Love All Out of Doors (No. 13).” This punched-tin scene depicted a row of animals beneath tall leafy vines, a central framed heart and two roundels of a sun and moon.
Titled “Love All out of Doors” and numbered 13, this 1986 punched tin sculpture by Ford Ruthling (1933-2015), 30½ by 45 inches, went out at $8,320 ($1,2/1,800).
Paintings were led by an oil of hollyhocks at the corner of an adobe structure by Robert A. Daughters. This impressionistic scene had provenance to a private collection in Arizona as well as Trailside Galleries (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Signed “R. Daughters” to the lower left, the work went out at $10,240. Daughters’ “Bougainvillea Path” also sold. Housed in a gilded frame by America West Frames, the signed landscape came from a Colorado collection and sold for $8,610.
A record was set in this category, too, when “Chili” by Ed Sandoval more than tripled its high estimate to achieve $7,040 and became the artist’s highest-priced work. Depicting farmers harvesting red chili peppers at the base of a mountain, the 1997 oil on canvas was awarded the Best of Painting ribbon for the Taos Arts Festival in that same year.
Other paintings to find success included a circa 1850 portrait of “Abuela y Nieto” in a New Mexican frame. The work was featured in The Magazine Antiques in April 1978, where it was identified as being from Oaxaca, Mexico, and had provenance to a private collection in New Mexico as well as the collection of New Mexico colonial historian Dr Ward Alan Minge (Casa San Ysidro estate.). After the bidding settled, it went out for $8,960. The same price was achieved by “H.M.S. Wasp Rock” by James Dixon. This 1964 oil on board, which depicted a ship in a stormy sea, was exhibited at the Second International Exhibition of Primitive Art, The British Council, Zagreb, Croatia, in 1973. It was inscribed to the bottom left “H.M.S. Wasp Rock on the / Rocks in Back of the Lighthouse / Tory Island By James Dixon / 24-4-64.”
This mid to late Eighteenth Century Spanish Colonial vargueño writing chest on stand, carved wood and bronze, 58¼ inches tall by 43¾ inches wide by 38 inches deep, had provenance to the first ambassador to the United States from Spain and was bid to $7,040 ($7/10,000).
Leading the furniture category was a Spanish Colonial vargueño, or writing chest. The carved wood chest on frame was highly detailed, with many intricately brass-inlaid interior drawers and compartments. Accompanying the chest was a framed 1939 letter from Juan Riaño y Gayangos, first ambassador to the United States from Spain. His note indicated that he did not know the vargueño’s history, though it was in his family for many years. At the time of this letter, the chest was given to Bayard Leroy King, United States Foreign Service Officer, and Riaño noted the mid to late Nineteenth Century chest had not been restored and he was glad it would be going to someone who would appreciate it. Consigned from a private collection in Colorado, the 53-pound vargueño sold for $7,040.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Santa Fe Art Auction will conduct its Contemporary Art, Design + Photography sale on September 15. For information, www.santafeartauction.com or 505-954-5858.
