NEW YORK, NY.- The May 20 sale of American Art was led by strong prices for works across all genres and the top lot was Fairfield Porter’s (1907-1975) Yawl in the Channel, painted in 1974-75, which sold for $725,313. The magnificent landscape came from The Estate of Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom, the famed artist, arts philanthropist, retail pioneer, and member of one of America’s greatest entrepreneurial families.
The 66-lot sale achieved a total of $2,280,795, and was 89% sold by lot, 94% by value.
Bonhams American Art specialist Aaron Anderson said: “Yawl in the Channel is a historic painting and an outstanding example of Fairfield Porter’s oeuvre. This was the first time that this masterwork had been offered at auction, and I am delighted that it achieved such a great result at Bonhams. We also saw competitive bidding across all genres that drove prices well above estimate and established world auction records for artists including Louis Comfort Tiffany, John Wilde, and Edwin Walter Dickinson.”
Other sale highlights were:
Return from the Cross by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) sold for $237,813, a rare and important biblical scene, painted circa 1934-35, arguably one of the most resplendent and multidimensional works that Tanner painted in the final years of his life. It had an estimate of $100,000-150,000.
John Singer Sargent’s (1856-1925) portrait of Gardiner Greene Hammond, Jr. sold for $175,313, a work distinguished by its extensive exhibition and publication history. The work was passed down by descent from the subject himself before coming to auction for the first time. It had an estimate of $80,000-120,000.
World auction records were achieved for John Wilde’s (1919-2006) Sleight of Hand, which sold for $62,813; Edwin Walter Dickinson’s (1891-1978) Herring Cove Beach, which sold for $75,313 John Ralph Briggs’s (b. 1948) Kitchen, Figure in Cupboard, which sold for $3,750; and a record for a work on paper by Louis Comfort Tiffany’s (1848-1933) Market at the Mosque of Abu el Haggag, Luxor, Egypt, which sold for $106,563.
