CHICAGO, IL.- Hindman set a new world auction record for Gertrude Abercrombie with the sale of her 1947 painting Untitled (Woman with Tethered Horse and Moon) for $437,500. As a leader in offering works by the “Queen of the Bohemians,” the firm broke its own auction record for the artist of $387,500, which it set in February. Abercrombie was just one of many female artists who drove Hindman’s December 14th Post-War & Contemporary Auction to well above its total estimate.

Gertrude Abercrombie’s Untitled (Woman with Tethered Horse and Moon)

Building on the spellbinding success of the single-owner Gertrude Abercrombie auction this September, a new auction record was set for the artist with Untitled (Woman with Tethered Horse and Moon) (lot 4), 1947 for $437,500, against an estimate of $80,000 - $120,000.

This mysterious and evocative 23 by 28 inch oil on canvas featured several quintessential Abercrombie elements – a solitary woman, a barren landscape, a white horse and a crescent moon. While there are multiple interpretations of this work, it clearly illustrates a point in Abercrombie’s oeuvre in which she’d shifted over to more somber landscapes, and when the white horse took on a different role than it had in past works. In this personal painting, the horse could be viewed as representing Abercrombie’s husband at a difficult time in their marriage.

Female Artists Lead the Auction

“The feminine market wave was in full strength during Wednesday’s sale,” commented Director and Senior Specialist for Post-War & Contemporary Art Zack Wirsum. “From Surrealists to Minimalists, there was no shortage of enthusiasm for the dynamite works these women artists created.”

Fierce bidding for female artists continued throughout the auction with the sale of Hairy Who artist Gladys Nilsson’s vibrant Subterrachial Bop Boop (Subterrainien Bop Boop) (lot 19), which sold for $75,000 compared to a $15,000-25,000 estimate. Abstract and minimal works saw intense bidding activity, led by Dorothea Rockburne, Joan Snyder and Alice Baber. Rockburne’s Locus portfolio (lot 81) brought in $46,875, the highest result for this portfolio to date. Three works by Joan Snyder sold for a total of $140,625, more than doubling the group’s high estimate. Baber’s watercolor Olympus (lot 28) doubled its estimate to realize $50,000.

Works by Toshiko Takazeu, Ursula Von Rydingvaard, Miya Ando, Eleanore Mikus, Amelia Pelaez, Sonya Clark, Sabine Finkenauer, Alexis Portilla, Katia Santibañeza and Gloria Ortiz-Hernandez were also highly sought-after.

Botero’s Ballerina Dances Its Way to Top Performers

Fernando Botero’s bronze Ballerina (lot 55) from the Collection of Theodore H. and Sharon B. Pincus (Chicago, Illinois) was another highlight of the day, selling for $300,000. This beautiful work perfectly captures Botero’s distinctive style of volumetric, oversized shapes. Li Chen’s sculpture Landscape in Heaven (lot 7) sold for $68,750 against a $30,000-50,0000 estimate.

The auction overall realized over $2.044 million, nearly doubling its total estimate.