NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams celebrates American Art Week this November, hosting auctions for American Art, Western Art, and California Art across its US salerooms. The exciting slate of auctions features a wide array of historically significant works, from early 19th century to 21st century artists, and captures the breadth of these esteemed collecting categories. In New York, American Art is highlighted by an important 1971 painting by Ernie Barnes. While in Los Angeles, Western Art will be highlighted by an intricate New Mexico landscape by Ernest Martin Hennings, coming to auction for the first time. California Art will then feature quintessential West Coast artists including important works by Anna Althea Hills and Granville Redmond.
American Art
November 7
A masterful and dynamic painting from 1971 by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) titled High Aspirations will lead the American Art sale on November 7 in New York. Estimated at $500,000 – 700,000, this work captures a moment of uninterruptable grace for the subject on the basketball court with Barnes mirroring the verticality of the leaping figure with a strikingly vertical canvas.
A selection of works from the William Dana Lippman Collection include two paintings by American watercolorist Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) – On Her Knees, 1975, estimated at $250,000 – 350,000, and White Dress, circa 1980, estimated at $150,000 – 250,000. On Her Knees and White Dress are exceptional examples from Wyeth’s “Helga Pictures,” a series that depicts Helga “Testy” Testorf, who was Wyeth’s primary model from 1971-1987.
Western Art
November 7
The Western Art sale in Los Angeles on November 7 features the meticulously layered painting Spring Plowing by Ernest Martin Hennings (1886-1956), estimated at $200,000 – 300,000. With a tapestry-like quality, Hennings’ oil painting weaves together the daily lives of the Taos Pueblo Native Americans into the bright landscape of the New Mexico high desert.
Also featured in the sale are a large selection of Impressionist brushwork paintings, works on paper and etchings by Elling William “Bill” Gollings (1878-1932). Twenty-six of Golling's works hail from the capsule collection of Esther Cornell, a close friend and collector of the artist, and are led by the painting Autumn, estimated at $40,000 – 60,000. Born in a mining camp in the Idaho Territory, Gollings is celebrated for his first-hand, narrative paintings of cowboy culture and sensitive depictions of Indigenous people of the American West.
California Art
November 8
The artist Anna Althea Hills (1882-1930) painted the Southern California community of Laguna Beach for almost two decades and her preeminent work, The Spell of the Sea, leads the California Art sale in Los Angeles on November 8. Estimated at $100,000 – 150,000, the painting beautifully depicts an intimate cove and rocky shore, defining characteristics of coastal Laguna Beach.
California’s dramatic landscapes are further highlighted in works by Granville Redmond (1871-1935). Oaks and Wildflowers, estimated at $40,000 – 60,000, and California Wildflowers, estimated at $20,000 – 30,000, depict the countryside in fireworks of vivid colors.
