MILFORD, CONN.- American paintings drove strong results in Shannon’s Fall Fine Art auction held October 26th. The 153-lot sale was nearly 90 percent sold and grossed $3 million. Fresh-to-the-market consignments attracted interest from across the country and internationally.

The top lot in the sale was a 64-inch by 51-inch painting by American Impressionist Frederick Carl Frieseke. Consigned by the Art Institute of Chicago, this life-size painting depicted a Lady Trying on a Hat. Painted in soft pastel tones, reminiscent of French Impressionism, the painting was one of the artist’s masterpieces from the early 20th century.

Frieseke spent every summer after 1905 in Giverny, France, where he became known for his Impressionist palette and his portraits of women. Although influenced by Renoir and Monet, Frieseke developed his own unique style that echoed Post-Impressionist masters as well. This impressive canvas exceeded its high estimate, selling for $450,000 to a private Florida collection.

Shannon’s never fails to offer the highest quality 19th century American paintings and the Fall sale was no exception. The auction included a rare painting by Thomas Cole, a founder of the Hudson River School. The 10-inch by 15-inch painting of Mount Chocorua in the White Mountains sold at the high estimate of $150,000 to a private collector. The small, jewel-like painting had soft pink light glowing from behind the mountain and rich details in the foreground.

From the late 19th century, Alfred Thompson Bricher’s Morning at Narragansett from 1872 sold for $68,750. This masterpiece of American Luminism had been in a private collection for twenty years. Bricher is best known for his Luminist New England seascapes. He started his career as a Hudson River School artist and seasoned collectors often seek these rare early landscapes. Also included in the auction, an early Bricher of Lake George, sold above estimate for $27,500.

Illustration art was led by a Norman Rockwell oil painting of a couple headed out for a night on the town. The 32-inch by 25-inch canvas sold for $125,000. Another Rockwell oil, Study of Will Rogers, 16 inches by 12 inches, sold for $20,000. Jessie Wilcox Smith’s Madonna and Child, painted as the cover of the 1927 issue of Good Housekeeping, sold for $22,500.

Following market trends, many of the top lots in the auction were in the Modern and Contemporary category. Leading this was a group of paintings by New York-based Contemporary artist Scott Kahn. The group of eight paintings came from the collection of his early patron, Elise Piquet, and the sale included a portrait of her by the artist, which sold for $18,750. The top lot of the group, Circular Driveway, sold for $175,000. Another painting, Full Moon Over the Channel, sold for $93,750. Khan’s market has soared in the past two years, with an exponential rise in his prices.

Similarly, as the market for female artists continues to grow, scholarship has uncovered the biographies of many women who were previously overlooked. The auction featured a rare painting by Alice Baber, a mid-century modernist and Abstract Expressionist artist. The Blue Bow of the Jaguar sold for $68,750 against lively bidding both online and via phones. Two works by Priscilla W. Roberts, an American Magical Realist, sold. Memory Quilt soared past its estimate, achieving $32,500, and in doing so set a new world record price for the artist.

Sandra Germain of Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers noted, “We had more people than ever participating live online. It was exciting to watch our viewer count during the sale and encouraging to see how many new registrations we had ahead of the auction.”

Other American art highlights in the auction include Winfred Rembert’s Reading Stories, sold to an institutional collection; Wolf Kahn’s Near Deer Isle Village, tripled the high estimate selling for $38,100; Aldro T. Hibbard’s Winter in the Hills, which sold for $32,020; Edward Barnard’s Mid-Day from 1892, which sold for $30,000; and a rare early New York City painting by Guy C. Wiggins that sold for $30,000.