SAN FRANCISCO and LOS ANGELES, CA.- As California's oldest and largest fine arts auctioneers, Bonhams & Butterfields continues to build on its reputation as a preeminent source for California and American works of art at auction. On Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, the auctioneers will simulcast a sale of more than 280-lots of California and American paintings in their San Francisco and Los Angeles salesrooms.

The winter sale is highlighted by an extraordinary landscape by Maynard Dixon titled High Hills of Tehachapi, 1936 (No.558). The artist captures the monumental sense of the untamed West and the enormity of man vs. nature in this portrayal of cowboy life amongst a western backdrop. Estimated to bring $600,000 to $800,000, the work is expected to attract interest from collectors, connoisseurs, institutions and those with a passion for color, light and the untouched American West.

Dixon's masterpiece High Hills of Tehachapi, 1936 (No.558), will be on tour at Bonhams locations across the U.S., with exhibitions scheduled in New York (Nov. 25-27), in Houston (at the Orbis Event on Nov. 28), in San Francisco (December 1-3), and in Los Angeles (December 8-10).

Additional highlights within the December auction of California and American Paintings and Sculpture include: Thomas Hill's La Purisima Falls, 1876 (est. $100/150,000); two oil on canvas paintings by William Wendt Reflections along a Lake's Edge (est. $60/80,000) and Spring (est. $25,000/35,000); Flying Cloud by William Ritschel (est. $25,000/35,000); a signed oil on canvas by John Bond Francisco entitled Cherry Canyon (est. $50/70,000); an 18-inch painted porcelain plate adorned with a Franz Bischoff painting titled Pink and Yellow Roses (est. $18/22,000); and four works by master maritime painter William Alexander Coulter, including Storm King Assists Golden Gate (est. $30/50,000) which was recently exhibited at the San Francisco Maritime Historical Park in the highly successful show of the artist's work; Further to that, a selection of works by notable Society of Six artist and leader, Selden Connor Gile, will be included in the sale. This is an important group from one of the more notable collections in Belvedere, a locale much frequented by the artist. In fact, one of the highlights of that group, a work entitled The Porch, 1937 (estimated to bring between $200,000 and $300,000) depicts a scene looking out onto the San Francisco Bay from Belvedere itself. Along with that work is another at the same estimate and four additional works rounding out one of the strongest selections of fine Society of Six paintings offered together in recent memory.

Sales of California and American Painting and Sculpture are held at Bonhams & Butterfields in the California salesrooms three times annually. These auctions feature a wide variety of important Western and Hawaiian scenes, plein air, Society of Six, and land and cityscapes by major American artists and have become a preeminent source for California and American works of art.

Auction previews open to collectors and connoisseurs in San Francisco December 1-3 and Los Angeles December 8-10. Galleries are open daily from 10am-5pm in each city.