NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces the spring season of American Art, with a live sale taking place on May 23 and a concurrent online sale from May 17-24. The season is led by distinguished private collections and fresh to the market works, notably Property from the Estate of Richard J. Schwartz, which includes the top lot of the sale, a rare bronze by Frederic Remington, Coming Through the Rye (estimate: $7-10 million), as well as two spectacular examples of Albert Bierstadt’s dramatic landscapes, and a nationalistic painting from Childe Hassam’s famed flag series. The sales offer a strong selection of Impressionist, American West, and 19th century masterpieces across painting and sculpture showcasing the best of each genre. With 92 lots in the live sale and 113 lots in the online sale, the combined pre-sale estimate is in excess of $38 million.

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF RICHARD J. SCHWARTZ
The sale is led by the collection of Richard J. Schwartz (1938-2016), who was a public advocate for the arts and education. He served on and later chaired the New York State Council for the Arts, in addition to providing leadership to regional arts councils in Westchester and the Hudson Valley. He served on many museum boards, as well as the boards of hospitals, schools and universities, and he also supported several notable restoration projects for civic monuments in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The top lot of the sale from the Schwartz collection is the early cast of Frederic Remington’s most daring and complex sculptural undertaking, Coming Through the Rye, modelled in 1902 and cast by 1906, which captures the spirit of the artist’s iconic depictions of the American West. Collected by the nation’s leading institutions from the moment it was created, the work is not only remarkable for its artistic and technical virtuosity, but has truly become an archetype of the American West and of the cowboys that inhabited it. Of the located life-time casts of the sculpture, only two are known to be in private collections, and this is the first time this work is being offered at auction.

Other highlights among the 33 lots included in the Schwartz collection are Saint-Gaudens’ celebrated Victory and a famed portrait relief of Robert Louis Stevenson, as well as Albert Bierstadt’s epic Lake Tahoe, Childe Hassam’s early street scene with flags, and a portrait by William Merritt Chase.

• Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), Twilight, Lake Tahoe, c. 1870s. Estimate: $3-5 million

• William Merritt Chase (18491916) Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) Painted in 1886. Estimate: $2-3 million

• Childe Hassam (1859-1935) Just Off the Avenue, FiftyThird Street, May 1916 Estimate $2-3 million

• Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) Victory Modeled in 1912. Estimate: $600,000-800,000

HIGHLIGHTS OF VARIOUS PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Property from the Collection of Chauncey D. Stillman sold to benefit the Wethersfield Foundation
• Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) George Washington (Vaughan type) Painted circa 1795. Estimate: $1.5-2.5 million

Property from the Collection of Chauncey D. Stillman sold to benefit the Wethersfield Foundation
• Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Girl in a Bonnet Tied with a Large Pink Bow Painted in 1909. Estimate: $2-3 million

Property Formerly In The Collection Of Hunt Henderson, New Orleans
• James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) The Yellow Room Executed circa 1883-84. Estimate: $500,000-700,000

Property Sold to Benefit The Motion Picture and Television Fund
• Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) Judy Garland as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz Painted in 1969-70. Estimate: $200,000-300,000

Property from the Collection of Esther and Howard Freeman, Worcester, Massachusetts
• Winslow Homer (1836-1910) The Shell Heap Executed in 1904. Estimate: $2.5-3.5 million

• Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) The Young Gleaner Painted in 1896. Estimate: $1-1.5 million

Property From A Distinguished New England Collector
• Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) Sun Rising Out of the Mist Painted in 1973. Estimate: $400,000-700,000

Property from the Collection of Frederick and Dorothy Rudolph
• Milton Avery (1885-1965) Yellow Meadow Painted in 1955. Estimate: $600,000-800,000

AMERICAN ART ONLINE | MAY 17-24
The American Art online sale, held from May 17-24, will feature works spanning the spectrum of American Art, from Modernism and 20th Century Realism by Milton Avery and Andrew Wyeth to classic examples of Impressionist and 19th Century paintings by Childe Hassam and Albert Bierstadt. Other highlights include works by Charles Burchfield, Harriet Frishmuth, and Grandma Moses, among others.

• Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893-1967) June Wind Executed in 1955. $120,000-180,000

Property from the Estate of Dr. Gerald F. Ross
• Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945) "As He Sat in the Doorway Looking at the Storm He Realized that He was Shaken by a Wild, Crude Lyric of Passion" Painted in 1908. Estimate: $100,000-150,000

• Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980) Joy of the Waters Modeled in 1920. Estimate: $50,000-70,000

Property from the Estate of Dr. Gerald F. Ross
• Milton Avery (1885-1965) Stella in Red Executed in 1945. Estimate: $70,000-100,000