Distinctive Finds
David Dike Fine Art’s annual Texas Art Auction takes place January 20 at Wildman Art Framing with turn-of-the-century to midcentury artwork crossing the block
David Dike Fine Art’s annual Texas Art Auction takes place January 20 at Wildman Art Framing with turn-of-the-century to midcentury artwork crossing the block
January 20, noon Texas Art Auction Wildman Art Framing
1715 Market Center Boulevard Dallas, TX 75207 t: (214) 720-4044 www.daviddike.com
Each January, David Dike Fine Art hosts its annual Texas Art Auction featuring a selection of artwork of artists from and associated with the Lone Star State. this year’s sale, taking place at noon January 20 at Wildman Art Framing in Dallas, will feature turn-of-the-century and midcentury offerings, with some of the biggest names in Texas art having work come available. Featured in this year’s auction are 402 lots, making it one of the largest the gallery has hosted.
“As always, we start the sale with works on paper—limited edition blackand-white prints, lithographs, color prints, serigraphs,” says Anne Kelly Lewis, director and fine art appraiser at David Dike Fine Art. “we have a few interesting folios this year.”
One of the highlights is a Scott and Stewart Gentling folio titled Of Birds and Texas.the folio, which is No. 66 of 500, is signed by the twin brothers and John Graves, who helped produce the book. “they were inspired by the Audubon bird prints, so they created this large, impressive folio after the Audubon book,” says Lewis. “it’s really beautiful, and it’s in excellent condition.”
A 1926 etching with aquatint by Mary Bonner titled Le Taureau au Rodeo is also coming available in the sale.the work, which is in a long, tableau style that she is known for, is estimated at $12,000 to $15,000.
“Because they’re so long, and it was early in her printmaking career, she’d make it one full sheet, but with three different sheets. She would print three different pieces and put them together,” says Lewis. “Oftentimes you won’t find a full piece because they’re cut like that [and you could] break them apart and frame them separately. this is a really nice, unique opportunity to get a full, really excellent condition etching piece. We haven’t had a full piece like that in over 10 years.”
Moving to the paintings and sculpture segment, there are a number of well-known names represented. A group of Frank Reaugh pastels will be highlighted, including the longhorn piece Herd on the Wichita
(est. $4/8,000).Three Texas scenes by Audley Dean Nichols also will cross the block, as well as a couple of early pieces by Paul Schumann.two 1920s pieces by Reveau Bassett also are of note: Ducks at Sunrise (est. $4/6,000) and Sunset (est. $8/12,000).
There will be six Julian Onderdonk
paintings in the sale including Afternoon on the San Marcos River, Martindale,
Texas (est. $150/300,000), which was commissioned by the Martindale family. This sale marks the first time the work is being offered at auction. among the other five pieces are a handful that will be added to Onderdonk’s catalogue raisonné in an addendum because they are so fresh to the market. Lewis elaborates, “several are out of private estates and collections that have had them since they were acquired directly from Onderdonk.”
A Nice Morning, 1910, is one of those Onderdonks, as is Gray Day in the Hills, San Antonio, tx. the first piece, measuring 8 by 11 inches, is expected to sell between $40,000 and $60,000, while the latter painting has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
Other auction highlights include Olin H. travis’ War Lords, 1936, which appeared in the 1997 exhibition Visions of Texas 1900–1950 at Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. It also was in the traveling show Coming Home: american Paintings from 1930-50, from the Jason Schoen Collection, held October 2003 to November 2005.
The work, which measures a large 21 by 52 inches, has a presale estimate of $60,000 to $80,000.
Zanne Hochberg’s Ode to Motherwell (est. $15/20,000), Carl Benton Compton’s Gathering in Churchyard (est. $8/12,000), and Seymour Fogel’s Abstract [Figural] Compositional (est. $8/12,000) are also in the sale.