Something for Everyone
Heritage Auctions’ July 1 American art sale includes Western artwork in a variety of subjects and mediums.
the past few years, and it’s increasing more and more.”
As the auction continues, collectors will find even more pieces by some of the most noteworthy names in Western art. One of the major highlights is Edgar Payne’s The Pack Train, Sierra Grande, which is estimated to sell between $100,000 and $150,000. “It’s one of his larger Sierra scenes that’s completely iconic of his work,” Ford says. “It has the riders going through the valley and the brushwork is everything you’d expect from Payne.”
The sale will include four by Birger Sandzén that represent multiple states he painted in—
Utah, Colorado and Kansas. Among them is the 1929 oil Sunset, Logan, Utah (est. $40/60,000). Other landscape scenes include two by Eric Sloane of the Hopi village Walpi, including the 1980 painting Sunrise at Walpi (est. $10/15,000). Charlie Dye’s The Liar’s Hour (est. $60/80,000) is another notable painting coming to market, as is John Clymer’s illustration The Lewis Crossing, with a presale estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.
Paintings from several members of the Taos Society of Artists also will be standouts including two by Joseph Henry Sharp and a work by Fremont Ellis. A portrait by Eanger Irving Couse also arriving at auction will be sure to garner attention. “The Couse is absolutely stunning. [His granddaughter] Virginia Couse Leavitt is going to put it in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné. It was owned by Thomas Strong, who wrote Dictionary of Chinook Words [before it went to its current owner],” Ford explains. “It was done in 1891 and exhibited in 1892. It’s very different than what we normally see from Couse on the market. This one is much more moody and kind of tonalist and tranquil.” The piece, titled