Classic Imagery
Everything from Golden Age illustrations to Hudson River School landscapes will hit the market during Heritage Auctions’ November 1 sale of American art
In 1965 Andrew Wyeth painted the charming work Coldspell for his wife, Betsy.the piece was from his recognized series of views of the landscape out of a window that he revisited throughout his lifetime. a year later, wyeth sold the piece to a collector who knew him and Betsy personally and saw the work hanging in their bedroom. On November 1, the painting arrives to market for the very first time in Heritage Auctions’ American Art sale. Coldspell, which in 2014 was included in the seminal Wyeth exhibition Looking Out, Looking In at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., descended in the original collector’s family whose grandchild is now parting with the piece. It is expected to sell between $200,000 and $300,000.
A pastel by Mary Cassatt is also a highlight of the sale, featuring one of the artist’s most beloved models.the work, Sara in a Red Dress, from around 1901, has been in the consignor’s family since it was purchased and has a presale estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.
Two Milton Avery oils, Agua (est. $150/250,000) and Mexican Woman (est. $200/300,000), from the 1940s also will
cross the block. “it is arguably his greatest decade,” says Aviva Lehmann, director of American art at Heritage. “the works are very Matisse-esque and ironically, both examples from his Mexico series… Even though they correlate and they complement each other quite well and are from the same series, they are from separate private collections.” Agua comes from a family that has had the work since around 1970, while Mexican Woman has belonged to its family since the 1950s. “There is a really strong assortment of Hudson River School painting in the auction,” says Lehmann. “what I consider the top lot is a newly rediscovered William Bradford. It’s an iceberg scene from Labrador titled Off the Coast of Labrador that comes from a private collection in Connecticut that had acquired it from another private collection in Connecticut in the 1930s.” The piece was discovered in the attic of its consignor, and it is quintessential of the artist’s signature compositions. It is expected to fetch between $70,000 and $100,000.
Also notable in the Hudson River category are Martin Johnson Heade’s Tropical Greenery (Tropical Landscape), 1875, which has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000, and a circa 1940s scene of Lake Nicaragua by Judah Levasseur that has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. Typical of Heritage sales, there is a strong segment of Golden Age illustrations including works by Norman Rockwell, amos Sewell and Thorton Utz. One of the most notable pieces is Joseph Christian Leyendecker’s Spring Has Sprung, which appeared on the cover of the April 7, 1917, edition of The Saturday Evening Post.the piece depicts the artist’s most beloved Post subject, his New Year Baby, which debuted on the cover of the December 29, 1906 issue.
Later, the baby appeared “on a group of covers that included Easter and Fourth of July issues, until Post brass decided the baby should be reserved for issues that faced the country, including women’s suffrage, prohibition, entry into World War I or economic recovery during the Great Depression,” the auction house explains. “the baby evolved into a symbol of a number of causes or events around whom the American public could rally.”
Western artwork is also prominent in the sale, led by a stunning Bronco Buster bronze by Frederic Remington. Its image of the bucking horse and rider can be emblematic of both the Wild West and life on the ranch.
The original work is so popular that it has been cast nearly 300 times since it was created in 1895. Shortly before the artist died in 1909, he created a 1½-scale plaster model of the piece that modified the design slightly. Significantly, the rider no longer carried a whip but his arm was outstretched farther. Only 19 casts were made of this larger scale work, including one that will hit the market during Heritage Auctions’ November 1 American Art sale.
The cast, measuring 32 4/5 inches, arrives from the collection of another famed artist, illustrator Mort Künstler. the early sculpture is a rarity, according to Alissa Ford, director of Western art at Heritage Auctions, because of its scale and low number of editions. It is expected to sell between $500,000 and $700,000.