Strong Sales
Bonhams’american art sale saw another successful run November 19 in Newyork
Marsden Hartley’s Birch Grove,
Autumn was the top lot at Bonhams’ recent American art sale, achieving $500,075, just breaking its high estimate of $500,000.The piece, painted in 1910, was part of a small series of works from Maine that included some of the most modern and avant-garde compositions to have yet been painted in the United States. In addition, three world auction records were achieved for Sally Michel Avery, March Avery and Patsy (Pasquale) Santo.
The sale, which took place at Bonhams’ New York auction house on November 19, had a strong sell-through rate of 83 percent sold by lot. “We saw strong competitive bidding from collectors on these superb modernist works with their significant provenance and exhibition history,” says Jennifer Jacobsen, Bonhams’ director of American art. “We are also delighted to have achieved world auction
records for three artists, including two female artists, Sally Michel and March Avery who deserve this growth in recognition and the market’s attention.” Other top lots in the November sale include Sunset in the Adirondacks, an oil on canvas by
John Frederick Kensett. The 1859 oil, which was estimated to sell between $200,000 and $300,000, fell within estimates when it sold
for $225,075.Achieving the same number was Niles Spencer’s Ordnance
Island, Bermuda, painted in 1928, from an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. A property from a New York corporate collection, Wolf Kahn’s 1976 piece
The Clark Farm III sold for $56,325.
Bonhams’ next American art sale will take place in the spring.