Views of the West
John Moran Auctioneers’ first California & American Fine Art sale of 2020 features standout examples from leadingwestern and impressionist artists
John Moran Auctioneers’ first California & American Fine Art sale of 2020 features standout examples from leading Western and impressionist artists
John Moran Auctioneers will celebrate the Southwest during its upcoming California &
American Fine Art sale on April 19 at 2 p.m.artwork featuring California landscapes, desert vistas and the Old West are among the standout lots of the auction.there also will be a number of European and boat scenes by some of the biggest names in American art available to buyers.the sale will be tightly curated at around 100 lots, with one of the most anticipated categories this year being Western artwork.
“We are featuring works by Nicolai Fechin and Frank Tenney Johnson that are really prominent,” says Morgana Blackwelder, the auction house’s
director of fine art.“i think they are A-list items to add to any sort of Western art collection.”
The Fechin is an untitled painting featuring a road through a desert landscape, likely Taos, New Mexico, where the artist lived for a period of his life. The piece, as Blackwelder explains, depicts “winding paths through this mountain-scape. It’s a really big standout.”the painting, which also highlights the artist’s signature vibrant brushstrokes in reds, blues and browns, is estimated to sell between $150,000 and $200,000.
Johnson’s Cowboy Race (est. $60/80,000) is a field study for his painting Dust Stained Riders. Blackwelder calls the work impactful, adding that “It has really broad brushstrokes that really allow the audience to feel the movement.”
California Impressionist paintings are always collector favorites in the sales—particularly because of the auction house being located in Monrovia, California—with this auction being no different.
The standout piece in the category is This is My Own, My Native Land, a 1932 painting by William Wendt that takes its title from a line in Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lay of the
Last Minstrel.wendt, who was born in Germany and settled in California, had a true admiration and dedication to his adopted home state.the auction house explains,“that love of place is rendered in fond detail in this work, with the freshly tilled slopes hugging the hillside dotted with live oak trees with just a peak of the foothills off in the distance.” The work has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000.
Franz Bischoff is represented in the auction by the coastal painting A Deep Cove – Balboa Rocks, which shows waves crashing against sharp rock formations. It is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. “When collectors think of his work, it tends to lean toward many other subject matters, with his floral still lifes really being the top of his market,” says Blackwelder.“you have a work like this that is really impactful. He’s applying the same subtleties he applies in still lifes into this coastal scene. It’s a bit more atypical…but it would be a lovely addition that doesn’t come to the market very often.”
The boat painting Ardriatic Harbor (est. $20/30,000) is one of several pieces by Edgar Alwin Payne that will hit the auction block.there also will be two mountain landscapes arriving to market by the artist—one is a Southern California scene and the other is a European mountain range. Armin Hansen’s boat painting Towboat Longside (est. $50/70,000) is another notable work in the auction that Blackwelder notes has his “whimsical, monochromatic color palette that he’s really known for.”
Other highlights in the sale include two Jessie Arms Botke bird paintings from a Southern California collection, including Cockatoos in flowering tree
(est. $8/12,000).“It’s that sort of quintessential, tropical bird with gold foiling, and it’s a really approachable size and can be tucked into any collection and add a bit of whimsy into it,” says Blackwelder.“i think they’re charming additions for any collector.”