The November 21, 2011 auction of California and American Paintings and Sculpture at Bonhams will offer a wide array of important Western scenes, Plein Air, Society of Six and land and cityscapes. Noted artists represented in the fall sale include Jessie Arms Botke, Maynard Dixon, E. Charlton Fortune, John Marshall Gamble, Frank Tenney Johnson, Joseph Kleitsch, Granville Redmond and William Wendt, among others.
Leading the auction is a strong selection of Western paintings including Frank Tenney Johnson’s “Beneath the Southern Moon” (est. $200,000-300,000). While many Western artists are associated with the wild West of gunfights, stampedes and plains warfare, Johnson’s work is generally one where the fight had gone out of its inhabitants. “Beneath the Southern Moon” exemplifies Johnson’s perspective of the West marvelously as it captures the artist’s own descriptive diary entries as written in Harold McCracken’s 1974 book. Johnson is often considered by many as the artist that “represented the best in the Old West.”
Also featured in the sale is Maynard Dixon’s “The Lone Trail” from 1912 (est. $200,000 – 300,000). The oil on canvas work features a single cowboy on horseback in a stunning western landscape. According to Donald Hagerty, relatively few of Dixon’s paintings survive from this period, but “The Lone Trail” illustrates a shift in his work toward a new reality, a path that the artist would follow toward modernism in later decades.
Scot Levitt, Vice President and Fine Arts Department Head said of the work, “The market for American master Maynard Dixon continues to be strong. Bonhams has a successful history of offering works by the artist for competitive prices. We look forward to the fall sale.”
Additional works by Dixon in the November auction include an oil on canvas titled “Navajo Reservation, 1922” (est. $15,000-25,000) and a pair of ink on paper drawings titled “Study of a Boulder, 1927” and “Study of a Canyon, 1927” (est. $2,000-3,000).
Further works of note from the fall sale include “High Desert in Bloom” by Granville Redmond (est. $150,000-250,000); “Autumn Sycamores” by William Wendt, once in the collection of artist’s sister, Anna (est. $120,000-175,000); “Santa Barbara Landscape” by John Marshall Gamble (Est. $70,000-90,000); “Beau Brummels” by Jessie Arms Botke (est. $50,000-70,000); “Summer Idyll” by E. Charlton Fortune (est. $12,000-18,000) and “Portrait of Isaac Jenkinson Frazee” by Joseph Kleitsch (est. $30,000-50,000). The stately portrait depicts Frazee, a noted artist, writer, and dramatist who lived in Laguna Beach, CA beginning in the 1920s. Many people have credited his leadership and philanthropic pursuits in the community as the impetus for the world renowned Pageant of the Masters and Laguna Festival of the Arts held in the city each year.
The illustrated auction catalog will be available online for review and purchase in the weeks preceding the sale at www.bonhams.com.
San Francisco Preview: November 11-13, 2011, San Francisco
Los Angeles Preview: November 18-20, 2011, Los Angeles
Auction: November 21, 2011, Los Angeles, simulcast to San Francisco
