Christie’s American Art Online auction features paintings, works on paper and sculpture spanning the genres of American Modernism and Impressionism to the Hudson River School and Illustration art. The sale is open for bidding 23 July – 7 August and will offer 87 lots. With low estimates ranging from $800 to $400,000, the online auction provides an opportunity for new and established collectors alike to acquire works by the most renowned artists in the category. A virtual exhibition experience will feature highlights from the auction.
The sale will be highlighted by a strong selection of classic American Impressionism. Mary Cassatt’s Two Little Sisters of 1901-02 (estimate: $400,000-600,000) is a charming example of the artist’s classic subject of children executed with vibrant Impressionist brushwork. The work has been in the Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection since 1958. Fantastic Impressionist landscapes from the Estate of Heidi Bingham Stott include Childe Hassam’s The Red Mill, Cos Cob (estimate: $200,000-300,000) and Willard Leroy Metcalf’s New Hampshire scene Green Idleness (estimate: $200,000-300,000).
Among the works with distinguished provenance are also seven works from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, sold to benefit the Museum. This excellent group of fresh to the market works are highlighted by Andrew Wyeth’s Prevailing Wind, 1951, which depicts a rooftop view of Maine (estimate: $50,000-70,000). A watercolor by Jamie Wyeth, Open Seas, 1969, offered from a private collection, provides a complementary juxtaposition to his father’s picture portraying a cupola overlooking the rugged seaside vista from Monhegan Island (estimate: $70,000-100,000).
Modernist works are represented with important sculptures by Elie Nadelman, Boris Lovet-Lorski and Gaston Lachaise, as well as paintings and watercolors by Milton Avery, Charles Green Shaw and Wolf Kahn.
19th Century examples include works by John Frederick Kensett, Winslow Homer, Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt, and the selection of Western American art includes paintings by Henry Farny and Nicolai Fechin as well as a rare sculpture by Cyrus Dallin. Various studies and a painting by Norman Rockwell highlight the group of Illustration art.