March in Montana, the hit dealer show and auction that arrives during Western Art Week, returns to Great Falls, Montana, on March 19. The three-day show will offer artwork of all kinds, with many works that exemplify the beauty and spirit of Montana, including its appropriate nickname, Big Sky Country.
Philip R. Goodwin (1881-1935), The Race, 1904, oil, 30 x 20" Estimate: $30/50,000
“We offer a lot of different things, which is really what brings people to our shows, but our bread and butter is our Montana historical pieces,” says March in Montana manager partner Ron Nicklas. “And this year is no different with a really great selection of Montana pieces. We also have a huge selection of Native American weavings. We’ll be offering 65 weavings, including some fantastic large pieces.”
Nicklas adds: “It’s our diversity that sets our show apart. Even if people aren’t necessarily interested in some of the things we offer, they still come out to the event just to see what kinds of interesting things we have. You just never know what you might see, or purchase.”
Andy Thomas, Grizzly Rules, oil on linen, 42 x 28" Estimate: $40/60,000
The dealer show, which will feature major Western dealers from all around the country, will take place all three days, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Great Falls Elks Lodge #214. The auction portion of the event, also held at the Elks Lodge, will take place March 20 and 21, with sessions starting at 11 a.m. on both days. More than 700 lots of Western and Native American art and artifacts will be offered.
Edgar S. Paxson (1852-1919), Marcus Daly Ranch, Hamilton, 1908, gouache, 22 x 51" Estimate: $30/50,000
One highlight from the sale includes Philip R. Goodwin’s 1904 oil painting The Race, showing a man wearing ice skates gliding past a pack of wolves that has chased him onto the ice. The work originally appeared as an illustration in Outing magazine the year it was painted. Goodwin’s adventure scenes, from both his illustration and easel painting periods, are scooped up by bidders and usually generate big numbers at auctions. The Race is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000.
Another noteworthy painting lot is Edgar S. Paxson’s 1908 goauche Marcus Daly Ranch, Hamilton, also estimated at $30,000 to $50,000. Marcus Daly was a prominent businessman and mine owner who came to Montana in the 1870s and found tremendous success with a series of mines near Butte, Montana. He was later dubbed one of the three “Copper Kings” in Butte. Daly had a ranch in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, which is depicted here in Paxson’s work.
Andy Thomas, one of the rock stars of Western Art Week in Great Falls, will be offering a new work, Grizzly Rules, a bear-attack painting that shows a fateful encounter in a wild setting next to a stream. “Andy has been a big supporter of March in Montana over the years and we’re happy to have him back with this piece,” says Nicklas. “Andy is so popular in Great Falls that we’ve made the comment before that if he were to run for mayor he would win. He’s a terrific artist, and he really knows how to capture the thrilling qualities of the West.”
Bob Scriver (1914-1999), Tall Tales to Tell, 1992, bronze, 13 x 46 x 5" Estimate: $15/25,000
Another painted work being is William Standing’s 1931 oil Confrontation, also showing a bear attack. The work is estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. Joining the painted works will be an excellent collection of Bob Scriver bronzes, which will be led by Tall Tales to Tell, a 1992 bronze that is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
Western objects in the sale include spurs, saddles, antique firearms and more than 30 important historical Native American objects, including a pair of 19th-century Sioux moccasins. One of the more interesting pieces is a pictographic work from Blackfeet artist Arrow Top Knot.
19th-century Sioux beaded man’s moccasins with buffalo tracks on vamps and beaded split tongues accented with blue horsehair dyed stuffed tin cones, 10½" Estimate: $800/1,200
“When Glacier National Park was established in 1910 the Great Northern Railroad and its president, Louis Warren Hill Sr., launched a campaign to bring tourists to the new park. Hotels and lodges sprung up in and around the park. Hill’s love of the Blackfeet people led him to include pictographic paintings in the design motif,” Nicklas says. “Hill’s commissioning of the Blackfeet art has been termed ‘the most elaborate Indian mural project ever.’ Dozens of original art canvas panels hung in the Glacier hotels. Most were from 20 to 30 feet long. The warrior art canvases, each containing several different adventures, were delineated by lines to separate different events on the same individual canvas. In the 1950s the hotels opted for a Cowboy theme and the large canvas panels were removed. Some were saved and went into the Louis Hill Collection of Native American Art, however most were lost. Only a rare few exist today in the museum collections of the Montana Historical Society, the Glenbow Museum and the Royal British Columbian Museum. The pictograph by Blackfeet artist Arrow Top Knot, or Apis-Poch-Kinnaiee, was part of the Hill collection and was saved by Fighting Bear Antiques in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.”
The Arrow Top Knot work is estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. —
March in Montana
March 19-21, 2020
Dealer show, March 19-21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Live auction, March 20-21, 11 a.m.
Great Elks Lodge #214, 500 First Avenue South, Great Falls, MT 59401
(208) 664-2091, www.marchinmontana.com
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