An important art collection not only has works from great artists, but it also has masterpieces from those artists, a distinction that is stunningly obvious when browsing through the T. Boone Pickens Collection. Remington, Wyeth, Kuhn, Terpning, Clymer, Berninghaus—these artists hardly need introductions, and Pickens had a masterwork from each of them, and more.

More than 70 pieces of art from the Pickens Collection will be available to bidders on October 28 when Christie’s presents The Legend of the West: Iconic Works from the T. Boone Pickens Collection.Frederic Remington (1861-1909), The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak), 1900, oil on canvas, 40 x 27” Estimate: $3/5 million

“People collect art for different reasons. Some might buy art to buy the best of the artist or the period, but Mr. Pickens bought what he liked, and when you buy what you like, the work becomes an extension of yourself, your beliefs and your feelings, which is why his collection is so important,” says Christie’s Western specialist Tylee Abbott. “The works span about 100 years, from Frederic Remington’s painting in 1900 to a work from Howard Terpning in 2001. He was interested in the entire breadth of the West, and that is reflected in his art collection—he has figurative works, wildlife paintings, pure landscapes and then paintings that focus on people and stories. He liked the people of the West and their culture.”N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Indian Love Call, 1927, oil on canvas, 46 x 68” Estimate: $2/3 million

Pickens, who died in 2019 at the age of 91, was a prominent businessman whose career took him from oil and natural gas to politics and philanthropy. He founded Mesa Petroleum in the 1950s, and by the 1980s was involved heavily in mergers and acquisitions, as well as the chair of energy hedge fund BP Capital. He also courted controversy later in his life after “swift boating” presidential hopeful John Kerry and supporting alternative energy such as wind power, much to the consternation of his friends in oil.

“He was enigmatic for sure, and a very difficult man to pigeonhole, which he wouldn’t have liked anyway. He was brilliant and he reinvented himself many times,” Abbott says. “In many ways his story embodies the American Dream, this sort of rags-to-riches story of determination and grit. I think that story adds a lot to his collection.”G. Harvey (1933-2017), Boomtown Drifters, 1979, oil on ca

One of the highlights from the collection being offered is Remington’s 1900 painting The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak), showing a Native American rider waiving a buffalo skin from atop a rearing horse. The work is estimated at $3 million to $5 million, and if it goes much over its high estimate it could set a painting record for the artist, which currently stands at $5.6 million. “Remington is virtually synonymous with the West, and between him and Russell they are the titans of the West,” Abbott says. “A lot of what Remington painted has influenced what we think of as the West today, and this piece is no exception.”Howard Terpning, Flags on the Frontier, 2001, oil on canvas, 37¼ x 56” Estimate: $700/1,000,000

Martin Grelle, The River’s Gift, 2007, oil on canvas, 48 x 60” Estimate: $250/350,000

Another highlight is N.C. Wyeth’s Indian Love Call, a 1927 oil showing a Native American in a canoe playing an instrument to a woman who can be seen amid several trees. The painting, estimated at $2 million to $3 million, is massive at nearly 70 inches wide. It was originally commissioned by a Philadelphia collector, and has since become a classic image for Wyeth. “It’s just extraordinary, especially in its scale. It’s hard to imagine until you see it, but paintings like this were consumed the way people today consume television and film, which is fitting because this really has a cinematic design and experience,” the Christie’s specialist says, adding that the painting still sparkles with life. ‘The color is just magnificent. The jewel tones—the emerald greens and sapphire blues—all across the surface are just wonderful.”Bob Kuhn (1920-2007), Hit and Miss, 1977, acrylic and pencil on masonite, 32 x 48” Estimate: $200/300,000

Pickens admitted many times that his favorite artist was Texas painter G. Harvey, who will be represented in the sale with the 1979 work Boomtown Drifters, a quintessential Harvey work showing all the things people love about his work: a rainy setting, figures riding toward the viewer, oil derricks in the background and that small-town feel of the street. The work, which hung prominently in several of Pickens’ homes, is estimated at $200,000 to $300,000.

The Terpning painting being offered is Flags on the Frontier, a dramatic scene of cavalry soldiers and Native American scouts riding together across the plains. It’s estimated at $700,000 to $1 million. Other works include a stunning Bob Kuhn piece, Hit and Miss (est. $200/300,000); John Clymer’s cattle drive work Red Dust (est. $150/250,000); Martin Grelle’s 2007 work The River’s Gift (est. $250/350,000); Oscar E. Berninghaus’ stagecoach scene Overland Mail (est. $250/250,000); and Frank Tenney Johnson’s Wyoming Cattlemen (est. $250/350,000).T. Boone Pickens (1928-2019) in his home amid his art collection.

“All history is a resource from which to draw wisdom,” Pickens once said. “The history of the West is particularly rich in wisdom because of the strength of the individuals who lived it. They have given us an unsurpassed legacy of human values founded on such basics as morality, truth, duty, honor and country. I have collected Western art with a hope that it will help preserve these values for successful living and perpetuate them for future generations.” —

The Legend of the West: Iconic Works from the T. Boone Pickens Collection
October 28, 2020
Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Plaza,
New York, NY 10020
(212) 636-2000, www.christies.com 

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