Sold!

Highlights of recent sales in the Western art market

Western Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors connect. It has closed the gap that previously existed in the Western art market. Spectacular and instant SOLD! stories keep rolling in. On this page you can read just some of the feedback pouring into our office from coast to coast on sales and connections achieved. And now that the virtual version of the magazine launches up to 10 days before the printed edition arrives, collectors can find new art even faster.

Edgar Payne goes above estimates at California sale

At John Moran Auctioneers’ California & American Fine Art sale in Monrovia, California, were a number of fantastic Edgar Payne works. Among the highlights of the November 2020 sale was this gorgeous California scene from around 1922. San Juan Capistrano, with its lovely shades of green and the fall leaves in the trees, was estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. It finished at $37,500. Other works that might have interested Western collectors included pieces by Curt Walter, Granville Redmond and Birger Sandzén.

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Sporting art performs strongly at Grogan’s fall auction in Boston

Sporting artist Aiden Lassell Ripley, known for his hunting and fishing scenes, recently had four works available at Grogan & Company’s fall auction in Boston in November 2020. All four works exceeded their estimates, with the 20-by-30-inch watercolor work A Wild Grouse (est. $7/10,000) leading the pack at $15,000. Ripley was classically trained by artists such as Philip Hale, Edmund Tarbell and Frank W. Benson, and his work is a staple in many sporting art collections.

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Chad Poppleton sells a major buffalo painting to a pair of Scottsdale collectors

Another artist staying very active during the pandemic is Chad Poppleton, who recently completed a large work for Arizona collectors Steve and Jane Hipp. The collectors asked Poppleton to paint the view of the Tetons from their Wyoming backyard, as well as a buffalo named Elvis and two mile deer. The Hipps were, until recently, neighbors with Legacy Gallery owner Brad Richardson, who originally introduced the artist to the collectors. After the couple moved from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Scottsdale, Arizona, the work is a great reminder of the beauty of Wyoming.

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A Beverly Doolittle sketch originally purchased in 1978 finds a new home

In 1978, IBM sent Ron Dee Mallett down to Tucson, Arizona, to announce a massive new plant and lab. Driving around town, he noticed a VW van parked along the road with paintings for sale. “A slim, long-haired hippie girl was busy setting up tripod stands, populating them with large, attractive paintings,” Mallett remembers. “It was just what I was looking for. I instantly loved her work, and bought a few for the new IBM complex.” The artist was Western painter Bev Doolittle, who was still very early in her career at the time. Mallett also bought some pieces for himself, including a print of a work titled Ghost of the Grizzly Bear and an original pen-and-ink sketch of a Navajo warrior that cost him $50. Before Mallett and Doolittle could chat longer, a police officer stopped and had them clear the area they were parked in. “Bev’s probably forgotten me, but how could I ever forget her? After all, we once broke the law together!” he says. Mallett recently gifted the Doolittle works to his daughter-in-law, proving that even a $50 art purchase can go a long way.

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Dean Mitchell has third work placed at a museum in 2020

When it comes to museum acquisitions, Dean Mitchell had a phenomenal year in 2020. The Florida watercolorist had three paintings placed in museums: a piece from last year’s Quest for the West was purchased and donated to the Eiteljorg Museum, another piece was purchased from one of his galleries and placed at the Columbus Museum of Art, and most recently collectors purchased his piece Signs of the Times and donated the work to the University of Mississippi Museum. “Mr. Mitchell’s career and body of work are highly distinguished, so the addition of a piece by this brilliant painter adds considerable artistic value to our collection and to its educational mission in service to the community and the curriculum,” says Robert Saarnio, director of the University Museum and Historic Houses.

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Jay Moore completes two major landscapes for private commissions

During lockdowns and times of intense travel restrictions, artists have reported an influx of commissions, and that was certainly the case for Colorado painter Jay Moore, who recently completed two works for private collections. One of the works is titled Taylor River Canyon, which shows a mountain river through a dense forest. “It is for a collector who lives in Cincinnati, but has a house in Crested Butte, Colorado,” Moore says. “It was a surprise for his wife who had spent many summers on this stretch of the river when she was growing up.” Another work he sold privately was Aspen Canyon, a 40-by-20-inch painting showing a hiking trail and fall color.

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Interested in having your SOLD! stories featured in the pages of Western Art Collector magazine? Share your recent successes by emailing Michael Clawson at mclawson@westernartcollector.com.