Major works from American masters command a huge presence on walls regardless of size, and nothing quite compares to a Thomas Moran landscape, especially when the subject is the Grand Canyon. A stunning example of this Arizona landmark will be available to bidders on May 19 when Sotheby’s presents its seasonal American art sale in New York City, featuring important works from categories throughout American art.
One of the highlights is Moran’s 1913 oil A Miracle of Nature (Grand Canyon of Arizona) (Zoroaster Peak, Grand Cañon), which will be available with estimates of $2 million to $3 million. The piece comes with an extensive provenance and a detailed exhibition history that includes a show in 1913 at the Art Institute of Chicago, American Paintings from the Manoogian Collection in 1989 at the Detroit Institute of Art, and Thomas Moran in 1997 at the National Portrait Gallery.
Thomas Moran (1837-1926), A Miracle of Nature (Grand Canyon of Arizona) (Zoroaster Peak, Grand Cañon), 1913, oil on canvas, 201/8 x 301/8”, signed lower left: ‘TMoran’. Estimate: $2/3 million
The Grand Canyon is one of Moran’s most famous subjects, and the works that were inspired by the Arizona landmark are treasured by collectors. He first visited the Grand Canyon with John Wesley Powell’s expedition there in 1873. “Four years earlier, Powell had captured the nation’s attention when he led a small group of men in custom-crafted boats through the white water of the Colorado River,” Nancy K. Anderson writes in the 1997 museum catalog Thomas Moran. “After listening to Powell describe the landscape through which the river had cut its path, Moran quickly perceived a subject equal in grandeur to that of Yellowstone.” The artist would return to the canyon many times and paint hundreds of works.
Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955), Portrait of Anna Mae Wong, oil on canvas, 20 x 241/8”, signed lower right: ‘N. Fechin’. Estimate: $200/300,000
Elsewhere in the sale is Nicolai Fechin’s Portrait of Anna Mae Wong (est. $200/300,000), showing a woman reclining backward slightly, with a hand up at her shoulder against a light-colored shirt. Along with Robert Henri and John Singer Sargent, Fechin is recognized as one of the most important portrait painters of the 20th century.
Dorothy Brett (1883-1977), Dawn Fiesta, oil on Masonite, 36 x 27” Estimate: $30/50,000
Also available is Dorothy Brett’s Dawn Fiesta, estimated at $30,000 to $50,000. The modernist work shows a Native American father next to a mother and child on a horse. The striking work primarily features two colors: the gold in the ground, presumably from the fall leaves that have fallen from the bare trees, and white, which is in all of the clothing, the sky and moon, and even the horse.
Additional highlights include Frederic Remington’s bronze Trooper of the Plains (est. $400/600,000) and Albert Bierstadt’s Landscape (est. $30/50,000).
Sotheby’s American Art sale
May 19, 2021
1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021
(212) 606-7000, www.sothebys.com
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