Heritage Auctions | May 7, 2021, 11 a.m. | Dallas, TX

New Mexico Connections

Heritage Auctions’ May 7 sale of American art includes works from the Taos Society of Artists and other Southwest painters.

On May 7, Heritage Auctions will host its American Art Signature Auction in Dallas, with approximately 200 lots hitting the market. Around 80 of the items will be from the Western art category that boasts both historic and contemporary offerings. One of the highlights is a grouping of art from a Palm Beach estate that includes some of the most noteworthy Western lots in the sale.

Leading the Palm Beach lots is the Eanger Irving Couse painting The Pictographs (est. $70/100,000), which Alissa Ford, Heritage’s director of Western art, says is a “gorgeous example” by the Taos Society of Artists co-founder. There also are a dynamic Olaf C. Seltzer work titled Horse Thieves (est. $50/70,000); three pieces by Birger Sandzén, including Aspens, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (est. $100/150,000); and multiple Edward Borein paintings including the two-work lot featuring Indian on horseback and Mounted Indian warrior, which is expected to sell between $15,000 and $20,000.

Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), The Pictographs, 1919, oil on canvas, 24 x 29” Estimate: $70/100,000

A number of contemporary items are included in the Palm Beach estate, such as a beautiful David Mann painting titled Buffalo Shield, which Ford says “mimics Sharp,” that has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000 and Michael Coleman’s Black Bears in Yellowstone (est. $8/12,000). There are also four works by James Bama, including Chester Medicine Crow with his Father’s Peace Pipe and Medal, Crow Reservation, Montana, a 1973 painting that is estimated at $30,00 to $50,000. Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953), Butterflies, Alberto, Taos Indian Boy, 1915, oil on canvas, 16 x 24” Estimate: $30/50,000

Outside of the Palm Beach grouping, the important lots continue with a work by another member of the Taos Society of Artists, Joseph Henry Sharp. The Sharp, titled Butterflies, Alberto, Taos Indian Boy (est. $30/50,000), is “certainly something we’re excited about,” says Ford. There also will be several other artists associated with the region represented in the auction, including two woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann, Processional (est. $12/18,000) and Bound For Taos (est. $8/12,000), Peter Hurd’s Winter Tracks (est. $25/35,000) and Emil Bisttram’s The Lookout (est. $15/25,000). Discussing the latter work, Ford says, “The Bisttram is gorgeous; it is really vibrant and colorful with the deep blues.”

Olaf C. Seltzer (1877-1957), Horse Thieves, oil on canvas, 20 x 30” Estimate: $50/70,000Three additional Sandzén paintings are included in the sale, bringing the total to six in the auction. “It’s a diverse selection of works by Sandzén,” says Ford of the items that include several depicting Colorado, one Kansas and one Utah. “His market is in demand, and people will be excited about these.” One of the highlights is Great Spires, Night, 1919, which has an estimate of $70,000 to $100,000.

Birger Sandzén (1871-1954), Great Spires, Night, 1919, oil on canvas, 48 x 36” Estimate: $70/100,000. Images courtesy Heritage Auctions, ha.com.

Other notables include a Frank Tenney Johnson work titled Ridin’ the Range (est. $30/50,000), a wildlife section that includes three pieces by Ken Carlson, and Albert Bierstadt’s Hetch-Hetchy Falls, California, which has an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000.

The sale will have a socially distanced, limited in-person audience, as well as online, telephone and absentee bidding. Previews are available by appointment at the headquarters.

American Art Signature Auction
May 7, 2021, 11 a.m.
Heritage Auctions, 2801 W. Airport Freeway, Dallas, TX 75261
(214) 528-3500, www.ha.com