On May 29 and 30, the Santa Fe Art Auction will be offering Art of the West, an online sale featuring around 300 lots of Western art. Though the sale will be online, and was always intended to be online, it will mark an exciting time for Santa Fe as visitors return, businesses open their doors and events start taking place again after a long period of lockdown due to the pandemic.
Jim Carson, Entering Old Santa Fe, oil on canvas, 45½ x 67¾” Estimate: $10/15,000
"Everybody can come in and we expect to see a lot of foot traffic,” says Joshua Rose, senior vice president at Santa Fe Art Auction. “One of the great things we have going for us here are these two beautiful showrooms and, unlike some other auctions, every auction we hold is a full exhibition that is on view before the sale…People need their Santa Fe fix, so now that we’re opening up it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), The Corral, ink wash and graphite on paper, 9 x 11¾” Estimate: $9/12,000
The auction house is known for a variety of sales throughout any given year, including sales highlighting Native American artwork and New Mexico modernism, but Art of the West will focus on several key aspects within Western art, including cowboy and Old West art, as well as works from the Cowboy Artists of America, say president and CEO Gillian Blitch.
Noteworthy lots in the sale include Thomas Hart Benton’s The Corral, an ink wash and graphite on paper, estimated at $9,000 to $12,000, and Clyde Aspevig’s 2009 oil piece The Deerfield River, estimated at $4,000 to $6,000. CA sculptor Bill Nebeker will be represented by his 2017 bronze Livin’ the Life, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000. William Moyers, another CA member, will be in the sale with his work Time Out for Warming (est. $2/4,000). The painting shows a cowboy and his horse amid the glow of a small campfire.
Oleg Stavrowsky (1927-2020), How Are the Beans Holding Up?, oil on canvas, 30 x 50” Estimate: $6/9,000Jim Carson, whose large works of North American history have captivated collectors for decades, will be offering a new work through the sale, Entering Old Santa Fe, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. The 67-inch-wide work shows several key Santa Fe destinations, including the Palace of the Governors and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
The late Oleg Stavrowsky, another icon of Santa Fe, will have two works in the sale: How Are the Beans Holding Up? (est. $6/9,000) and A Good Cowboy Day (est. $2/4,000). Stavrowsky, who passed away in 2020, was a popular and prominent figure around Santa Fe and was known by many of the locals.
Mort KÜnstler, Apache Round-Up, 1974, oil on canvas, 24 x 32” Estimate: $4/6,000
Illustrator and Civil War painter Mort Künstler will have a strong Western piece in the sale, Apache Round-Up, estimated at $4,000 to $6,000. The work was painted for a 1979 Hammer Gallery show titled Epic Paintings of America, and was published in two of Künstler’s books: Images of the Old West and Mort Künstler’s Old West – Indians.
William Moyers (1916-2010), Time Out for Warming, oil on canvas, 11¾ x 8½” Estimate: $2/4,000
Additionally, Art of the West will also feature a number of pieces of classic Western ranch furniture, as well as an 1898 Brewster carriage in near perfect condition that is coming from the famous Saddleback Ranch in New Mexico, estimated at $30,000 to $40,000.
Art of the West
May 29-30, 2021
Santa Fe Art Auction, 932 Railfan Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(505) 954-5858, www.santafeartauction.com
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