A Discerning Eye

Western artwork spanning 150 years will hit the auction block during Bonhams’ Collection of G. Andrew Bjurman sale.

A world-class collection of Western art, collected over decades by G. Andrew Bjurman at his homes in California and Colorado, will be offered during a single-owner sale at Bonhams. Taking place November 1 in Los Angeles, the sale features the collector’s sharp eye for quality and rarity through nearly 125 examples of historic and contemporary Western paintings, drawings, etchings and sculpture.Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939), An Idle Dreamer, oil on canvas, 24¼ x 30” Estimate: $250/350,000

Bidders will find museum-quality examples by William R. Leigh, Walter Ufer, Charles M. Russell, Maynard Dixon, Edward Borein, Frank Tenney Johnson, Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt, as well as works by Taos Society of Artists founders Oscar E. Berninghaus, Ernest L. Blumenschein and Joseph Henry Sharp. Rounding out contemporary offerings in the sale are works by Joe Beeler, James Reynolds, Robert Lougheed, Kim Wiggins and Jim Rey.Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952), The Ancient Forest of the Indians, oil on canvas, 25 x 30” Estimate: $300/500,000

“Ancient Forest of the Indians by Oscar Edmund Berninghaus is the top lot in the Bjurman collection by value, and one of the finest examples by the artist that I’ve seen in private hands,” says Katherine Halligan, Western art specialist at Bonhams. “The deep and saturated colors of the verdant forest and distant hills are rich and painterly, and Berninghaus effectively uses light and shadow to create drama that focuses on the central figure and white horse. The painting’s narrative, figure-rich, complex composition and high-key palette make this an exceptional example of the artist’s work.” The oil painting is expected to bring in $300,000 to $500,000.Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), Chollas Against the Mountains, oil on canvas laid to artist’s board, 27 x 32” Estimate: $120/180,000

Halligan also notes Johnson’s An Idle Dreamer, estimated at $250,000 to $350,000. “As the title…suggests, this masterwork showcases the artist’s ability to depict solitude on the Western range in a sympathetic and romantic way,” she says. The painting depicts a cowboy and his horse sitting close together during a quiet moment of respite, with a rocky Western landscape behind them. “Johnson’s skill at executing light filtered through the day’s extremes is on display, with the figural group painted in dusk tones, while long shadows in the foreground landscape give way to a dramatic end of day sunlit sky. This is an exceptionally fine work by the artist,” says Halligan.Walter Ufer (1876-1936), Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico, oil on canvas, 25 x 30” Estimate: $200/300,000 “When I first visited Andy at his warm and welcoming Pacific Palisades home, I was truly gobsmacked that such an exceptional group of Western paintings were quietly amassed in Los Angeles over the past few decades,” she adds. “Andy, fiercely private but very proud of his collection, had extraordinary taste and bought the very best examples he could find that encompass 150 years of Western American art.” —