An Important Collection

Bonhams’ Collection of G. Andrew Bjurman sale achieved more than $5 million

A phenomenal selection of Western art spanning 150 years achieved stellar results during The Collection of G. Andrew Bjurman sale at Bonhams. In total, the auction reached $5,436,720, with 100 percent sold by value and numerous six-figure hammers.

“The collection’s earliest works are examples by intrepid artists involved in Western exploration and expansion who were very early chroniclers of the Indigenous people they encountered, including paintings by Alfred Jacob Miller, William De La Montague Cary and Thomas Moran,” says Bonhams Western art specialist Katherine Halligan. The core strength of the collection, she says, is the offerings by the Taos Society of Artists members who worked in Taos in the late teens and early 1920s.Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952), The Ancient Forest of the Indians, oil on canvas, 25 x 30” Estimate: $300/500,000 SOLD: $542,175“The selection of Walter Ufer, for example, is the finest and largest group of works by the artist to have come at once to auction in many years, and our buyers responded accordingly with spirited bidding and wonderful selling results for Andy’s foundation,” Halligan adds. Ufer’s The Water Women sold for $567,375, more than double its low estimate of $250,000. “I was very gratified to see how strongly important Western art collectors responded to…The Water Women. The female-dominant composition is rare for the artist, and it is one of the finest examples to have come up at auction in recent years,” says Halligan.Walter Ufer (1876-1936), The Water Women, oil on canvas, 30 x 30”, signed lower right: ‘WUfer’ and signed again and titled (on the stretcher bar). Estimate: $250/350,000 SOLD: $567,375“I am really drawn to the truncated foreground dominant composition of the four women, two with decorated ollas balanced on their heads…I love the bright colors on the figures’ garments and the extremely fine painting technique on the elaborate geometric designs of the vessels.”Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), Chollas Against the Mountains, oil on canvas laid to artist’s board, 27 x 32” Estimate: $120/180,000 SOLD: $227,175Another major work in the sale Oscar E. Berninghaus’ The Ancient Forest of the Indians, which surpassed its high estimate of $500,000 when it sold for $542,175. Halligan adds, “This was essentially the first painting I saw when I walked into Andy Bjurman’s Los Angeles home for the first time, and it immediately drew me in. The dense cottonwood canopy has the most extraordinary bravura brushwork, and the figures, horses and dog are painted in fine detail and sophisticated sunlight and shadow. I have never really seen a Berninghaus quite like The Ancient Forest of the Indians, and I’m thrilled with the robust result we achieved for such a fine example painted in the prime of the Taos Society of Artists period.”Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939), Rim Rock Wrangler, oil on canvas, 28 x 36”, signed and dated lower left: ‘F. Tenney Johnson / NA / 1935’. Estimate: $250/350,000 SOLD: $315,375Additional top lots in the sale include two works by Frank Tenney Johnson, Rim Rock Wrangler and An Idle Dreamer, which sold for $315,375 and $239,775, respectively. Joseph Henry Sharp’s Spring Hunting Talk broke past its $250,000 high estimate when it achieved $277,575, and Maynard Dixon’s Chollas against the Mountains (est. $120/180,000) sold for $227,175. The piece is a strong example of Dixon’s late works while the artist was living in Tucson, Arizona. —

Top 10 Lots: Bonhams, The Collection of G. Andrew Bjurman, November 1, 2022, (including buyer’s premium)
Artist Title Low /High Estimate SOLD
Walter Ufer The Water Women $250/350,000 $567,375
Oscar E. Berninghaus The Ancient Forest of the Indians $300/500,000 $542,175
Frank Tenney Johnson Rim Rock Wrangler $250/350,000 $315,375
Joseph Henry Sharp Spring Hunting Talk $150/250,000 $277,575
Ernest L. Blumenschein Church at Chimayo $70/90,000 $277,575
Walter Ufer A Storm Brewing $120/180,000 $252,375
Frank Tenney Johnson An Idle Dreamer $250/350,000 $239,775
Maynard Dixon Chollas Against the Mountains $120/180,000 $227,175
Walter Ufer Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico $200/300,000 $214,575
Walter Ufer February Sun $100/150,000 $201,975