John Moran Auctioneers will present Western art, including some very unique artifacts, on September 12 in Monrovia, California. The sale, Art of the American West,is part of the auction house’s popular series of Western sales that have attracted collectors of all stripes as works from many price points hit the auction block.
H. David Wright, The Lonely Land, acrylic on board, 20 x 36” Estimate: $5/7,000
Works available in the sale include H. David Wright’s painting The Lonely Land, a dramatically composed work that shows three riders crossing a vast snow-covered valley. Of particular interest in the painting, besides the gorgeous mountain range that fills the frame, is the lead rider who turns back as if to encourage his travel companions, whose slumped shoulders seem to suggest exhaustion and fatigue. The work is estimated at $5,000 to $7,000.
Marjorie Lee (1901-1986), Woman with Fish, oil on canvas, 26 x 22” Estimate: $4/6,000
Another painting showing a large landscape with small figures is G. Russell Case’s Skies of Autumn,estimated at $5,000 to $7,000. The painting has magnificent clouds that hang over fall leaves and several figures. Case’s landscapes are known for their small figures, which give scale to his paintings of land and sky.
G. Russell Case, Skies of Autumn, oil on linen laid to board, 20 x 22” Estimate: $5/7,000
Elsewhere in the sale is Alson Skinner Clark’s California Pioneers, a loosely painted work that shows numerous figures around a stalled wagon train. The painting is estimated at $7,000 to $9,000. Marjorie Lee will be represented with a figurative work, Woman with Fish, which has bold colors and a strong composition. The piece is estimated at $4,000 to $6,000.
Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), The Education of Egbert: The Making of a Man in the School of Experience, ink drawings of individual characters on wove paper, plus typed title page and variant title page, synopsis, character list and 109 scene descriptions for this Western screenplay on numerous sheets of wove paper, some of the typed pages with pencil or ink annotations by the artist/author, and beige paper with metal clasp outer storage envelope of the period inscribed in pencil: “Writings – Ideas for movies, etc.” Estimate: $7/9,000
Two curious items in the sale come from painter Maynard Dixon, though they are not paintings. The first lot is The Education of Egbert: The Making of a Man in the School of Experience, which is a collection of ink drawings showing characters in a story. Included with the drawings are a title page, synopsis, character list and 109 scene descriptions for a Western screenplay. On some of the pages, Dixon makes annotated notes. The whole set of papers and drawings are estimated at $7,000 to $9,000.
Alson Skinner Clark (1876-1949), California Pioneers, oil on canvas, 30 x 38” Estimate: $7/9,000
Another Dixon lot is the Book of Wisdom, a 28-page manuscript in a file folder. The pages contain simple sayings and drawings. On one page, Dixon writes: “It’s a [poor] dawg that won’t scratch his own flea.” On the last page, there is a drawing of Dixon as a wizard. —
Art of the American West
September 12, 2023
John Moran Auctioneers, 145 E. Walnut Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 793-1833, www.johnmoran.com
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