Heritage Auctions | May 15, 2024 | Dallas, TX

The American West

Heritage Auctions’ upcoming American sale has a significant portion of Western lots among the offerings.

Heritage Auctions hosts a dedicated Western sale at least twice a year, but keen collectors know to also watch many of its other sales, including auctions related to California art, American illustration, Native American art, Texas art and in the seasonal American Art Signature Sales. It’s in these sales, tucked in within other genres, where Western art shines, like veins of gold glittering amid grey granite.

John Clymer (1907-1989), Rustic Daydreams (Abandoned Equipment), South of Jackson, Wyoming, Saturday Evening Post, cover, May 23, 1959, oil on board, 30 x 28 in. Estimate: $70/100,000

The next American sale will take place May 15 in Dallas, where around 75 lots will be offered. Alissa Ford, Heritage’s Western specialist, estimates around 15 works will be Western, with many others that should interest Western collectors.

“It says so much about the West. It speaks tremendously about how the West is not just regional art. It can be included in our American sales, or illustration. There really is a bigger collector group out there and the Western market touches much more than we realize,” Ford says. “All of our sales tie together and blend, and Western is right there in all of it. It’s fun for collectors because they can hunt down the Western pieces they’re looking for, but they also see other work that they may like.”

Glenna Goodacre (1939-2020), Jill, 1983, bronze with green and brown patina, ed. 12 of 15, 58 in. Estimate: $15/25,000

Key works in the sale include John Clymer’s 1959 Saturday Evening Post cover Rustic Daydreams (Abandoned Equipment), South of Jackson, Wyoming, which shows a young boy, his horse at his side, playing amid the rusty skeletons of cars and tractors. The work is estimated at $70,000 to $100,000. “This is one of his best Saturday Evening Post covers. It’s just iconic and the subject matter is intriguing about the changing landscape and the disappearance of the Old West,” Ford says. “It’s an exciting picture and completely fresh to the market. I’m very excited to have this one.”

G. Harvey (1933-2017), Powder Snow Morning, 1996, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in. Estimate: $50/70,000

Also available is a brilliantly painted G. Harvey work, Powder Snow Morning from 1996. The snowy scene has a warm glow that brings light to the center of the canvas. The work is estimated at $50,000 to $70,000, which Ford says is quite conservative for a Harvey of this subject and quality.

An interesting work from Joseph Henry Sharp will be offered titled Hudson River and Warships. Painted in 1909, the piece originated during a trip to New York. The journey east was necessary because Sharp was injured when a hot coal popped from his fireplace and struck his eye. It was during this trip to his New York eye doctor that Sharp painted this rare scene of battleships. The piece is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.