John Moran Auctioneers will be holding the summer edition of its Art of the American Westsale on June 4. The auction is set to feature an exciting and robust array of fine art from both historic and contemporary artists.
Curt Walters, California landscape, oil on canvas, 34 x 50 in. Estimate: $10/15,000
Known for his casein and tempera paintings, Yanktonai Dakota artist Oscar Howe has some of the top lots to look out for in the upcoming auction. “We have two works by Oscar Howe coming up in our Art of the American West sale that collectors will be very excited to see,” says Jennifer Wilson, fine art director at John Moran. “Since we established new world auction records for Howe last year, there has been no [other] public auction sales of the artists’ work.”
Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota, 1915-1983), Smoke Signals, ca. 1953, casein on paper, 25¾ x 7 in. Estimate: $80/100,000
Wilson adds that the two works, both casein on paper, come from J. Leonard Jennewein, one of Howe’s friends and a professor at Dakota Wesleyan University, where Howe finished his undergraduate studies. “It is possible the two became friends later when Howe was teaching at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. A professor like Howe, Jennewein taught English and later history of the Middle Border area—Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming—and was a curator of the Friends of the Middle Border Museum,” Wilson explains.
Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota, 1915-1983), Blessings for Fertility, casein on paper, 12 x 18 in. Estimate: $40/60,000
“The work, Smoke Signals, [from around] 1953, was to be adapted to copy paper letterhead, but it is not known if this ever happened,” she says. The other piece, Blessings for Fertility, from around 1957, was created for Jennewein’s son as a wedding present wishing the new couple a happy life together with children on the horizon. “The works are a wonderful example of Howe’s work transformed from traditional painting to his groundbreaking modernist era. Smoke Signals…is a remarkable work, created at the inception of Howe’s distinctive and new modernist approach to painting…Blessings for Fertility was created a little later in his traditional style, possibly because the work was created as a formal wedding gift.” Smoke Signals has a presale estimate of $80,000 to $100,000, while Blessings for Fertility is estimated to fetch between $40,000 to $60,000.
Marjorie Jane Reed (1915-1996), Winter Eve at Sam Day’s Chinle Trading Post” (Now Thunderbird Lodge), oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Estimate: $4/6,000
“Also, of note will be three works on paper by the Native American contemporary artist Jeffrey Gibson, who is representing the United States at the pinnacle of the art zeitgeist in this year’s Venice Biennale, which [opened] April 20,” says Wilson. “The three works are mixed media collages on paper and will be the only works known as of the date of this writing to come up for auction during the biennale. With estimates of $3,000 to $5,000, it will be interesting to see the market’s reaction when the hammer hits.” —
John Moran Auctioneers’ Art of the American West
June 4, 2024
John Moran Auctioneers
145 E. Walnut Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 793-1833, www.johnmoran.com
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