Few subjects are as iconic in Western art as the horse. The animal will be the star of the next online auction hosted by Coeur d’Alene Art Auction on November 9. Major horse works by Charles M. Russell, William R. Leigh, Maynard Dixon, Frank Tenney Johnson and many others will be available to bidders.
Thomas Hart Benton (1889- 1975), White Bluffs, Buffalo River, 1973, tempera on board, 9½ x 14 in. Estimate: $150/250,000
One of the stars of the sale, and the cover lot of the printed catalog, is Russell’s 1897 oil The Rattlesnake, showing a horse and rider reacting to a coiled-up snake ready to strike. The work is estimated at $250,000 to $350,000. The piece comes from the Robert “Bob” Reed collection. The late collector, who lived in Jacksonville, Florida, had a sharp eye.
“He was a very practical collector and he kept a low profile, but he was also a tremendous collector,” says auction partner Mike Overby. “He acquired much of his collection in the late 1990s and early 2000s.…We will have about 55 works from that collection, and many of them are highlights of the sale.”
William R. Leigh (1866- 1955), Riding Cowboy, 1915, oil on board, 12½ x 16¼ in. Estimate: $80/120,000
Other Reed pieces include Leigh’s 1915 oil Riding Cowboy, Johnson’s oil Trail of the Paleface, and Dixon’s 1944 oil Where Them Hosses?, each estimated at $80,000 to $120,000.
One Reed work not featuring a horse, or originating from the West, is Thomas Hart Benton’s 1973 tempera White Bluffs, Buffalo River,showing three men fishing in a boat within a dramatic landscape. The work is estimated at $150,000 to $250,000. “This is an absolute killer piece,” Overby adds. “It’s small but its phenomenal.”
Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), The Rattlesnake, 1897, oil on board, 12¼ x 18½ in. Estimate: $250/350,000
Other works that will be available include three Olaf C. Seltzer oils, a Joseph Henry Sharp work from his time in Montana, a William Gollings cowboy painting, a Thomas Moran Grand Tetons oil, a Charles Schreyvogel bronze and an Andrew Wyeth farm scene.
In addition to the Reed collection, the online sale will also feature highlights from the Red McCombs collection, which was prominently offered at Coeur d’Alene Art Auction’s annual July sale in Reno, Nevada. More than 30 works from that collection will be available to bidders.
The sale will feature as many as 250 lots. “We’ve been growing in leaps and bounds with this online sale. We started it in 2020. At that time, we had about 60 lots,” he says. “The sale started as a necessity during the pandemic, but now it’s a full-on sale that many bidders are excited to tune into.”
Maynard Dixon (1875 -1946), Where’s Them Hosses?, 1944, oil on board, 12 x 16 in. Estimate: $80/120,000
The auction will be held entirely online with a live auctioneer, Western staple Troy Black. There will be no formal preview, though collectors can make an appointment prior to the sale. Most of the works will be in the auction house’s headquarters in Hayden, Idaho, with some of the works being available to view in Reno. Call the auction house to make an appointment. —
Coeur d’Alene Art Auction Online Sale
November 9, 2024
Online
(208) 772-9009, www.cdaartauction.com
Powered by Froala Editor
