On the corner of Scottsdale Road and Main Street stands a lifesize wooden sign of a cowboy twirling a lasso. He’s there to greet visitors to Scottsdale, Arizona, known by many as the “West’s Most Western Town.” Across the street, nearly close enough for that lasso to snag the handle on the front door, is the home of the Scottsdale Art Auction,where Western art shines throughout the Southwest.
Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952), The Edge of the Foothills, oil on board, 24¼ x 30¼ in. Estimate: $175/275,000This location, right in the heart of the Scottsdale Arts District, will once again host the annual Scottsdale Art Auction sale, this year on April 11 and 12. More than 450 lots will be offered, from traditional to contemporary, in mediums that include bronze, oil, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal and much more.
Auction partner Brad Richardson says it’s a great time to buy and sell Western art. “I think there’s a general optimism right now in the market, and that optimism will carry through to our sale,” he says. “It always helps to have great examples from many of the best artists, which our sale will have. We have important works on both the historic side and on the contemporary side with living artists.”
Philip R. Goodwin (1881-1935), The Northwood King – Calling the Moose, oil, 25 x 36 in. Estimate: $375/475,000
The sale will feature two sessions, the first on April 11, and the second on April 12. Prior to the start of the second session, the auction will offer around 60 Maynard Dixon works from the A.P. Hays collection.
Highlights from the sale include Thomas Moran’s On the Hance Trail – Grand Canyon, estimated at $750,000 to $1 million. Moran’s Grand Canyon paintings are some of the most treasured works within American landscape painting, so buzz is already building on this work, Richardson says. The artist painted a great deal from the South Rim, but this work goes deeper into the canyon, on a trail blazed by John Hance, who first entered the canyon in 1883.
Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), Offering to the Great Spirit, oil, 35 x 46 in. Estimate: $400/600,000
Highlights in the sale will also include a number of examples from Taos Society of Artists members. One early highlight is Oscar E. Berninghaus’ The Edge of the Foothills, which shows several Native American figures in the shade as remarkable light drenches a valley beneath them. The painting is estimated at $175,000 to $275,000. Other works from TSA members are Eanger Irving Couse’s An Offering to the Great Spirit (sometimes titled as Pipe Ceremony) (est. $400/600,000), Joseph Henry Sharp’s Cheyenne Camp (est. $175/275,000) and pieces by Julius Rolshoven and Victor Higgins.
Charles M. Russell will be represented in the sale by several pieces, one of them Navajo Wild Horse Hunters (est. $300/500,000), a gouache work inspired by a 1916 trip to Northern Arizona. The lot immediately after that piece is Russell’s Center Fire Man on a Bronc(est. $135/185,000), showing a rider twirling a lasso.
Top: Thomas Moran (1837-1926), On the Hance Trail – Grand Canyon, oil, 14½ x 20 in. Estimate: $750/1,000,000; Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953), Cheyenne Camp, oil, 25 x 30 in. Estimate: $175/275,000. Bottom: Henry Farny (1847-1916), Nomads, oil, 22 x 40 in. Estimate: $900/1,200,000
The sale will also have several Edward Borein works from the Will Rogers Collection. Rogers, the actor and performer, was given the pieces by the artist. Years later, Rogers selected the pieces for his personal collection before he deeded his ranch, barn and property to the state of California for what would become the Will Rogers State Historic Park. Sadly, the Palisades Fire destroyed the ranch, barn and much of the art collection in January 2025. The Borein pieces in the sale represent some of the last surviving works from the Will Rogers Collection.
Other historic works in the sale include Henry Farny’s important 1902 painting Nomads (est. $900/1,200,000), Frank Tenney Johnson’s nocturne canyon painting Lone Rider (est. $225/300,000) and Fritz Scholder’s Indians and Persian Rug (est. $100/150,000). Additional artists with works available are Charles Schreyvogel, Edgar Payne, Carl Oscar Borg, John Clymer and Philip R. Goodwin, whose iconic work The Northwood King – Calling the Moose (est. $375/475,000) will be offered. Another artist represented well in the sale is Gerard Curtis Delano, who will have several key pieces available, including The Fur Traders (est. $250/350,000), which is one of his famous canoe scenes.
Fritz Scholder (La Jolla Band of Luiseño, 1937-2005), Indians and Persian Rug, acrylic, 30 x 40 in. Estimate: $100/150,000
The work of G. Harvey usually has a strong presence at the Scottsdale Art Auction, and this year is no exception. Harvey’s The American Dream will be available to bidders. The work, showing the United States Capitol, is a critical piece for the artist, who included the image on the cover of the second edition of his book, The Golden Era: The American Dream. The piece, estimated at $250,000 to $350,000, is part of four-piece series from 1992 called the Treasury Collection: Symbols of the Republic. In addition to the four original oil paintings in the series, Harvey also produced a series of prints that would help fund a renovation project at the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. “Inspired by the dignity and elegance of our nation’s capital city, G. Harvey created four masterpieces of its most enduring symbols—that will stir emotions of patriotism and pride in all,” wrote Randy Best in Harvey’s book.
John Coleman, The Greeter, bronze, 72 in. Estimate: $50/75,000; G. Harvey (1933-2017), The American Dream, oil, 48 x 36 in. Estimate: $250/350,000
Interestingly, not long after it was completed, The American Dream was loaned from Harvey’s personal collection to the Art in Embassies program within the U.S. Department of State. The painting hung at the U.S. embassy in Moscow for at least a year during a pivotal period after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), Navajo Wild Horse Hunters, gouache on paper, 13½ x 18½ in. Estimate: $300/500,000; Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939), Lone Rider, oil, 24 x 29 in. Estimate: $225/300,000
In addition to historic work, the sale is also known for its inclusion of works by living Western artists. Artists represented are David Mann, John Moyers, Carrie Ballantyne, John Coleman, Bonnie Marris, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Kyle Polzin, Mark Maggiori and many others. Highlights from this section of the sale include a Don Oelze action scene, Last Stand at San Miguel, estimated at $18,000 to $24,000; Arizona painter Curt Walters’ Grand Canyon (est. $35/50,000); Jerry Jordan’s oil painting of the Taos Pueblo, Transcends the Purely Visible, will be available with estimates of $45,000 to $65,000; and Thomas Blackshear’s High Hat, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.
Ed Mell (1942-2024), Eye of the Storm, oil, 42 x 48 in. Estimate: $35/45,000
Bidding will start for the first session on April 11 at 1 p.m. On April 12, bidding for the Maynard Dixon works in the Hays collection will start at 10 a.m., which will be followed shortly after with the second session at 1 p.m. The sale will be held live with options available for absentee bidding and online bidding. —
Scottsdale Art Auction
April 11-12, 2025
Session I, April 11, 1 p.m.
A.P. Hays Maynard Dixon Collection, April 12, 10 a.m.
Session II, April 12, 1 p.m.
7176 Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 945-0225
www.scottsdaleartauction.com
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