With a 95 percent sell-through rate and sales totaling more than $4.6 million, the Lone Star Art Auctionreturned to Texas with a strong showing of American art. The sale, which leans into numerous different American genres, is still primarily a Western sale, which was reflected in many of the top lots.
John Nieto (1936-2018), Gathering of Nations War Dancer, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 68 in. Estimate: $45/65,000 SOLD: $81,250
Coming out on top was G. Harvey’s early 1980s painting Wall Street (est. $200/300,000) which sold for $252,000. One of the most famous Western artists from Texas, Harvey had numerous works in the sale, a number of them selling for over estimates.
Other highlights were Frank Tenney Johnson’s The Lawless Frontier (est. $200/300,000) that sold for $195,000, Bert Geer Phillips’ Taos Indian with Pony (est. $70/90,000) that sold for $156,000 and Julian Onderdonk’s In the Land of the Spanish Oak, Southwest Texas (est. $150/200,000) that sold at $156,000.
Bert Geer Phillips (1868-1956), Taos Indian with Pony, oil on board, 27 3/8 x 21 ¾ in. Estimate: $70/90,000 SOLD: $156,000
Other artists with high results were Martin Grelle, Ansel Adams, Howard Terpning and Eanger Irving Couse.
John Nieto’s Gathering of Nations War Dancer, with a high estimate of $65,000, went the distance when it sold for $81,250. The piece was a hair short—$650, to be precise—of Nieto’s record of $81,900, set last year.
Sale owner Phil Berkebile, who noted he was happy with the results and the excitement of the bidders, is already fast at work on the 2026 sale. —
Powered by Froala Editor
