John Moran Auctioneers | April 7, 2026 | Monrovia, CA

Competitive Focus

Collectors can explore an impressive selection of Western and Native American art during John Moran's April sale.

By Alyssa M. Tidwell

This spring, John Moran Auctioneers will hold the latest edition of the Art of the American West sale, featuring a significant selection of fresh-to-market works sourced from across the country. Fine art in the upcoming sale includes classic works by John Mulvaney, Kathryn Woodman Leighton and Edward Borein, as well as later works by Oscar Howe, Don Oelze, Charles Fracé, Kevin Red Star and more. The auction will also offer several traditional Navajo works including weavings, saddle blankets, wool tapestries and jewelry. Among the decorative items on offer are vases, bowls and bronze, as well as a selection of American Arts and Crafts furniture.

Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota, 1915-1983), War Dancer, ca. 1960, casein on paper, 24 x 18 in. Estimate: $150/250,000

In total, collectors will be able to compete for more than 250 lots of historic and contemporary Western art, sculpture, Native American artifacts and decorative arts, making for a highly energetic auction experience. Highlights in the forthcoming sale include Howe’s War Dancer, painted with casein around 1960. The piece has a presale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. “The painting was acquired by the parents of our consignor in 1961, directly from the artist. The following year it was in a show at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha and is recorded in the University of South Dakota’s Oscar Howe database,” explains Katherine Halligan, fine art director at John Moran Auctioneers. “The painting is so incredible in person, [and] Howe’s command of the challenging medium of casein is on full display in this portrait. The figure is so precisely and confidently executed and the ombre background effects are absolutely mesmerizing.”

John Mulvany (1844-1906), Preliminary Trial of a Horse Thief, Scene in a Western Justice’s Court, 1876, oil on canvas, 48 x 72 in. Estimate: $20/30,000

Also featured is an 1876 oil by Mulvany titled Preliminary Trial of a Horse Thief, Scene in a Western Justice’s Court, featuring a group of men in a dark room waiting to deliver judgement to a criminal. “The monumental painting took three years to complete, made from Mulvany’s on-site drawings completed during the trial of Joe Hickman,” Halligan says. “Nicknamed Guerilla Joe for his lawless life in the frontier settlements of Kansas and Missouri, the prisoner was accused of horse theft in this trial but was also known for setting houses on fire and general guerilla warfare. Thirteen figures in the packed interior saloon are identified, including Frank Kimball, the sheriff; both attorneys and other court clerks; and Jimmy Hickman, the prisoner’s son. The painting was shown at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1876 where it received critical praise in the press. Mulvany paints in an exceptionally fine academic style, but his subjects are purely authentic American Western characters.” The painting is estimated to bring in between $20,000 and $30,000.

Kathryn Woodman Leighton (1875-1952), Navajo Indian Rug Weaver, oil on canvas, 44 x 36 in. Estimate: $18/22,000

Other highlights include Leighton’s stunning oil Navajo Indian Rug Weaver, depicting a Native American woman working intently on her loom, estimated to fetch around $18,000 to $22,000; as well as Cheyenne painter Benjamin ‘Bennie’ Buffalo’s 1977 oil Nohnicas, a bold figurative work featuring sharply contrasting reds and blues, which has a presale estimate of $6,000 to $8,000.

“As historic property is less available while increasingly more competitive to source, we are seeing a refocus toward works by many fantastic contemporary practitioners, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous,” Halligan adds.