During the 2025 Jackson Hole Art Auction, artwork was flying off the auction block with a purpose—over estimate, numerous bidders, frequently breaking records. When the dust settled, the auction house had achieved a company record of $13.5 million in sales. At the time, managing director Kevin Doyle theorized that a record-shattering sale would make 2026’s sale even better. Consigners would take notice, he said.
And he was right. The 2026 sale, scheduled for September 19, is not only seeing a high number of exceptional consignments, but also new consignors from all parts of the art market.
William Herbert “Buck” Dunton (1878-1936), October Aspens, oil on canvas, 14 x 14 in. Estimate: $200/400,000“We’ve always had successful sales, but last year was a milestone auction, the best in the company’s history. We had high results and active bidding—full interest across the board. It certainly put us in the minds of people who may have not considered us previously. It felt good for us as a company,” Doyle says. “That has turned into something more exciting for this year’s sale. Good sales beget good consignments, and we’re seeing that this year.”
Doyle says the auction house has already taken in close to 400 lots, with a handful of other key works still filtering in. One of those later consignments brought in three major works from a trio of important painters from Taos, New Mexico: William Herbert “Buck” Dunton, E. Martin Hennings and Eanger Irving Couse. All three are top-tier works for the September sale.
Walter Ufer (1876-1936), The Bake Oven, 1922, oil on linen, 25 x 30 in. Estimate: $500/700,000The Dunton painting is October Aspens, which is estimated at $200,000 to $400,000. “We’re excited about all three, but the Dunton is especially nice. [Dunton scholar] Michael Grauer is writing our Dunton entry in the catalog. That piece is a gem. It comes from a period when he was painting wildlife,” Doyle says. “It’s a group of deer looking right at the viewer. It’s incredibly modern with a background of aspens and evergreens.”
The Hennings painting is titled Watering Their Horses, featuring two Native American riders waiting as their horses drink from a mountain stream. The perspective of the painting is from a higher elevation, looking through trees with autumn leaves. It’s estimated at $200,000 to $400,000. The Hennings, Couse and Dunton are all fresh to the market and are being sold to benefit the Western Heritage Education Campus in La Junta, Colorado.
W.H.D. Koerner (1878-1938), Bunch Quitters, 1927, oil on canvas, 24 x 421⁄8 in. Estimate: $50/75,000
Another major work from Taos comes from Walter Ufer, The Bake Oven from 1922. The painting shows a robed figure using a long stick to stoke or possibly remove something from a round outdoor oven. The painting is estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.
One of the more closely watched pieces is Charles M. Russell’s 1902 watercolor “Buccaroos” from the N - N on the Big Dry, showing two cowboys chasing down a stray. Russell watercolors from this period, and with this cowboy subject, are very popular and bidders are likely to respond. It’s estimated at $300,000 to $500,000. Another cowboy painting comes from artist-illustrator W.H.D. Koerner, who created Bunch Quitters in 1927. The work shows a single cowboy chasing down horses. The piece is estimated at $50,000 to $75,000.
Logan Maxwell Hagege, The Call of the Canyon, 2019, oil on linen mounted to board, 43 x 32 in. Estimate: $60/90,000
In the wildlife category, the sale will have at least four Bob Kuhn paintings, all of them knockouts that show his skill with animal poses, composition and subject matter. And each one features a different animal, from a leopard and moose to a bear and bison. The pieces are On the Prod (est. $60/90,000), Prince or Prey (est. $50/75,000), August Afternoon: Bison (est. $100/150,000) and Leopard (est. $100/200,000). The bison painting is noteworthy because it was commissioned from the artist and has never been seen publicly. Wildlife master Carl Rungius will also have a work in the sale, the landscape Mount Assiniboine (est. $50/75,000).
Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), “Buccaroos” from the N - N on the Big Dry, 1902, watercolor on paper, 19¾ x 285⁄8 in. Estimate: $300/500,000
G. Harvey, whose works are normally blockbusters in Western sales, will have two major lots: Rawhide and Roughnecks (est. $300/500,000) and Morning Glow Through Powder Snow (est. $150/250,000). Rawhide and Roughnecks should be popular among bidders because it has many of the hallmarks of a great Harvey painting: small Western town, figures riding straight at the viewer, a figure in a yellow slicker, and oil derricks in the background.
E. Martin Hennings (1886-1956), Watering Their Horses, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in. Estimate: $200/400,000
Bob Kuhn (1920-2007), August Afternoon: Bison, 2002, acrylic on board, 18 x 28 in. Estimate: $100/150,000
Ed Mell (1942-2024), Valley Tower, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in. Estimate: $55/85,000
Elsewhere in the sale is Ed Mell’s Valley Tower (est. $55/85,000), Billy Schenck’s Drive to Coyote Creek (est. $15/25,000), Logan Maxwell Hagege’s The Call of the Canyon (est. $60/90,000) and an incredibly modern work from Diné painter Emmi Whitehorse titled Mt. Taylor Series #661 (est. $25/45,000).
Finally, the sale will include a silver gelatin print of Ansel Adams’ The Teton Range and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942. Estimated at $25,000 to $35,000, it is a smaller version of the same photo that sold for $312,000 at the 2024 Jackson Hole Art Auction.
G. Harvey (1933-2017), Rawhide and Roughnecks, 1986, oil on canvas, 35½ x 47½ in. Estimate: $300/500,000
Other artists represented in the sale are Tucker Smith, Ken Carlson, Conrad Schwiering, Robert Peters, William Gollings, Ogden Pleissner and many others. Many of the works go on display months before the sale at the auction house’s headquarters on the Jackson Hole Town Square. The auction itself will be held within walking distance, at the Jackson Center for the Arts. Bidding starts at noon.
In addition to this year’s auction, Jackson Hole Art Auction is also hosting the new Mark Maggiori show, Rise of the Western Lights, on September 18. The entire show will be offered via auction. The auctioneer for both the Jackson Hole Art Auction and the Maggiori show is Jason Brooks. —
Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), The Artist (Painting of the Skin), 1916, oil on board, 21 x 25 in. Estimate: $80/120,000
Jackson Hole Art Auction
September 19, 2026
Jackson Hole Center for the Arts
240 S. Glenwood Jackson Hole, WY 83001
(307) 734-9739
www.jacksonholeartauction.com
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