Western Art at East Coast Prices
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 9:50PM Tweet By Donna Poulton
Sotheby’s New York, highlights from:
The American Indian Art Auction: 18 May 2011 and
The American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture Auction: 19 May 2011
Masterworks of the American West continue to do well at auction reaching and breaking the high estimates. I had to look twice as I reviewed the records at the American Indian Art auction. The sale of an Oglala Sioux War Shirt from the collection of James and Michele Mangan was slated to sell between a low estimate of $250,000 and a high estimate of $350,000. When the bidding quit and the hammer came down, it had sold for $2,658,500, a staggering $2,300,000 over the high estimate.
Credit: Sotheby’s, New York
A day later on the 19th, two of the finest paintings at the Sotheby’s American Painting auction were sold from the collection of the Wichita Center for the Arts. I can only wonder what the board was thinking to let these two paintings, by founding members of the Taos Society of Artists, leave their collection. With the buyer’s premium, both Walter Ufer’s (1876 – 1936) After the Chapel Hour, and Ernest L. Blumenschein’s (1874–1960) White Blanket and Blue Spruce sold for over estimate at $818,500 and $1,538,500 respectively.
Credit: Sotheby’s, New York
Credit: Sothebys New York