Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017/ No.117 i Western Art Collector

On January 19 and 20, 2018, the Scottsdale Art Auction will host a one-time special auction for the Leanin’ Tree Museum & Sculpture Garden of Western Art in Boulder, Colorado. More than 600 lots will be on the auction block, including major works from some of Western art’s most iconic names: James Reynolds, Bob Kuhn, Kenneth Riley, Frank McCarthy, Melvin Warren, Martin Grelle and many others. Leanin’ Tree’s collection expanded largely due to its successful greeting card company, which was started in the years after World War II. While the greeting card company is still active and continues to churn out cards—the auction will have no effect on the business—the museum is set to close September 4. The museum’s founder, 92-year-old Ed Trumble, announced the news in a card to…

Lynn Estes Friess was born in upstate New York but frequently went camping in the West with her family. She recalls becoming acquainted with the wildlife of the West and even being chased by a bear in Yellowstone National Park. Like most people on the East Coast, she “had no idea about Western art.” She graduated from the University of Wisconsin where she met her husband, Foster Friess, and, in 1974, the two began a company, Friess Associates. When the family moved from the Brandywine Valley to Jackson, Wyoming, in 1992, it “opened doors and windows to a world I didn’t know. I gobbled it up.” And she learned. Today she is chair of the board of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming. She is also a…

Full disclosure: I’ve never trout fished in a fedora, like the gent in Ogden Pleissner’s Beaverkill Bridge, but it’s on my to-do list (I would say bucket list, but I’ll have to get to it long before the bucket looms). I have, however, fished under that very covered bridge—or one very like it—on the storied waters of the Beaverkill in the Catskill Mountains of New York, not too far from Manhattan’s stone and glass peaks. Upstream with Ogden Pleissner, a selection of the artist’s fishing pictures from the permanent collection of Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, now on view there, explores the landscapes that those of us who ply the fly rod live for. That place there. Then. Then as in a time in the past; then as a point in an…

Nicknamed the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico’s gorgeous landscapes have captured the minds of artists for centuries. From the cliffs of Shiprock, the snowcapped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, to the gypsum dunes of White Sands, the state has truly earned its nickname. The art scene in New Mexico began thousands of years ago with the mastercrafted pottery, jewelry, basketry, leather goods and clothing that originate from many of New Mexico’s Pueblos, including Taos, Acoma, San Ildefonso, Santo Domingo, Zuni and Santa Clara, to name a few. These Pueblos and the artists within them are the foundation of New Mexico’s art scene even today. The bedrock of Western art in the state is undeniably the historic Taos Society of Artists. In 1898, Ernest L. Blumenschein and Bert Geer…

UPCOMING SHOW Up to 80 works May 6-13, 2017 Settlers West Galleries 6420 N. Campbell Avenue Tucson, AZ 85718 (520) 299-2607 People rave about Arizona’s winters— how mild they are, how the snow is limited to only the high country, and how the desert radiates with color. But winter doesn’t provide a full picture of the desert. To appreciate the Arizona desert one must experience it during the summer. Even the summer of early May, a month or so before the sun scorches the rocky soil and even the birds and insects retreat to their hiding places to escape the heat. On May 6, Settlers West Galleries of Tucson, Arizona, returns with its annual Summer Show with a new exhibition of nearly 80 works from 42 artists. Guests and collectors…

On May 3, Heritage Auctions will host its first American Art Signature Auction of 2017, which will include 150 lots of fine artwork from all areas of the market. Approximately one-third of the sale will consist of historic and contemporary California and Western art offerings. “We are very proud of the sale and it’s all entirely fresh to the market, which is nice to see because our clients are looking for that,” says Aviva Lehmann, the auction house’s director of American art. One of the most notable items available is Thomas Moran’s Mountain Lion in Grand Canyon (Lair of the Mountain Lion), which is estimated at $600,000 to $800,000. The work, as Lehmann describes, is “a great visual of the American West, which is what he is known for.” Alissa…

Charles M. Russell. His name is on the event, the museum, much of the artwork and even the entire week in the middle of March in Great Falls, Montana. So it’s no surprise then that a work by Russell was the top lot at The Russell: An Exhibition and Sale to Benefit the C.M. Russell Museum on March 18 in the city that was once, and still, his home. The top lot, Following the Buffalo Run, fell just within its $1.25 million low estimate when it sold for $1,257,000 near the middle of an auction that would eventually go on to rack up more than $5 million in sales. The sale featured 17 Russell works, including oils, watercolors, bronzes, illustrated letters and small sketches— all but two of them sold.…

This month the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with a party to commemorate the important milestone and the opening of a new exhibition, Exploring Wildlife Art, which will feature a major, new reinstallation of the wildlife art gallery at the museum. Lynn Friess is the chair of the board at the museum. The 30th anniversary party will take place May 16, and offer a preview of Exploring Wildlife Art, which will open to the public the following day, on May 17. The exhibition will feature an updated gallery layout with engaging new stories exploring humanity’s relationship with wildlife and nature. “The installations will present old favorites, like Robert Bateman’s_Chief, alongside never-before-seen acquisitions. Emphasis will be placed on the art and history…

Erosion not only gave us the Grand Canyon but also the distinctive red rocks seen throughout the Southwest especially, on the Colorado Plateau. Exposure of sedimentary rock laid down at the bottom of an ocean hundreds of millions of years ago has caused the iron in the deposits to be exposed to the air and oxidized into many colors of yellow, orange and red. A distinctive, non-geological feature of the Colorado Plateau is the Four Corners where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico come together at a point. It is often referred to as Red Rock Country. Four Corners Monument is in the Navajo Nation, as are many of the regional parks including Monument Valley. A statement by Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation sums up the response to the region:…

Branding of animals as property can be traced back to ancient Egypt. The Romans branded animals with signs that carried protective spells. Today branding continues from the use of hot branding, which burns the identifying mark into the animal’s flesh, to freeze branding, which kills the color-making capacity of hair which grows back white. Martin Wittfooth’s startling Branded, 2017, revolves “around a pretty simple concept,” he says, “that of the human habit of symbolic branding as it relates to ideas of ownership and dominion, and the commodification of nature. The brands I’ve chosen to depict are a medley of symbols used by horse breeders.” Wittfooth has chosen primarily elaborate central-European brands. Even wild mustangs gathered on Bureau of Land Management lands in the United States have unique brands that indicate…

With a morning sale by Christie’s and an evening sale by Sotheby’s—both on May 23, both in New York City, and both featuring Western pieces mixed in with other American artworks—bidders will have two chances to take home incredible Western paintings and bronzes. The Christie’s sale will feature several likely blockbusters, including two major and massive Albert Bierstadt landscapes and a Frederic Remington bronze that has the potential to set a new artist world record. The Remington is Coming Through the Rye, one of the artist’s most iconic bronzes. It is the third casting of the famous bronze, as well as a lifetime cast. It’s estimated at $7 million to $10 million. If it sells at just the low estimate it would still break Remington’s auction record by nearly $2…

Now open at the Phippen Museum is By the Light of the Moon, an exhibition made up of nightscapes that explore the drama of dark landscapes and the mysterious lights of the night sky. Work from 54 artists, including Edward Aldrich, Bill Anton, Sheila Cottrell, Cody DeLong and Dave Drost, among others, will be on view. Cottrell draws inspiration from her pioneering ancestors as well as her own experiences. Her painting Cantina Noches will be on display at the exhibit. “Nocturnes are my favorite to paint. I grew up camping in the Chiricahua Mountains and have great memories of bright moonlit nights,” she explains. “Imagining the old adobe buildings I saw as a child traveling in Old Mexico in the moonlight was great fun to paint.” Sonoran Moonglow, Drost’s entry…

Memorial Day in Prescott, Arizona, means the return of the annual Phippen Museum’s Western Art Show & Sale, this year celebrating its 43rd year. The event takes place in the city’s courthouse plaza and draws art enthusiasts, tourists and some of the nation’s most talented artists, both established and upand- coming, including JanyRae Seda and Rob Richards. For the 14th year, Phippen will host the Miniature Masterpiece Show & Sale as a part of the weekend. Beginning May 2, works from 60 of the biggest names in Western art will be on display at the Phippen, as well as on their website, and on May 26, a reception will feature the collection of miniatures, which will be sold in a unique by-draw sale. On May 27 and 28, at 2…

Three important Navajo chief’s blankets, each one unique in design and prized for their rarity, can be seen in three separate pieces by California painter Logan Maxwell Hagege, who was commissioned to paint the series, titled The Chiefs, for a prominent and respected Western art collector. The blankets—first-, secondand third-phase Navajo chief’s blankets—are now on loan to Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West in Arizona. The trio of works, each of which dates to the mid-1800s, represents one of the finest collections of chief’s blankets ever assembled. The owner of the rare textiles, Boston collector Tim Peterson, commissioned Hagege to paint three different works, each one featuring a figure wearing one of the magnificent blankets. The series was completed several years ago, but after Peterson acquired a new second-phase…

MAY May 4-7 FALLBROOK ART CENTER 24th Annual Reflections of Nature Fallbrook, CA – (760) 728-1414 www.fallbrookartcenter.org May 5-19 MANITOU GALLERIES Tom Perkinson Santa, FE – (505) 986-9833 www.manitougalleries.com May 5-26 INSIGHT GALLERY Damian Lechoszest Fredericksburg, TX – (830) 997-9920 www.insightgallery.com May 6 SETTLERS WEST GALLERIES Summer Show Tucson, AZ – (520) 299-2607 www.settlerswest.com Ending May 6 CHEROKEE HERITAGE CENTER 46th Annual Trail of Tears Art Show and Sale Tahlequah, OK – (888) 999-6007 www.cherokeeheritage.org Ending May 7 DESERT CABALLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM 12th Annual Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West Wickenburg, AZ – (928) 684-2272 www.westernmuseum.org May 11-Sept. 10 THE MUSKEGON MUSEUM OF ART Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian Muskegon, MI – (231) 270-2570 www.muskegonartmuseum.org May 12-13 NEVADA COUNTY FAIR Grass Valley Old West…

The final shot of The Searchers, John Ford’s great masterpiece, is as iconic as the film itself. John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards, a proud soldier who has found grief and redemption in the West, is returning his niece to her family after many years in captivity. As Edwards carries the young woman to a farmhouse, he is framed by two ornate wooden posts on the porch. The girl is greeted by her family and, as they slowly walk inside, the camera pulls back through the open door, diminishing Edwards’ world to a small blackmatted box. He stands there in a solemn and vulnerable slump, clutching his arm, his eyes peering into the darkness of the farmhouse, his body in silhouette in the doorway. The music swells around him, he spins on…

SHOW LOCATION LOS ANGELES, CA UPCOMING SHOW Up to 11 works May 20-June 17, 2017 Maxwell Alexander Gallery Los Angeles, CA (310) 839-9242 www.maxwellalexandergallery.com In the pre-digital days of Hollywood, film stock was not sensitive enough to render nighttime footage usable to any feasible degree, so directors and their cinematographers often shot “day for night” by underexposing daylight shots and then darkening the shots later in post-production to give the impression of night. The effect generally worked, particularly in Western films, but it gave scenes a surreal and artificial feel with noticeable shadows on the ground and highlights that were a bit too bright to be just moonlight. The camera, at least back then, could not come close to seeing what the human eye could see. California painter Glenn Dean…

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will present approximately 1,000 lots during its twoday Arts of the American West sale on May 6 and 7 in Denver. Featured will be a treasure trove of items that include paintings, sculpture and Native American art from across the nation. “We’ll end up with probably 80 to 100 lots of paintings from the late-19th to early-20th century to more contemporary Western and Southwestern artists,” says Maron Hindman, managing director of the West and Southwest at the auction house. Among the noteworthy items is property being sold to benefit the Denver Art Museum’s acquisition fund that will be available in various sales at Leslie Hindman throughout 2017. Included in this auction will be Native American and Western art offerings. Western highlights are two pieces by Charles Berninghaus,…