With previews of gallery exhibitions, museum shows and auctions, Western Art Collector is the premier monthly magazine for collectors searching for works by talented living and past artists who depict the West in paintings and sculptures.
In case you weren’t watching, something extraordinary happened in Western art this past spring. I’m sure you heard the headlines of the contemporary sales—$110 million for a Jean-Michel Basquiat at Sotheby’s, $57.4 million for a Brancusi sculpture at Christie’s—but then, during the American sale at Christie’s on May 23, Frederic Remington’s bronze Coming Through the Rye sold for $11,223,500. The figure doubled Remington’s previous auction record and is also the highest price paid at auction for any piece of historic American sculpture. After the sale, we spoke with our friend Tylee Abbott, Christie’s specialist and associate vice president in the American art department (and, if you remember correctly, our auction correspondent for many years), and he was quite pleased with the result. “I think a couple of factors sent it…
While John Gould spent his life admiring and accumulating specimens of his beloved hummingbirds, it wasn’t until a trip to America in 1851 with his son Charles where he saw his first living specimen. Gould and his son first traveled to New York but arrived too early for hummingbird season. Then the two traveled to the gardens of the famed American naturalist John Bartram in Philadelphia and it was there where Gould spotted the object of his life-long obsession. The gardens are still there today and, having been established in 1728, are the oldest surviving botanic gardens in the United States. Iridescence: John Gould’s Hummingbirds is on exhibition at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, through August 27. The show includes 80 antique prints from the late…
The Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, known for their authentic silver and leather cowboy gear, has teamed up with the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, for Spring Roundup with the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, a new exhibition that opens May 19. The special exhibit will feature exquisite saddles, ornate spurs, bits with decorative silver and gold inlay, rawhide braid quirts, braided reins and many other items from the TCAA’s 14 members: Rick Bean, Wilson Capron, Beau Compton, Mark Drain, Scott Hardy, Leland Hensley, Pablo Lozano, Ernie Marsh, Pedro Pedrini, Cary Schwarz, Chuck Stormes, Nate Wald, Troy West and John Willemsma. “We are proud to be showing at the Brinton Museum…We feel like the Brinton Museum is a perfect place to tell our story and to talk about the story of…
After a months-long search, the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, has announced that Thomas Figarelle has been appointed as executive director. Figarelle previously served as the foundation director of Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena, Montana, and the director of development at Great Falls College Montana State University. He comes to the museum from Special Olympics Montana, where he served as vice president of development. In addition to being a native of Great Falls, he is also a commissioned officer with the Montana Army National Guard. Citing Figarelle’s business experience and his ability to grow organizations, museum board members say he will be the right fit for the prominent Western art destination, which is home to Charles M. Russell and his legacy in the West. “With members and patrons…
OWNER Greg Fulton Astoria Fine Art Jackson Hole, WY Last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary, and our business is thriving due to the vast array of styles and genres created by the artists we represent and the fact that we have a high concentration of museum-held and national award-winning artists. Astoria has become a destination for both contemporary and traditional works, so we continue to attract a broad clientele. “Astoria has become a destination for both contemporary and traditional works, so we continue to attract a broad clientele.” On the contemporary side of the Western and wildlife art world, some of the hottest artists are Ewoud de Groot, Andrew Denman, Mark Eberhard and Joshua Tobey. On the traditional side, we are seeing great demand for Dean Mitchell, G. Russell…
DuPont has announced a substantial donation of artwork to the Delaware Art Museum, Brandywine River Museum of Art and Hagley Museum & Library. The works— which include art from three generations of the Wyeth family, Harvey Dunn and Helen Coolidge Woodring—come from the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. Built in 1913, the hotel housed some of the DuPont collection beginning in in 1940. One of the donated pieces is N.C. Wyeth’s “Stand away from that girl!” repeated de Spain harshly, backing the words with a step forward, which was made for Frank H. Spearman’s 1915 book Nan of Music Mountain. The image depicts the character Henry de Spain confronting a cattleman who is assaulting a female character. The story focuses on de Spain, who is attempting to find the…
