Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2021/ No. 165 i Western Art Collector

May 6 Hindman’s Couse-Sharp Auction Chicago, IL – (312) 280-1212 May 6 Hindman’s Western Paintings & Sculpture Auction Denver, CO – (303) 825-1855 May 7 Heritage Auction’s American Art Signature Auction Dallas, TX – (214) 528-3500 May 18 Christie’s American Art Auction New York, NY – (212) 636-2000 May 20 Bonhams’ American Art Auction New York, NY – (212) 710-1307 May 19 Sotheby’s American Art Auction New York, NY – (212) 606-7000 May 25 John Moran Auctioneer’s Art of the American West Monrovia, CA – (626) 628-9341 May 29-30 Santa Fe Art Auction’s Art of the West Santa Fe, NM – (505) 954-5858 June 25-26 Prix de West Oklahoma City, OK – (405) 478-2250 June 25-27 Brian Lebel’s Cody Old West Show & Auction Santa Fe, NM - (480) 779-9378…

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West has announced a major new exhibition on the art, career and research of Edward S. Curtis, whose photographs of Native Americans have captivated the world for more than a century. Light and Legacy: The Art and Techniques of Edward S. Curtis will open October 19 and feature major highlights from the Tim Peterson Family Collection. The exhibition is co-curated by Tricia Loscher, Western Spirit’s assistant director for collections, exhibitions and research, and Tim Peterson, museum trustee and noted collector of Western art. One of the highlights of the exhibition will be original and authentic Curtis photography. Many Curtis exhibitions undertaken in recent decades have relied on contemporary reproductions, and Light and Legacy will focus on as much original material as possible. “Based upon years…

Many of the early art dealers in Scottsdale, Arizona, remember a stocky fellow with white hair walking through town in the 1970s. He would sometimes walk around with paintings under his arm. Drivers would be stopped at red lights, and there he would go, crossing the street with a big painting of a horse and rider in a gold frame. After he hit all the dealers on a street, he returned to his car, placed the painting in the trunk with a stack of others and off he went. It was Olaf Wieghorst. Years later, the painter found himself in Oklahoma City, at what is now the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. There was a painting demonstration happening at the time and several artists were sitting outside under the…

Tim Solliday began his career as a billboard painter, learning techniques that would make a painting read from a distance, and practicing ways of applying paint that would never be seen from the highway. He was inspired by his father, a technical illustrator for Douglas Aircraft Company who encouraged him to pursue his interest in art. While working as an apprentice and later as a journeyman, he studied with Theodore N. Lukits (1897-1992) at the Lukits Academy of Fine Arts. Lukits continued the French atelier method of art education in a time when ateliers were out of fashion and abstraction was de rigueur. “Lukits would set up different lighting conditions,” Solliday recalls. “He would use a yellow bulb for high noon, red for sunset and a blue bulb for night…

Christie’s seasonal American art sales are always chock-full of American greats, everyone from Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood to Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. But more and more often, some of the artists featured in these sales are not only Western artists or painted in the West, but their lots are frequently riding near the top of the auction once the final hammer has dropped. “We’re always feeling good about the Western material we’re bringing to our American sales,” says Tylee Abbott, the new head of the American department at Christie’s. “And this sale is no different with some really great 19th- and 20th-century works from a range of artists, and at a range of prices, from $20,000 to $200,000 and beyond. These sales are really great opportunities for…

On May 29 and 30, the Santa Fe Art Auction will be offering Art of the West, an online sale featuring around 300 lots of Western art. Though the sale will be online, and was always intended to be online, it will mark an exciting time for Santa Fe as visitors return, businesses open their doors and events start taking place again after a long period of lockdown due to the pandemic. “Everybody can come in and we expect to see a lot of foot traffic,” says Joshua Rose, senior vice president at Santa Fe Art Auction. “One of the great things we have going for us here are these two beautiful showrooms and, unlike some other auctions, every auction we hold is a full exhibition that is on view…

Western Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors connect, and it has closed the gap that previously existed in the Western art market. Our SOLD! section is where we highlight these connections, as well as other sales occuring within the market. Within this monthly section you can read just some of the feedback pouring into our office from coast to coast about art sales, including some made directly from the pages of the magazine. You never know—your next art purchase could be in this issue. 1. Immediate interest from the pages of the magazine Painter Lori Putnam reports a recent sale that came about after a viewer saw an image in Western Art Collector: “It is always great to connect with a new collector. Almost immediately…

One of my favorite Western paintings is a magnificent and large work by William R. Leigh at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. If you’ve been to the museum, you’ll likely know what piece I’m referring to because it’s hard to miss. At more than 10 feet wide, it commands quite a presence at a museum that already has some serious Western art in its galleries. The painting is titled The Leader’s Downfall, and it shows Native American riders charging into a herd of horses in a dusty desert scene. The work is done in Leigh’s dramatic high-action style that exaggerated forms and movement in order to tell a more compelling and dangerous story. When I’m at the museum for events and shows, I always make…

For many years, Christopher Cardozo had, as part of his email signature, a quote from Edward S. Curtis, the famous ethnographer and photographer. “It’s such a big dream, I can’t see it all,” it read. Curtis had spent three decades chasing his dream. Chris spent five decades chasing his. And now their stories are intertwined, as are their legacies. Chris, whose tireless work helped bring a resurgence of interest in Curtis, died February 21 in Minnesota. He was 72 years old. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Chris was almost destined to become an attorney. “He had his law degree, but didn’t want to be a lawyer,” says his sister, Julie Cardozo, who also worked with him closely in his business. “He eventually went around the country giving seminars to artists…

One of the greatest paintings of the American West is Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872, by Thomas Moran (1837-1926). The 7-by-12-foot painting turned heads and influenced Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872. Moran commented, however, “I place no value upon literal transcriptions of Nature. My general scope is not realistic; all my tendencies are towards idealization…The motive or incentive of my Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was the gorgeous display of color that impressed itself upon me. Probably no scenery in the world presents such a combination. The forms are extremely wonderful and pictorial, and, while I desired to tell truly of Nature, I did not wish to realize the scene literally, but to preserve and to convey its true impression.” He went on…

One of the icons of contemporary Western art, New Mexico painter Billy Schenck, has a new show opening April 2 at Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. The artist—whose Pop Art-inspired works mythologize, and at times demythologize, the West in provocative ways—will be presenting new works that show his fondness for the West as a subject matter. Among the new works are pieces that show his “Western descansos,” which are inspired by the roadside memorials that are common in the Southwest and usually mark a place where a person has died. The tradition, which has its roots in Latin America—the word itself is Spanish and means, loosely, “resting place”—is being given a cowboy theme under Schenck’s brush. “If you travel even a little bit in New Mexico or…

Last year, the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House was set to open the exhibition Through the Eyes of Fechin, featuring Nicolai Fechin artwork from private collections around the country that have not previously exhibited in Taos. However, as with most events in 2020, plans changed and the New Mexico museum decided to reschedule the show. It is now set to open May 28, and with the delay came the positive of an expanded exhibition. “We had planned to open this past May but then Covid hit,” says Christy Schoedinger Coleman, executive director of the museum. “We decided to postpone, but it’s allowed us to have more time to include more artwork and do additional research.” The show will explore all aspects of Fechin’s career through his artwork and documentation,…

On May 6, Hindman will host its next Western Paintings & Sculpture sale with an impressive array of lots that fit many niches of the market. The sale, beginning at 10 a.m., is comprised of approximately 400 lots including a Contemporary Native American Art session with 100 pieces from some of the most recognized artists. There also will be a 25-lot segment of the sale dedicated to the 20th Anniversary Fundraiser of the Couse Foundation. Several other private collections and estates will appear in the auction, as well artwork being sold to benefit the art collections at the University of Denver, the Allan Houser Foundation and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation. “The auction is comprised of contemporary and historic Western and wildlife art, with over 50 works from the…

APRIL Now Open NEW WEST FINE ART Connor Liljestrom Jackson, WY– (307) 201-5029 www.newwestfineart.com April 15 DOWNTOWN SCOTTSDALE Gold Palette ArtWalks: Western Week Scottsdale, AZ www.scottsdalegalleries.com April 16-May 7 JEMEZ FINE ART GALLERY Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Jemez Non-Juried Members Paint Out and Show Jemez Springs – (575) 829-3340 www.jemezfineart.com or www.papnm.org Through April 17 MARK SUBLETTE MEDICINE MAN GALLERY Dennis Ziemienski: Grand Canyon State Tucson, AZ – (520) 722-7798 www.medicinemangallery.com April 17-25 OLMSTED PLEIN AIR INVITAT IONAL The 7th Annual Invitational of America’s Masters of Plein Air Atlanta, GA – (404) 376-7075 www.olmstedpleinair.com April 20 BONHAMS California Art Los Angeles, CA – (323) 850-7500 www.bonhams.com April 20-May 28 MUSEUM OF THE BIG BEND A Century of Fine Art in the Big Bend: SRSU Faculty & Students 1920-2020…

1 MEDICINE MAN GALLERY OFFERS A MAJOR NEW WORK FROM BILL ANTON Arizona painter Bill Anton has a new work available through Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. The work, Passing Shadows, is a major new piece measuring 40 by 48 inches. Showing a cowboy as he leads horses through a shadowy canyon, the work pairs Anton’s careful use of light and color with a marvelous composition that offers a stunning view of the West. “The vertical walls of canyon country countered by a long, low plain of moving horses speaks of both timelessness and temporary moments,” the artist says of the work. Find out more at www.medicinemangallery.com. 2 DUSTIN PAYNE DEBUTS NEW WORK AT A RANCHING-THEMED SHOW IN ARIZONA Cowboy Artists of America sculptor Dustin Payne will have new…

Don Oelze’s fascination with cowboys and Native Americans began as a small boy, and has reverberated into an awe-inspiring, elegant display of works to be featured at Legacy Gallery. The show of 10 new works reflects Oelze’s deep connection to America and his extensive knowledge of Native American culture and life in the West. Even when growing up in New Zealand to American missionary parents, Oelze “always had a longing for being in America.” His first inspirations came from artifacts found on his grandparent’s farm on the eastern coast of the United States, where there were known burial grounds. Also, young Oelze never missed the only two American television shows in New Zealand; Daniel Boon and The High Chaparral. The icing on the cake was receiving an American Indian outfit…

On maps, the Rio Grande runs 1,900 miles, from its source in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, depending on how it changes its course, water usage and climate change. Sometimes it never makes it to the gulf. It runs from the mountains, through a gorge that continues to expand from the movement of tectonic plates, through bosques and desert, bringing life to the region. Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is celebrating the river with the exhibition, A River Runs Through It, May 14 through June 5, in their Canyon Road gallery. Featuring work by Michael Baum, Don Brackett, Ulrich Gleiter, Martha Goetz, Tom Perkinson, Brad Teare and Curtis Wade, the exhibition explores the river “as a source of life, of food, of…

Western enthusiasts, art collectors and locals alike all flock to Prescott, Arizona, for the Phippen Museum’s annual Western Art Show & Sale. The major event celebrates its 47th anniversary this year, running Memorial Day Weekend from May 29 to 31. After a tough year in which we’ve had to be malleable and adaptable, the show is finally back on the gorgeous Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza in downtown Prescott. Part of the charm of this popular event is the hometown atmosphere and sense of togetherness that it provides. Some of the very best in Western art will be featured at the 47th Annual Western Art Show & Sale, including Danuta Tomzynski, Dawn Normali, Carolyn Parker and Russell Parker. These esteemed artists and many others create a wide array of works that…

In 1920, Will Shuster was diagnosed with tuberculosis and given a year to live. He decided to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to live out the remainder of his life—which ended up being another 49 years. A Fiery Light: Will Shuster’s New Mexico at the New Mexico Museum of Art celebrates the artist’s contributions to Santa Fe’s then-emerging art scene and is on view through July 25. “He was in large part responsible for getting Los Cinco Pintores together,” says Christian Waguespack, the museum’s curator of 20th century art. “They didn’t have a unified aesthetic, but they did have a unified vision of art being something for the people. They wanted to bring art to places like work houses, schools and prisons.” One of Shuster’s most lasting contributions to…

On May 7, Heritage Auctions will host its American Art Signature Auction in Dallas, with approximately 200 lots hitting the market. Around 80 of the items will be from the Western art category that boasts both historic and contemporary offerings. One of the highlights is a grouping of art from a Palm Beach estate that includes some of the most noteworthy Western lots in the sale. Leading the Palm Beach lots is the Eanger Irving Couse painting The Pictographs (est. $70/100,000), which Alissa Ford, Heritage’s director of Western art, says is a “gorgeous example” by the Taos Society of Artists co-founder. There also are a dynamic Olaf C. Seltzer work titled Horse Thieves (est. $50/70,000); three pieces by Birger Sandzén, including Aspens, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (est. $100/150,000); and…