Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026/No. 221 i Western Art Collector

Welcome to the January issue of Western Art Collector and Happy New Year! We are starting this year with some of our favorite sections: the Western Auction Directory and State of the Art: Arizona. The destination guide hits close to home as our world headquarters are right here in the Grand Canyon State. While executive editor Michael Clawson will take you deeper into the importance of one New York sale on Page 6, I want to reflect on the auctioneers themselves. As a colonel and certified auctioneer, I understand the entertainment of the auction and the importance of exceptional art in a room full of serious collectors. The pageantry, the spotlight and the happy collector owning their new acquisition—it’s all magic! It is energy and spectacle that everyone must experience…

www.naomibrownart.com, naomibrownart “Living in the beautiful state of Arizona sometimes feels like I am living in a technicolor movie,” says artist Naomi Brown. “With its wide-open blue skies and out-of-this-world sunsets, I have to stop and pinch myself sometimes.” The Wild West has drawn artists from all around for a very long time, and Brown feels fortunate to live in the East Valley of Phoenix, in the town of Queen Creek. “You can’t paint the Sonoran Desert without including the iconic star of the Wild West—the stoic saguaro, with their arm’s reaching way up in the Arizona sky,” she says. “They have stories to tell of the desert in which they stand; the years of withstanding the extreme heat, the droughts and the desert winds, not to mention all the…

This can’t be stressed enough, so it must be underlined: the best way to participate in an auction is to register for every sale you watch. It’s remarkable how frequent it is to hear a regretful collector turn to a buddy at a sale and tell them, “I wish I would have registered because I would have bid on that.” It’s like the famous sports proverb: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” The Western art world is always thrilling, with lots of great action at museum exhibitions, galleries and even directly in artists’ studios. But auctions are having a moment that is hard to ignore. Auctions are acquiring high-quality material at record levels, sales are happening all around the country, major sales are held in every…

After selling more than 350 lots of art over two days of auctions, Santa Fe Art Auction recorded more than $3.3 million in sales for the 31st Annual Signature Sale in New Mexico. Not only were numbers high but also consistent, with a 95 percent sell-through rate. Reflecting the broadening focus of the auction house, the sale’s top lot was not from the West, or even Southwest, but from Europe: Pablo Picasso’s 1961 graphite on paper, Les déjeuners IV (d’après Manet), sold for $184,000, far surpassing a $100,000 high estimate. The sale also featured work from the East Coast from a variety of modern artists. The Western lots that performed well were Albert Bierstadt’s Study for the Great Trees (Mariposa, California) (est. $30/50,000) that sold for $135,000, Robert Daughters’ View of…

Copley Fine Art Auctions specializes in 19th -, 20th - and 21st-century American, sporting, Western and wildlife paintings, bronzes and decoys. The firm handles works by Frederic Remington, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bob Kuhn, Philip R. Goodwin, Lynn Bogue Hunt, Carl Rungius, Eanger Irving Couse, Frank W. Benson, Ogden Pleissner, Aiden Lassell Ripley and A.B. Frost, among others. The firm was founded on the principles of knowledge, integrity, results and a strict adherence to confidentiality. Copley’s guiding mission is to work hand in hand with individuals and estates to accommodate their collecting and deaccessioning needs. Whether working with knowledgeable clients to build world-class collections or helping families with difficult trust, estate and appraisal questions, the personal attention Copley’s clients receive enables them to achieve their individual goals. No two collections are alike,…

Since its inception more than 30 years ago, Santa Fe Art Auction now stands as the oldest, most venerable auction house in the Southwest, positioned in the contemporary Baca Railyard District of Santa Fe—the earliest capital city in the United States and long regarded as the region’s largest art hub. A leader in classic Southwestern, Western and Native American art, as well as contemporary art and photography, Santa Fe Art Auction has consistently set record hammer prices for prominent classic and contemporary artists. Notable artists have included Dorothy Brett, Gerard Curtis Delano, Gustave Baumann, Tony Abeyta, Albert Bierstadt and Fritz Scholder, in addition to European modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy and Fernand Léger. With the application of cutting-edge technology, expansion of in-house expertise and 16,000 square-feet of modern…

• Previews of all the biggest events, shows and sales. • Destination guides from the hottest art markets. • Special genre sections to expand your collecting power. • 12 issues a year, each one presenting work from the top artists and the rising newcomers…and everyone in between! Hitch your wagon to the go-to source trusted by artists, gallery owners, museum curators, auction specialists and collectors. Saddle up with Western Art Collector. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! www.WesternArtCollector.com/subscribe Don’t Miss Our Other Titles. International Artist Publishing also offers these great titles. American Art Collector www.AmericanArtCollector.com American Fine Art Magazine www.AmericanFineArtMagazine.com Native American Art www.NativeAmericanArtMagazine.com International Artist www.InternationalArtist.com www.WesternArtCollector.com SUBSCRIBE TODAY to get the best Western art magazine in the country, and the only monthly magazine that highlights the top artists, galleries, museums, fairs and…

There’s a contemporary, graphic feel to the artwork of Rudi Broschofsky, as if the artist takes traditional paintings and filters it through some sort of television screen, where they’re jumbled around and then spit back out. Rendered in striking pinks, blues, yellows and oranges, they almost call back to the kinds of rudimentary images you might see on old computers in the ’80s and ’90s—but there’s nothing rudimentary about Broschofsky’s art. “A simple description of my art style is what I call a ‘line drawing.’ The subject is created with thinner lines forming the highlights while the thicker lines generate the shadows,” says the artist. “More broadly, I’ve taken a street-art approach to the realm of Western art, building a unique fusion of the two distinct genres.” Broschofsky, who is…

As we step into 2026, we are kicking the new year off with a very large bang. This issue includes our substantial Western Auction Directory and State of the Art: Arizona, and then also our annual Collector’s Focus: The Contemporary West. Add to that our coverage of the Coors Western Art Exhibit, as well as all the great gallery and museum previews, and what you have is a mighty fine mixture of Western art and culture within these pages. Another event happening this month is taking place far, far away from the West. In New York City, Christie’s will offer bidders selections from the William I. Koch Collection, one of the most prestigious private Western collections ever assembled. The sale will include major masterpieces from Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell,…

1 Geoffrey Gersten zooms into Western objects Known for his eye-catching Pop Art images of Western iconography, Arizona painter Geoffrey Gersten has long explored imagery involving bronco busters, bull riders and cowboys. But some of his newest works, now available at Altamira Fine Art, take the artist in a new direction as he paints small objects such as watches, matchbooks and pulp Western novels. The images, many of them quite large, offer macro-level views of these small items, which helps to enlarge their scale and impact. Many have Western themes, including matchbook imagery such as cowboys and cowgirls, the famous Marlboro Man, boots, round-ups, Texas and the national parks. In this work, Gersten paints the Lone Ranger. These new works are at Altamira Fine Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Scottsdale,…

King Galleries celebrates its 30th year in Scottsdale, Arizona. Owner Charles King combines regional paintings and bronzes with important Native pottery from 1920 to the present. Each piece is curated to bring together the best in each genre. The gallery represents artists Marcia Molnar, Andrea Vargas, Andrew Roda, Mary Calengor, Mike Esch and Kwani Povi Winder (Santa Clara). Bronzes in the gallery are by Tammy Garcia (Santa Clara) and Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara). Among the leading contemporary potters are Nancy Youngblood (Santa Clara), Russell Sanchez (San Ildefonso), Les Namingha (Hopi), and others. Historic works by Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso), Margaret Tafoya (Santa Clara) and Tony Da (San Ildefonso), can also be found in the gallery. While based in tradition, the gallery gives voice to younger artists including Jared Tso (Navajo…

Since 1992, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery has been leaving a unique imprint on Western art. The gallery owners pride themselves on giving a platform to underrepresented Native American artists, honoring the fine-art careers of legendary and celebrated names, and welcoming highly skilled newcomers into the world of Western art. The year 2026 is no different. On February 6, there will be a 55-year retrospective of work by Billy Schenck. The book Billy Schenck New Wave Westerner is available while supplies last. “Donna Howell-Sickles, a painter I have always admired, is now part of our gallery roster,” shares gallery owner, Mark Sublette. “You Can Play with Fire and not get Burned is quintessential Howell-Sickles, with a joyful sense of Western life through the eyes of her female heroine.” Medicine Man…

The superlatives were flying when Tylee Abbott, head of American art at Christie’s, started talking about the William Koch Collection that will be offered by the auction house on January 20 and 21 in New York City. “Stunning and storied collection,” “pillars of Western art,” “masterpieces among masterpieces,” “iconic and the best of the best.” With any other sale featuring any other collection, this might sound all a bit overblown. But not here. Not with these works. Not with this sale. “Mr. Koch’s collection is one of the greatest well-known and well-documented Western art collections ever assembled. His commitment to the genre is long lasting and goes back decades. It is truly one of the most storied collections in Western art, the likes of which we will never see come…

With a 95 percent sell-through rate and sales totaling more than $4.6 million, the Lone Star Art Auction returned to Texas with a strong showing of American art. The sale, which leans into numerous different American genres, is still primarily a Western sale, which was reflected in many of the top lots. Coming out on top was G. Harvey’s early 1980s painting Wall Street (est. $200/300,000) which sold for $252,000. One of the most famous Western artists from Texas, Harvey had numerous works in the sale, a number of them selling for over estimates. Other highlights were Frank Tenney Johnson’s The Lawless Frontier (est. $200/300,000) that sold for $195,000, Bert Geer Phillips’ Taos Indian with Pony (est. $70/90,000) that sold for $156,000 and Julian Onderdonk’s In the Land of the…

A consortium of leading American art dealers has organized a Western art auction to be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the spring of each year. Under the banner, Scottsdale Art Auction, dealers Mike Frost (Bartfield Galleries of New York City) and Brad Richardson (Legacy Galleries of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, joined together and presented their first sale on April 2, 2005, at Richardson’s Legacy Gallery on Main Street in downtown Scottsdale. Frost has been instrumental in building significant public and private collections of historically important Western art throughout the country, and Richardson’s Legacy Gallery has become a national leader representing several members of the Cowboy Artists of America, National Academy of Western Art and a number of exhibiting artists from the annual Prix de West in Oklahoma…

The Pure West Art Auction, Canada’s premier Western art auction, will hold its eighth annual sale June 21 at the historic Deane House in Calgary, Alberta. The auction will feature a juried selection of pieces including new works from the Pure West charter group of artists, as well as a wide selection of consigned modern and historic art. The afternoon auction is prefaced with live Western music featuring country artist George Canyon, as well as West-inspired drinks and food. “The Pure West Auction has come a long way, growing each year in support and offerings. It now stands as Canada’s top Western art auction,” says Pure West founder Ingrid Schulz. “We’re working on a few new additions to the [2026] sale and can’t wait to share them with our audience…

William Haskell paints the energy of the Southwestern landscape. He explains, “The main thing I want is for every paint ing to have an emotional energy—a subliminal energy and motion in it.” A new exhibition of his recent work, William Haskell: Visions of the Sacred Desert, opens at Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, on January 16. Haskell was born in Wisconsin, where Georgia O’Keeffe was born, and he was introduced to the modernist’s work by his mother. Later, he had a career in design and advertising—painting on the side. Although his career was a good fit, it wasn’t something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2001. When we spoke last year, he said, “I think it’s the…

David Frederick Riley grew up in Michigan, but after moving to Arizona, Colorado, and now Utah, the subject matter and styles of the West have rubbed off on him. “My wife’s family is from out here, and working on this art has helped inform me of the area and my wife’s family history,” he says. His upcoming show at Altamira Fine Art, titled A Celebration of the Southwest, is a love letter to the animal life and colors of the Arizona desert. The show will feature eight paintings, mostly of animals, along with two portraits. In the past, Riley has typically worked in monochromes, but this body of work plays with more color. “I went through old photos from when we lived in Arizona and based the color palette off…

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art is opening a new exhibition that celebrates a robust gift of lesser-known works by photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) from collector’s Robb and Susan Hough. While Curtis was quite prolific, creating thousands of photographs throughout his career, the “greatest hits” are the main features seen in exhibitions and shows. Associate curator Caitlin Pendola, with quite the collection at her fingertips, seized the opportunity to explore another side of Curtis’ history. “Curtis devoted over three decades to his monumental project The North American Indian,” Pendola says. “As I delved deeper into his body of work, I began noticing shifts that echoed broader transitions in American art history. His early images are steeped in pictorialism, while the project as a whole aligns with ideals…

Heritage Auctions sets new Dave McGary record Heritage Auctions celebrated Western art with a suite of sales in early November, including a sale of Texas art and Visions of the American Frontier. Highlights included a Bert Geer Phillips forest scene that sold for more than twice the estimate, and an Ed Mell modernist landscape that sold over estimates for $81,000. The top lot, seen here, was Dave McGary’s monument Bear’s Nest, which sold for $106,000, more than $45,000 over the high estimate. The piece set a new world auction record for the artist. Cowboy Artists of America unveils new show in Texas On November 8, the Cowboy Artists of America presented its 59th annual exhibition in Fort Worth, Texas. The best of show went to Phil Epp, who brought a…

January January 8 Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale THE LEGACY Denver, CO – (303) 291-2567 www.coorswesternart.com January 2-12 Aaron Hazel GALLERY WILD Jackson, WY – (307) 203-2322 www.gallerywild.com Through January 3 Society of Animal Artists’ 65th Annual Art & The Animal Exhibition THE ART MUSEUM OF EASTERN IDAHO Idaho Falls, ID www.societyofanimalartists.com Through January 3 Small Works & More THE PLAINSMEN GALLERY Dunedin, FL – (727) 734-8200 plainsmengallery.com Through January 4 Birds in Art LEIGH YAWKEY WOODSON ART MUSEUM Wausau, WI – (715) 845-7010 www.lywam.org Through January 5 American Plains Artists 40th Annual Juried Show PEARCE MUSEUM AT NAVARRO COLLEGE Corsicana, TX www.americanplainsartists.com January 7-11 LA Art Show LA CONVENTION CENTER Los Angeles, CA www.laartshow.com January 8 Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale THE LEGACY Denver, CO – (303) 291-2567 www.coorswesternart.com…

Many of the most iconic examples of landscape art were painted at the Grand Canyon, Arizona’s vast and unchallenged colossus of nature carved over millions of years by nothing more than wind and water. These paintings were created by some of the greatest landscape painters to ever set foot in the Southwest. Artists such as Thomas Moran, Gunnar Widforss, William R. Leigh, Carl Oscar Borg and others. The fact that Curt Walters not only belongs in that group, but near the front of it, is a testament to the artist’s endearing link to one of the greatest natural landmarks on the planet. Walters will celebrate the canyon—as well as his vast and unchallenged colossus of a career—with a new retrospective at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West in Scottsdale,…

www.darciepeet.com /DarciePeet Splitting her time between Arizona and Colorado, artist Darcie Peet explores and captures the many “wild places” of the West in her paintings. “Just west of Tucson, Arizona, a late afternoon and sundown hike in Saguaro National Park West ended with this huge sphere of an eye-squinting and startling sun setting behind the muted and disappearing, golden Tucson Mountains,” says Peet of her oil painting, Saguaro Sundown–Saguaro National Park West. “Its blazing, dramatic radiance set off and silhouetted the myriad of desert shapes, especially the forest of saguaros, distinct prickly pear cactus and scattered, blooming brittle bush. Not a sound around. What a serene, yet bold evening to explore the desert.” Find this piece at Newby Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Tubac, Arizona, or on the artist’s website.…

Norman Rockwell is known for many subjects, including children interacting with the adult world, small-town business owners, underdogs, craftsmen and blue-collar workers. Although rare, Rockwell, the famous Saturday Evening Post cover artist, also did several great Western images. One of them, Singing Cowboy from the 1930s, will be offered at Sotheby’s on January 24 in New York City. The sale, titled The American West, will feature a number of excellent works from the genre, including the Rockwell, which has been estimated at $400,000 to $600,000. “The American West showcases top examples by the artists who define the traditional and contemporary American Western genres,” Sotheby’s notes. “Headlined by major landscapes by Albert Bierstadt, an iconic Norman Rockwell cowboy subject, and fresh-to-market drawings by Frederic Remington, this dedicated Western auction highlights the…

Recognized by the Wall Street Journal as “the nation’s biggest and most successful auction of Western art,” the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has specialized in the finest classical Western and American art for the past 40 years. The auction principals have more than 125 years of combined experience representing past masters and outstanding contemporary artists, and have netted their clients more than $400 million in the last 20 years alone. As the largest auction house in the country dealing in Western and American artwork, Coeur d’Alene holds more than 300 world-record prices, the highest of any auction in the field, and achieves the most consistent sales for their consignors with 96 percent of all lots sold on average at their three annual auctions. Specializing in artwork by artists such as…

Heritage Auctions is one of the world’s largest and most respected auction houses, renowned for its expertise in fine art, collectibles, jewelry and rare historical artifacts. Heritage has grown into a global leader in the auction industry, operating offices and showrooms across major cities in the United States and internationally. The company is particularly recognized for its innovation in online bidding technology, which has made auctions more accessible to collectors worldwide. Heritage Auctions conducts sales in 49 various categories, including fine art, luxury handbags, coins, comics, sports memorabilia, rare books and entertainment memorabilia (recently selling Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers for a record-breaking $32 million). Among its most dynamic divisions, the Western art department has gained acclaim for showcasing the rich artistic traditions of the American West, featuring renowned painters and…

The Lone Star Art Auction is the largest live art auction in Texas specializing in the best American, Western and Texas fine art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Presented by Great American West and Phil Berkebile Jr., the Lone Star Art Auction brings buyers, collectors and sellers of historic and contemporary fine art together in Dallas each fall for a highly entertaining two-day event. Since its first sale in the fall of 2022, the Lone Star Art Auction has experienced significant growth in participation with the numbers of auction attendees and registered online and telephone bidders doubling each year. Additionally, the auction house is achieving exceptional sell-through rates averaging 95 percent. The fifth Lone Star Art Auction will be held on October 30 and 31, kicking off on…

At the beginning of the new year, Gallery Wild will be hosting a solo show featuring new works by Aaron Hazel. Collectors familiar with Hazel’s work will instantly recognize the artist’s signature style of thick, patterned brushstrokes that blend harmoniously when viewed at a distance. Viewed up close, they contain even more intrigue—particularly evident in pieces like Piegan Bird Rattle and Pepper. “Aaron Hazel’s latest collection is a bold, refreshing lens on the legacy of the American West. His work captures the timeless icons—bison on the move, cowboys and cowgirls, the early days of skiing at Snow King or the Tetons—with a sleek, contemporary edge that feels both nostalgic and new,” says gallery owner Carrie Wild. “Hazel has a remarkable ability to bridge eras; his brushwork and palette pulse with…

Early descriptions of the landscape of the American West were usually from the journals and notes of settlers and explorers. The descriptive and illustrative journals of the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific and back, documented the geography, natural resources and the Native American tribes encountered along the way. Among the first painters to document or interpret the Western landscape was Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) whose grand, monumental paintings were often criticized for their idealization and inventiveness. His work also promoted the concept of Manifest Destiny in which the civilized culture of the east was divinely ordained to expand to the west. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, presents New Horizons: The Western Landscape, featuring the work of 14 contemporary artists.…

A superb collection of textiles is currently being showcased at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site, celebrating the rich and colorful textile traditions that developed in New Mexico, Mexico and throughout the American Southwest in the 18th and 19th centuries. A number of weavings on view come from Couse-Sharp’s own collection, but most of the historic textiles in the exhibition were sourced from the lifetime collections of Mark and Linda Winter, modern-day traders to the Diné people at their Historic Toadlena Trading Post on the Navajo Nation; as well as collector James H. Collins, based in Colorado. Mark Winter is guest curator for the exhibition. “The two primary textile categories will be early Saltillo Sarapes and Rio Grande blankets from Old and New Mexico,” Winter says. “These ‘wearing blankets’ were made to…

Of the contemporary art fairs that pop up in many of the nation’s biggest metropolises, the LA Art Show is one of the most anticipated of the year—and for good reason. The energy and passion for art is palpable, and the artwork is plentiful and top notch. After a respectfully subdued event on the heels of the devasting wild fires, the 2026 show, taking place January 7 through 11, will no doubt return with unmatched vitality. “Although it was an unimaginable time for the city, we are thankful that so many people came out for last year’s remarkable 30th anniversary edition during which we got to support the artistic community while also paying homage to the resilience of Los Angeles,” says show producer and director Kassandra Voyages. “We are thrilled…