American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture, May 22, 2008 Sotheby’s spring sale of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture includes
works by prominent American artists from the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of which come from distinguished Estates.
one of fifteen lifetime casts and exhibits all of the
detailed elements that set early casts apart: most
importantly, the horse’s muscular structure, the
fluid folds of the cowboy’s clothes and the
modeling of his expressive face. Other Remington
bronzes highlighting the same collection include
Trooper of the Plains, cast no. 2 (lot 171, est. $600/800,000); The Mountain Man, cast no. 21
(lot 158, est. $400/600,000); and The Scalp, cast no. 10 (lot 179, est. $250/350,000).
Property from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. George Fenimore Johnson
Mr. and Mrs. George Fenimore Johnson were prominent collectors who lived at Shell Point on the
Chester River in Chestertown, Maryland. George Fenimore Johnson was a graduate of the
University of Wyoming and never lost his love for the history and beauty of the American West.
The Fenimore Johnson’s collected
works that spanned two centuries and
all themes of Western Art. From their
collection, Charles Russell’s Roping a
Wolf (lot 161, est. $700/900,000,
pictured at left), a watercolor and
gouache on paper, is offered. Also by
Russell is The Battle at Belly River
(lot 168, est. $400/600,000) from 1905,
depicting the historic battle between the
Cree Nation and the Blackfoot Indian Confederacy in Canada. The Foul Rope (lot 162, est.
$300/500,000) by William Robinson Leigh, is an action-packed portrayal of a cowboy astride an
angry bucking bronco that has been caught in a rope attached to a nearby steer.
The Collection of R. Michael Kammerer, Jr.
The Western Art offerings also include
works from The Collection of R. Michael
Kammerer, Jr, a New York advertising
executive and entrepreneur of the
independent television networks ITN
who held a great affinity for the American
Southwest. Highlighting this collection is
Gift from Cochiti, 1936, by Joseph
Henry Sharp (lot 190, est. $900,000/1.2
million, pictured at right). Sharp was an
American painter credited with
influencing the creation of the Taos, New
Mexico Society of Artists. The Kammerer collection includes selections of works by Joseph Henry
Sharp and E. Irving Couse. In addition, work by Contemporary Western artists include Roy
Andersen’s The Telling of His Coups, lot 204; Andersen’s The Bear and the Buffalo, lot 205
(est. $40/60,000 each); and Howard A. Terpning’s War Stories, from 1999 (lot 206, est.
$300/500,000).
Property from the Estate of Barbara Bingham Moore
Property from the Estate of Barbara Bingham
Moore, an esteemed Washington, D.C.
collector, will include fine examples of
landscapes and still life paintings by 19th
and 20th century artists including Martin
Johnson Heade, George Henry Durrie,
Henry Farny, Jasper Francis Cropsey and
Fitz Henry Lane. A landscape by Fitz
Henry Lane from 1848 is entitled The
Old Mill at Goose Cove, Annisquam, Gloucester (lot 7, est. $400/600,000, pictured on page 4).
Martin Johnson Heade’s Two “Thorn-Tails” (Langsdorffs Thorn-Tail, Brazil), circa 1864-1865
(lot 5, est. $300/500,000), is a Romantic portrayal of both the male and female black-bellied variety
of hummingbirds in a mountainous environment. George Caleb Bingham’s Landscape: Rural
Scenery, from 1845 (lot 17, est. $200/300,000), was one of two
