American Paintings at Christie's NY A MODERNIST MASTERPIECE AND AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF AMERICAN WESTERN ART LEADS CHRISTIE’S SPRING 2008 AMERICAN PAINTINGS AUCTION
News-Antique.com - May 30,2008 - Marsden Hartley’s Lighthouse Is One Of The Finest Modernist Paintings To Be Offered In A Generation
The Stegall Collection Represents The Most Important Collection Of Taos Masterworks To Appear At Auction In A Decade
Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture
May 21, 2008
New York – Christie’s Spring 2008 Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture sale takes place on Wednesday May 21 and features an impressive 140-lot selection of works that span both the 19th and 20th centuries. The auction is led by Marsden Hartley’s Lighthouse – an American Modernist masterwork and the finest painting of its kind to be offered in a generation; also included are exceptional works from the renowned Stegall Collection – the most important collection of Taos paintings to appear at auction in a decade, and one of the most complete and impressive collections of American Western art left in private hands.
Also in the sale are notable works by leading American Impressionists, Modernist pioneers, American Western and Hudson River School artists. In its entirety the sale is expected to realize $44 to $65 million.
Eric Widing, Head of American Paintings, Christie’s Americas, says: “With the unusually large number of high-valued lots in the sale, we hope to establish several new benchmarks for American masterworks, along with top prices for American Impressionists and painters of the Hudson River School. We have the good fortune to present a broad and visually-strong collection of Western art, and among our selection of Modernist art is our top lot of the sale. The discovery of a lifetime, this lost Hartley work, hidden in Germany for nearly a century, is now publicly exhibited for the first time in the United States by Christie’s; the canvas may well set a new record for Marsden Hartley and American Modernism when it appears on the auction block.”
Marsden Hartley’s Lighthouse
Marsden Hartley’s Lighthouse, an oil on canvas measuring 40 by 30 inches, was created in Berlin in 1915 and has until now remained in Germany, where it only recently came to light after its rediscovery in an East German museum. Estimated at $5 to $7 million, Lighthouse is expected to set a new auction record for Hartley and is the culmination of Hartley’s early modernism, combining elements of Cubism and Expressionism into a monumental work of power and originality (separate press release available on request).
Works from the Collection of Arthur J. Stegall, Jr.
The heart of the Stegall Collection is its extraordinary and comprehensive representation of Taos masterworks, the most significant collection of Taos School art to appear at auction in a decade. In addition, the Stegall Collection presents a comprehensive view of other Western artists, ranging from a 19th century watercolor by the famed ‘Cowboy Artist’ Charles M. Russell, to paintings by the contemporary artist, John Clymer. Due to Arthur Stegall’s foresight in seeking out works by the leading painters of the Taos School, the collection includes major examples by Walter Ufer, Irving Couse, and Joseph Henry Sharp, among many others. Taos
