<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"NEW YORK \u2014 Auctions of American paintings this week at Sotheby\u2019s and Christie\u2019s found their strongest footing since the market crisis of 2008, earning almost $80 million in total.On May 22, Sotheby\u2019s turned in a sale that notched $28,087,750, in line with last November\u2019s $27.6 million total, but with better sell-through, and 81 percent of the 52 sold lots exceeding their high estimates. \u201COur strategy of smaller sales with things of real quality seems to be working,\u201D says department head Elizabeth Goldberg. \u201CThis is our third consecutive sale that\u2019s topped its estimate.\u201DThings got off to a rousing start when Max Weber\u2019s daringly modern \u201CSoloist at Wanamaker\u2019s\u201D (1910), a gouache on paper laid down on board from the estate of La Jolla, California-based James and Helen K. Copley, flew past its $4,250 opener \u2014 and $20,000 high estimate \u2014 to $112,500. The buyer was New York- and Bloomfield Hills-based dealer Jonathan Boos, who revealed that it was for his personal collection. The next lot, Andrew Wyeth\u2019s spare, fraught watercolor \u201CElsie\u2019s House\u201D (1983) (est. $120\u2013180,000), ratcheted up to $245,000.Of the handful of institutional consignments, Stanton Macdonald-Wright\u2019s&amp;nbsp;\u201CTrumpet Flowers\u201D&amp;nbsp;(1919) ($400-600,000), went from the Museum of Modern Art to another East Coast museum after a plodding back-and-forth that netted $785,000 for MoMA\u2019s acquisitions fund. Russian-American transplant Nicolai Fechin\u2019s&amp;nbsp;\u201CAt Home in New York\u201D&amp;nbsp;(1924), a domestic interior with an almost pixilated effect from the Copley collection (est. $100\u2013150,000), had at least four bidders duking it out on the way to $413,000.Works by Norman Rockwell, sporting estimates that were lower and more enticing than last season, did well. Rockwell took up four of the top ten berths. The most successful was \u201CHe\u2019s Going to Be Taller than Dad\u201D (1939) (est. $500\u2013700,000), which sold for $2,629,000 to a phone bidder. Keeping the estimates reasonable has proved to be \u201Can effective way to get a strong result,\u201D notes Goldberg.Top honors, however, went to John Singer Sargent\u2019s \u201CMarionettes (Behind the Curtain),\u201D painted in 1903 and sporting its original frame, having been passed down in the artist\u2019s family (est. $5\u20137 million), which took in a sale-high $5,205,000. A new record was set for Milton Avery when \u201CThe Music Makers\u201D (1946\u201347) (est. $1\u20131.5 million), from the collection of matinee idol Gregory Peck, realized $2,965,000.One of Goldberg\u2019s clients picked up a passel of iconic images. Maxfield Parrish\u2019s \u201CWynken, Blynken, and Nod\u201D (1902) (est. $200\u2013300,000) soared to $845,000 under a protracted three-way tussle. The same deep-pocketed bidder snapped up Rockwell\u2019s \u201CDoc Mellhorn and the Pearly Gates\u201D (1938) (est. $500\u2013700,000), for $1,145,000 and \u201CThe Veterinarian\u201D (1961) (est. $300\u2013500,000) for $905,000, plus Frederic Remington\u2019s oil \u201CCall the Doctor\u201D (1889) (est. $1\u20131.5 million) for $1,085,000 from the Art Institute of Chicago on the back end of the sale.Two surprise tug-of-wars erupted for Western works, including for William Keith\u2019s \u201CYosemite Valley\u201D (1876) (est. $70\u201390,000). Joe Caldwell, of Caldwell Galleries in Manlius, New York, explained: \u201CAnyone who realized what they were looking at knew it would go for ten times that.\u201D It sold for $755,000 to a telephone bidder. Shortly thereafter, a tiny bronze by Charles Marion Russell,&amp;nbsp;\u201CAn Enemy That Warns\u201D&amp;nbsp;(ca. 1921), standing just 5\u00BC inches, achieved $460,000 on an estimate of $40,000 to $60,0000.***Christie's also pulled off a strong sale on May 23, taking in $50,848,750, up from last November\u2019s $38,469,650 and its highest total since May 2008. Some 99 lots sold of the 135 offered.The house would appear to have clobbered its rival, but a large part of that total came courtesy of a large, important Edward Hopper painting, \u201CBlackwell\u2019s Island\u201D (1928) (est. $15\u201320 million), included in the recent Hopper exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.&amp;nbsp;\u201CIt\u2019s from this great moment in Hopper\u2019s career that bridges his Ashcan training, when he was working with Robert Henri, with his mature modern aesthetic,\u201D notes Liz Sterling, head of the department, of the work.Bidding opened at $9 million and petered out into a silent, excruciating duel between two phone bidders. \u201CSpeak to me,\u201D implored auctioneer James Hastie to break the tittering silence as he wrung out the last few hundred thousand dollars from the phones. The gavel came down at $19,163,750, making it the most expensive painting sold at an American art sale since 2008, and the second-highest price for a Hopper at auction. Shortly thereafter, a watercolor on paper by the artist,&amp;nbsp;\u201CKelly Jenness House\u201D (1932), climbed past its $3 million high estimate to earn $4,155,750, a record for a Hopper work on paper.Virginia collectors James and Frances McGlothlin, accompanied by their art advisor Michael Altman, cleaned up at Christie's, nabbing several big fish \u2014 including works by Stuart Davis, Theodore Robinson, and Elizabeth Catlett \u2014 plus a handful of Averys, including \u201CThe Musicians\u201D (1949) (est. $400\u2013600,000), from the estate of singer Andy Williams, for $843,750. They tacked on another piece from the Williams collection, \u201CMoon River\u201D (1984) by Millard Owen Sheets, a hotly contested canvas that overtopped its $5,000 high estimate at $81,250.But there was broad participation from collectors who had come for one or two works, determined to win them. Such was the case for advisor Nan Chisholm, who chased Henrietta M. Shore\u2019s knockout \u201CUntitled (Cypress Trees, Point Lobos)\u201D (ca. 1930), to $687,750, more than four times the $150,000 high estimate, on behalf of a Midwestern client. \u201CThat was a really aggressive estimate for that artist at auction,\u201D says Sterling, \u201Cbut I think the final price is a testament to her cult following.\u201D Gil Waldman, a Santa Fe-based collector of Western art, was pleased to take home Granville Redmond\u2019s California landscape \u201CSnow Capp Spring\u201D (1927) (est. $100\u2013150,000) for $123,750. New York dealer Mark Murray wielded the paddle on behalf of a local collector couple who wanted, and won, George Bellows\u2019s \u201CVillage on the Hill\u201D (1916) (est. $150\u2013250,000), for $231,750.Among 19th-century works, Sanford Robinson Gifford\u2019s luminous \u201CTappan Zee\u201D (1879\u201380) (est. $200\u2013300,000), described by Sterling as \u201Ca rediscovered masterwork,\u201D had six ardent admirers who pushed the final price up to $1,179,750.&amp;nbsp;The sale\u2019s sole Rockwell, \u201CStarstruck\u201D (1934), took in $2,027,750 from a bidder on the telephone with specialist&amp;nbsp;Eric Widing against an estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million. Childe Hassam's sunny&amp;nbsp;\u201CIn a French Garden\u201D&amp;nbsp;(1897), was picked up by San Francisco-based art advisor Steven Platzman for a mid-estimate $963,750.As for the buy ins, the priciest came from the Eric and Cynthia Sambol collection of assorted Wyeths.Both department heads pointed to an upswing in demand for illustration artists like Rockwell and Parrish. \u201CConsistently, you\u2019re seeing good works by them doubling and tripling their estimates,\u201D says Sterling. \u201CThere are a lot of people willing to bid aggressively in that category.\u201DOverall, both houses were encouraged to see new faces \u2014 primarily crossover buyers from the contemporary sphere coming in for modern paintings \u2014 and old collectors returning, which bodes well for future sales. \u201CIn the American market, it\u2019s a smaller group of people,\u201D Goldberg points out, \u201Cso when both houses can produce good results, it sends a strong signal.\u201DTo see highlights from New York's American Art auctions, click on the slideshow."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/906378/american-art-auctions-at-sothebys-and-christies-soar-to-pre?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+artinfo-all+%28All+Content+%7C+ARTINFO%29>