“Dangerous Sport” by Philip R. Goodwin (1881- 1935), oil on canvas, 40 by 28 inches, sold to a private collector for $786,500, the highest price of the day and the second-highest result for a work by the artist ($250/350,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
RENO, NEV. — Western American art often reflects two dominant if extreme motifs: the savagery and activity of the Wild West, and the serenity of sweeping, often uninhabited, landscapes. Both were in full force in Coeur d’Alene Art Auction’s annual Best of the West sale, which took place in Reno on Saturday, July 27. The 405-lot affair offered paintings, sculpture and an occasional print, about 90 percent of which sold for a grand tally that exceeded $17 million.
“It isn’t a record but one of our highest totals over the last five years; it’s a good sign and we’re thrilled,” confirmed partner Mike Overby. “The number of registered bidders was off the charts due to online bidding; we had 20 percent more registered bidders than last year and many of them are new to us.” He confirmed institutions were active participants, joining private collectors and dealers vying throughout the auction.
In July 2022, Coeur d’Alene established the record for Philip R. Goodwin (American, 1881-1935) at $968,000; while that record still stands, the house set the next-highest price for a work by the artist, realizing $786,500 for “Dangerous Sport.” Following time spent in Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies, the artist depicted bear hunts several times, including “A ‘Bear’ Chance” for Nabisco’s Cream of Wheat and “A Strenuous Fight,” which appeared on the December 1924 cover of Outdoor Recreation. In “Dangerous Sport,” which the catalog notes as “none better…filled with unparalleled tension and uncertainty,” the artist captures a grizzly, its mouth open and claws extended, lunging towards a crouching hunter and dog. Formerly published and with two prior auctions in its history, the painting sold to a private collector.
William R. Leigh’s “Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town),” circa 1910, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 inches, signed, earned a strong second-place finish at $665,600. A private collector in Nebraska had the top bid ($600/900,000).
“Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town)” by William R. Leigh scored a second-place finish at $665,500. Previously sold at auction at Parke-Bernet Galleries (1941) and Christie’s New York (2010), the oil on canvas had been handled additionally by Babcock Galleries (New York) and Biltmore Galleries (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and claimed private ownership in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas and Wyoming. A private collector in Nebraska had the winning bid.
Coeur d’Alene holds the existing world record ($5.6 million) for Charles Marion Russell (American, 1864-1926) and the July 27 event featured 16 examples — in oil, watercolor and bronze — for collector of the artist to chase. “The Ambush” capped this group with a $605,000 price realized, just beating its high estimate. The auction catalog noted that Russell’s choice to live with Native Americans — the Blackfeet of Canada — allowed him to depict them and scenes of their everyday life sympathetically.
The artist’s “Bronc Rider,” a watercolor on paper composition, claimed provenance to the Museum at the Bighorns in Sheridan, Wyo., and leapt past its $150/250,000 estimate, finally settling at $272,250.
Capturing a spiral of movement and demonstrating a mastery of anatomy, action and expression, “The Rattlesnake” quickly became one of the most popular works by Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909). Cast at the Roman Bronze Works and numbered “21,” the 24¼-inch-tall model was published in four books on the artist from 1966 to 1996. It achieved $484,000.
The top bidder paid $272,250 for “Bronc Rider” by Charles M. Russell, 1922, watercolor on paper, 13½ by 9 inches that had descended in New York and Wyoming collections ($150/250,000).
The vastness of the American West was perfectly rendered by Western old master Thomas Hill (English American, 1829-1908) in “On the Banks of the Merced River.” The catalog describes the scene’s “seeming spontaneity, yet (the colors and effects) so beautifully handled that they seem at first to exist in and of themselves, in an impressionistic manner. But as the viewer contemplates the vista, and is drawn into it, the colors and brushstrokes harmonize and blend into a unified whole, evocative and mysterious, like the great Yosemite Valley itself.” Bidders agreed, taking the 1905 oil on canvas to an above-estimate $272,250.
Howard A. Terpning (American, b 1927) is an artist who is familiar to collectors and connoisseurs, and Coeur d’Alene set the record for the artist ($2.36 million) in July 2023. With seven lots by the artist in the sale, bidders had their pick. The latest of these — a brightly colored genre scene titled “Lady of the House” from 2006 — had been awarded the Oklahoma Centennial Award at the 2007 Prix de West. The catalog essay for the lot noted the angles in the composition, about which the artist wrote “this Blackfoot woman is definitely the keeper of her domain and proud of it. This painting provided me with the opportunity to portray a strong woman in her own environment. She is fulfilling her role as a member of her Blackfoot Nation by caring for her family and tending to all the hard chores that went with her responsibilities as lady of the house.” The work’s previous exhibition and publication history gave bidders additional reason to pursue it and it closed at $484,000.
Howard Terpning’s “Lady of the House,” 2006, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 inches, was the winner of the Oklahoma Centennial Award and had been exhibited at the Autry National Center (Los Angeles), the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and The Owings Gallery (Santa Fe, N.M.). It sold for $484,000 ($500/700,000).
“The Blackfeet Wall” by Tom Lovell (American, 1909-1997) is a static composition that nonetheless crackles with the anticipation of dramatic movement. Indeed, the lot essay explains the animosity the Blackfeet felt towards white settlers after two of their hunters were killed in 1806 by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Exhibited and illustrated, the 1978 painting achieved $302,500.
The sale saw world auction records set for two artists. Modern New Mexican artist, Dorothy Eugenie Brett’s (English American, 1883-1976) “The Sundown Dance,” was accompanied by a copy of Jamison Gallery’s (New Mexico) exhibition catalog, The Brett: Fifty Years of Painting in New Mexico, 1924 -1974 and rose to $84,700.
Realizing $272,250 and shattering the previous record of $70,000 was Oleg Stavrowsky’s (American, 1927 - 2020) “Rolling Through the Longhorns,” which incited a prolonged bidding war between a phone bidder and collector in the crowd who ended up getting the painting.
Coeur d’Alene Art Auctions’ next sale will be an online-only sale on November 9, followed in March by a two-day live sale in Great Falls, Mont.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.cdartauction.com or 208-772-9009.
