Freeman's Celebrates The Vibrant Tapestry of the American Story With Pair of All-American Art Sales

Lot 56 | Martha Walter (American 1875-1976) Crowded Beach | Estimate $20,000 - $30,000

 

American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists and Western and Wildlife Art, Including Contemporary Native American Art will be held in back-to-back sessions on June 7

 

Freeman’s, America’s oldest auction house, is set to celebrate American art with back-to-back sales from its Philadelphia saleroom on June 7. The day begins with American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists at 1 pm followed by Western and Wildlife Art, including Contemporary Native American Art at 3 pm. 

 "As we approach our nation’s Semiquincentennial, we thought it only fitting that we offer a pair of sales that reflect the vibrant tapestry of the American story—from foundational still life and landscape painting to the expressive spirit of modernism,” said Adam Veil, Freeman’s Vice President and Head of Department for American Art. “The sales offer a rich and accessible gateway into the breadth of American creative achievement, and is a celebration of the collectors, scholars, and enthusiasts who share Freeman's passion for this heritage." 

 

Session I: A Cross-section of American Art History     
 

From Left to Right: 
Lot 119 | Edward Willis Redfield (1869-1965) | Overlooking Soho, Pittsburgh, 1918 | $100,000 – 150,000 

Lot 92 | Peter Blume (1906-1992) | Recollection of the Flood, 1967-69 | $30,000 – 50,000 
 

American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists offers a cross-section of American art history, bridging the gap between 19th-century still life and landscape painting, masterworks by Childe Hassam (lot 35) and Thomas Wilmer Dewing (lot 33), and the crisp narratives of mid-century modernism. The sale is anchored by an appealing selection of canvases by New Hope Impressionists Edward Redfield, Rae Sloan Bredin, Mary Elizabeth Price, and Kenneth Nunamaker, and also by Walter Emerson Baum's 1933 work Late Afternoon (lot 113), arguably his most compelling interpretation of the region.  

A strong selection of Golden Age illustration—by the likes of Howard Pyle, Ethel Franklin Betts, and Sarah Stilwell Weber—highlights Freeman's historical strengths in the Brandywine School while standout examples by Everett Shinn, William Glackens, Edward Henry Potthast, and Martha Walter offer a counterpoint to offerings by Peter Blume, Milton Avery, Jamie Wyeth, and Lynne Drexler. 

 

Other Sale Highlights: 

• Lot 110 | Edward Willis Redfield (1869-1965) 
  The End of the Island, c. 1920 
  $80,000 – 120,000 

• Lot 96 | Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) 
  Raven Pair - Portrait, 1998 
  $60,000 – 100,000 

• Lot 53 | Everett Shinn (1876-1953) 
  Bonnie Glass, 1915 
  $40,000 – 60,000 

• Lot 5 | Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886) 
  View of the Dover Plains, New York, c. 1860s 
  $20,000 – 30,000 

• Lot 105 | Lynne Drexler (1928-1999) 
  Blue Swirl, 1991 
  $20,000 – 30,000 

• Lot 90 | Jack Levine (1915-2010) 
  The Patriarch of Moscow on a Visit to Jerusalem, 1975 
  $15,000 – 25,000 

Session II: Masterworks of Classic Western and Southwestern Art 

From Left to Right: 

Lot 18 | Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) | The Moqui Prayer for Rain (The Returning of the Snakes)  | $80,000 – 120,000 
Lot 34 | John Nieto (1936-2018) | Plains Warrior, 1996 | $30,000 – 50,000 

In the second session, Western and Wildlife Art, Including Contemporary Native American Art features a robust selection of works from prominent estates and private collections. The sale is led by exceptional examples from the Estates of Henry V. Nickel (Potomac, Maryland) and Richard and Deanna Freeland (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and includes masterworks of classic Western and Southwestern art by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Henry F. Farny, Henry Mervin Shrady, and Eanger Irving Couse.  

 

 Lot 75 | Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953) | Sunburst Crow Reservation | $120,000 – 180,000 

Other highlights include Sunburst Crow Reservation (lot 75), an important landscape by Joseph Henry Sharp; an attractive group of oils by John Neito; and offerings from Charles Schreyvogel, G. Harvey, Martin Grelle, and Richard Schmid. Paintings by western stalwarts Frederic Remington, Oscar Berninghaus, and Gerard Curtis Delano are also of note. The sale is rounded out by a broadly appealing group of contemporary and Native works by Allan Houser, Earl Biss, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. 

Other Sale Highlights: 

• Lot 22 | Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936) 
  Harmony, 1915 
  $60,000 – 100,000 

• Lot 25 | Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) 
  Chief of the Multnomah Tribe, conceived in 1903, this example cast circa 1905 
  $50,000 – 80,000 

• Lot 44 | Paul Pletka (b. 1946) 
  Warrior Coat, 1978 
  $20,000 – 30,000 

• Lot 7 | Hermann Herzog (1832-1932) 
  Elk Watering 
  $15,000 – 25,000