29 Oct Auction Block: Come Hither

Lichtenstein.

Need I say more? You know I will. In fact, you can always count on me to use more words than necessary.

Roy Lichtenstein climbed to fame in the 1960s at a time when a national and critical love affair with Abstract Expressionism was losing intensity. Certain artists observed the trend and sought to rebrand realism.

Yet the art created by figures such as Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and James Rosenquist popped onto the New York gallery scene to barely stifled yawns.

The yawns soon transformed into exclamations due, in part, to the tireless promotion (self- and otherwise) of these so-called Pop artists who borrowed seamlessly from an increasingly consumer- and advertising-oriented culture. Their commercial art expertise aided their cause — and their celebrity, which often exceeded that of the Abstract Expressionists who had come before.

And? “Whaam!” Sotheby’s sale of Lichtenstein’s work kicked off the fall season and coincided with a widely acclaimed retrospective of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

West of the Mississippi, early autumn sales of traditional and contemporary Western and Indigenous art opened and closed with a “Bang!”

The Jackson Hole Art Auction, part of a series of energized events that make up the Wyoming resort’s fall arts festival, might be seen as a tensile test of the genre amid economic uncertainties. If so, the results are encouraging. The sale was a hit, with roughly half the total $18.3 million stemming from a solo exhibit and sale of works by Mark Maggiori. Buyers acquired all 31 pieces, including The Prophecy, an oil that set a world auction record for one of the painter’s pictures.

W. Herbert Dunton, October Aspens | Oil on Canvas | 41 x 45 inches | Sold: $390,000 | Courtesy of Jackson Hole Art Auction

The Maggiori-centered auction reflects a growing trend in some sectors of the art market. Auction houses coast to coast are staging more so-called selling exhibitions, which present works within eye-catching displays.

Arrangements vary widely, according to auction officials. A recent LA Modern Auction (LAMA) event saw the works of Southern California furniture maker John Cederquist on show and for sale at LAMA’s Lexington Avenue location in Los Angeles at an event that Brent Lewis called a win-win.

Lewis, LAMA’s director of business development, says the show was proposed to the artist, who collaborated in mounting it. In this case, the cost for each piece, including a stunning chair titled Indecision of Upholstery ($12,000), was made public online and in a price list, and those prices coordinated with primary market pricing for the veteran furniture artist.

Mark Maggiori, Life Is a Bronc | Oil on Panel | 41 x 45 inches | Sold: $850,000 | Courtesy of Jackson Hole Art Auction

In other cases, access to shows — and prices — may be restricted to certain collectors or audiences, just as private sales at galleries will sometimes see gallerists brokering works for specific clients.

As auction houses simultaneously expand their options and custom-design sale modes, the exclusivity these sales can offer is itself a draw for some collectors. Lewis says a selling exhibit is not, in fact, new. “It has been the selling model for galleries, and many times auction houses,” he says. “We have done many over the years but less so recently.”

LAMA’s primary business is auctions, Lewis says, “but our presentation format is top of field. The in-person exhibition is compelling and it is amazing to see so much of John Cederquist’s work in one space, but we worked hard to translate it online and, I think, did a good job of translating it to the screen, which is where so many clients will encounter the exhibition.”

Roy Lichtenstein, Entablature | Acrylic, Sand, and Graphite on Canvas | 55.25 x 144.125 inches | Sold: $896,000 ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Sotheby’s

Reflections on Pop: Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein
Live Auction: October 7
Online Sale: September 25–October 9
Total: $15.9 million

Roy Lichtenstein, Virtual Interior: Portrait of a Duck (Study) | Cut Painted Paper, Cut Painted Paper with Graphite, Cut Printed Paper and Graphite on Board 36.625 x 36.625 inches | Sold: $704,000 | ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein lives. Actually, the late artist — broadly known for cartoon-style characters and imaged broadsides at popular American culture — still exists in that ether enveloping Pop art.

Roy Lichtenstein, Interior with Painting of Nude (Study) | Tape, Cut Painted Paper, Cut Printed Paper, Cut Paper, Marker and Graphite Pencil on Paperboard 42.875 x 38.375 inches | Sold: $2.4 million | ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

A live auction and an online sale by Sotheby’s from the personal collection of Lichtenstein and his wife achieved a combined total of nearly $16 million.

Roy Lichtenstein, Blue Nude (Study) | Colored Pencil and Graphite on Denril | 11 x 8.125 inches | Sold: $704,000 ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Interior with Painting of Nude (Study) led top sellers at $2.4 million (high estimate was $1.5 million), followed by Entablature, which went for $896,000 with fees compared to projections of $700,000–$1 million.

Water Lilies with Cloud, one of six proofs from a numbered edition of 23, went for $768,000 (estimates $400,000–$600,000) and Blue Nude (Study) brought $704,000, tidily outstripping expectations of $300,000–$400,000. The study in colored pencil and graphite “directly relates to Blue Nude, one of the most celebrated works from Lichtenstein’s late Nudes series and formerly in the collection of designer Gianni Versace,” according to Sotheby’s.

Roy Lichtenstein, Water Lilies with Cloud | Screenprinted Enamel in Colors on Processed and Swirled Stainless Steel, with Painted Aluminum Frame | 35.5 x 44.75 inches | Sold: $768,000 | ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Virtual Interior: Portrait of a Duck (Study) gained the No. 5 slot among best-selling items, with the signed-and-dated piece going for $704,000 compared to estimates of $300,000–$400,000.

Jackson Hole Art Auction

September 18–19
Total: $18.3 million

G. Harvey, Morning Glow on Powder Snow | Oil on Canvas | 26 x 42 inches | Sold: $200,000

The Jackson Hole Art Auction capped the weeks-long Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival in Wyoming with two sales in as many days that combined to total more than $18 million.

A solo exhibit of 31 works by celebrated Western artist Mark Maggiori appears to have bolstered prices for the drawings and paintings sold on September 18 for a total of $9.3 million.

Even if one could successfully resist Maggiori’s luminous and, at times, ominous cloudscapes, it would require inhuman strength to not fall for his Western figures and wildlife. The top-selling item from the show, The Prophecy, is, in a word, overwhelming. It is powerful in composition, light effects, mood, and size. It went for $1.3 million with fees against expectations of $300,000–$500,000.

Amounts exceeding estimates proved the sale’s rule. Accordingly, Life Is a Bronc climbed to the No. 2 slot among top-selling items, fetching $850,000 compared to projections of $150,000–$250,000.

Mark Maggiori, Lord of the West | Oil on Linen | 45 x 52 inches | Sold: $775,000

All Star West came in a close third at $800,000, rising above hopes of $200,000–$300,000, but, in every other arena, it is at the vanguard. Certain of our nation’s historical painters captured the same ephemeral glow of nature, depicting man as dwarfed by the grandeur of the American landscape. Not so for Maggiori. The “all stars” of the eponymous painting are cowboys presented as equal in both dignity and stature to the pictured brushlands.

The nocturne Lord of the West went for $775,000 (estimates $150,000–$200,000) and The Power landed in fifth place at $750,000 instead of the expected $120,000–$180,000.

A painting by Maggiori co-led the second day of sales, with The Trackers bringing $480,000 with fees, easily outdistancing estimates of $25,000–$45,000. G. Harvey’s Rawhide and Roughnecks tied for the No. 1 slot at $480,000, with the nostalgic street-and-snow scene expected to bring between $300,000 and $500,000.

G. Harvey, Rawhide and Roughnecks | Oil on Canvas | 35.5 x 47.5 inches | Sold: $480,000

October Aspens, a veritable parfait of geometric perfection by W. Herbert Dunton, fetched $390,000. One of Charlie Russell’s watercolors on paper, Buckaroos from the N-N Outfit on the Big Dry, sold for $288,000 to become the fourth-highest seller. A second painting by G. Harvey took the No. 5 position, with Morning Glow on Powder Snow garnering $200,000, landing nicely between estimates of $150,000–$250,000.

In every auction, there is a sort of secret treasure, an artwork in the queue that is too modest to draw attention to itself. Yet such a piece may, at the last, sweep in and seize center stage. And so it was with Jonathan Noon’s portrait, My Way. The painting was expected to go for as much as $18,000 but instead achieved $78,000, a new world auction record for the artist.

Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale

September 14–19
Total: $1.3 million+

Three sales — a live auction, quick draw, and silent auction — in several days saw buyers boost total art sales at the 45th Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale to more than $1.3 million.

Dustin Payne, Last Stand at the O.K. Corral | Bronze | 25 x 35 x 15 inches | Sold: $31,625

The Western art festivities in the picturesque Wyoming town of Cody are organized by the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, which, along with artists and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, is among beneficiaries of proceeds.

While the lone figure on a rugged and remote landscape has long been a favored subject of Western and some Native American art, the spirit of many communities in the US West is anything but taciturn.

Perhaps the bromide of the wide-open spaces should be extended to the region’s wide-open welcome. Events such as the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale epitomize that sense of camaraderie and collective devotion that informs both a place and a people.

Tucker Smith, High Plains Nimbus | Oil | 20 x 24 inches | Sold: $31,050

The West loves its storied history, and who can tell it better than its outlaws and heroes? Such was the case with Last Stand at the O.K. Corral, the bronze by Dustin Payne that led the live auction by realizing $31,625. As tempting as it may be for any writer to describe the 25-by-35-by-15-inch sculpture at great length, suffice it to say the strong-jawed, steely-eyed men depicted are somewhat reminiscent of Rembrandt’s great work, The Night Watch. Such portraits at one time tended to arrange the quick and the honorable as though facing a firing squad. Rembrandt brought his figures breath and life. Payne’s Last Stand shows the same verve in three dimensions.

Max Werner, Approaching Hidden Creek | Acrylic | 30.5 x 38 inches | Sold: $22,500

Tucker Smith’s High Plains Nimbus was a close No. 2 at $31,050, a steal for a smallish-sized oil that stretches its themes of monumentality across every inch of the canvas. Statuesque, a hand-formed and etched acrylic statue of a saddle, was the third-highest-priced item that sold at the live auction, with the silver- and turquoise-studded sculpture going for $28,750.

Maeve Eichelberger, Statuesque | Hand-Formed and Etched Acrylic with Handmade Silver & Turquoise | 46 x 25 x 24 inches | Sold: $28,750

Four pieces tied at $22,500: Krystii Melaine’s oil, The Last Wilderness; Thomas Kegler’s painting, Valley of the Giants, Romans 15:13; Approaching Hidden Creek, an acrylic by Max Werner; and Santiago Michalek’s Treaty of Friendship. Kegler was the toast of both the awards and the quick draw contest, in which artists produce original works in just 90 minutes. Kegler’s on-the-spot execution for that event brought $19,550. A self-taught artist who values realism, he rightly has been credited with light and atmospheric effects akin to 19th-century American landscape painters known for their mastery of tonalism. “Through my work, I strive to bring an awareness and respect for God’s creations and their temporal qualities. My paintings are a ‘devotional’ of hand, head, and heart,” Kegler said in a statement on his website.

Western Visions Art Show + Sale

September 17
Total: $585,000+  

The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole routinely hosts untold numbers of tourists who visit the upscale area in Wyoming expecting to be wowed by Grand Teton National Park. They are.

Crystal Orlando, Resting Giant | Charcoal on Canvas | 18 x 18 inches | People’s Choice in Two-Dimensional Art

But perhaps Jackson Hole’s least-kept secret is the museum, which houses some of the nation’s most stellar examples of wildlife art and which annually draws painters, sculptors, collectors, and art aficionados of every type to a series of events and exhibits that culminate in the Western Visions Art Show + Sale.

John Perry Baumlin, The Edge of Twilight | Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel | 36 x 36 inches | Red Smith Award

This year, the sale of artworks — mostly tied to the September 17 evening of eats, awards, and an auction — rose by 5 percent compared to last year, and ticket sales rose by 50 percent from 2025, according to Show Director Madison Webb Stanko.

Of 176 participating artists, five were chosen for key honors. The Museum Purchase Award went to Marco Polo by Jay Kemp for what can only be described as an adorable portrait of a river otter. The small acrylic, priced at $9,800, will be added to the institution’s permanent collection.

Paul Rhymer, America’s Bird | Bronze | 18 x 9 x 9 inches | People’s Choice Award for Best Sculpture

America’s Bird by Paul Rhymer garnered the People’s Choice Award. The tabletop bronze is not the raptor of national renown but one that is found across the country, from hill and dale to parking lot and highway. Rhymer said of the subject of the sculpture, “Everyone loves a bald eagle. But what is more American than a red-tailed hawk?” Good question. Anyone? While not all may have seen the bird in person, anyone who has watched Western films has likely heard the hawk’s cry of the wild, which filmmakers sometimes use as the sound emitted by a soaring eagle.

People’s Choice in two-dimensional art went to Crystal Orlando for Resting Giant, a portrait of a bull bison rendered so realistically that viewers might expect Yellowstone National Park officials to warn them away from the humped king of the plains. The charcoal on canvas sold for $2,900. The Edge of Twilight by John Perry Baumlin took the Red Smith Award, which represents the vote of artists, and Renso Tamse received the Excellence for Artistic Merit Award for Bear with Bee. The waxed watercolor on board sold for $8,500.

Renso Tamse, Bear with Bee | Watercolor on Board, Waxed | 23 x 19 inches | Excellence for Artistic Merit Award

Summing up the museum’s major fundraiser, Webb Stanko said, “This year’s sale truly reflected the depth and breadth of talent in contemporary wildlife art.”

Quest for the West Show and Sale

September 11–12
Total: $1.1 million+  

It’s official. Quest for the West is now old enough to cozy up to the bar and order a drink anywhere in the US. But the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s centerpiece event is celebrating its age for other reasons.

Daniel Smith, A Time to Feast | Acrylic | 24 x 40 inches | Sold: $23,000 | Artists’ Choice Award

“Twenty-one years of Quest for the West is a remarkable milestone, and this year’s exhibition demonstrates why this event has become such an important gathering for artists, collectors, and audiences who care deeply about the art of the American West,” Eiteljorg President and CEO Kathryn Haigh said in a statement.

Starr Hardridge, Autumn Trail | Acrylic | 40 x 30 inches | Sold: $28,000 | Henry Farny Award for Best Painting; Patron’s Choice

Quest’s opening weekend was buoyed by two fixed-price, luck-of-the-draw sales and an awards banquet. A miniature art sale on the first of the two signature gatherings accrued $112,325, a record for that category. The sale garnered a total of $1.15 million for its selection of paintings, sculptures, and other works, according to museum officials.

Bruce Lawes, On Top of Her Game | Oil on Linen | 37 x 21 inches | Sold: $16,000 | Patron’s Choice

Starr Hardridge collected two of seven formal honors for Autumn Trail, an aptly titled acrylic. The piece, which sold for $28,000, gained the Henry Farny Award for Best Painting, as well as the Patrons’ Choice Award. The latter was shared with Bruce Lawes for On Top of Her Game, which went for $16,000.

Hardridge, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, has been able to achieve the arduous: in Autumn Trail, he adds an unusual edge to the picture of rider and horses. Any observer is likely attuned to human expressions of emotion, so it is to Hardridge’s credit that his horses speak louder than words — without using any.

Mikel Donahue, Winter Colors | Acrylic | 9 x 12 inches | Sold: $1,500 | Miniature Art Show Patrons’ Choice Award

The Artists’ Choice Award went to Daniel Smith for A Time to Feast, and Mikel Donahue received the Miniature Art Show Patrons’ Choice Award with Winter Colors, purchased for $1,500.