06 Jan Auction Block: Play It Again, Taos

There were not 10 divine laws for depicting the spirit of the Southwest, but instead nine men and one woman who created a unique set of approaches to painting the places and the peoples of that land in the early 20th century. They were based in what has become an arts mecca in New Mexico. They called themselves the Taos Society of Artists.

More than a century later, their legacy lives on —  and lives well, in the secondary market. Prices for works by Taos Society members are soaring, with auction houses reporting strength in that particular sphere of Western art.

Bonhams, Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Heritage Auctions, Larsen Art Auction, Lone Star Art Auction, and Santa Fe Art Auction all reported pleasing outcomes tied to Taos Society of Artists offerings.

Heritage Auctions American Art

November 14
Total: $14.7 million+

Heritage Auctions in mid-November marked the most successful American Art Auction in its records during a sale led by a signature suite of works by Norman Rockwell.

Norman Rockwell, I Will Do My Best | Oil on Canvas | 39 x 28 inches | Sold: $812,500

“So You Want to See the President!”, Rockwell’s sole known series of four interrelated paintings on paper was purchased for $7.25 million by the White House Historical Association, a non-profit established in 1961 by then First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The association and the international auction house hailed the acquisition as historic. “[The association] is honored to acquire … [once privately owned] panels often displayed in the West Wing for more than 40 years,” the group’s president, Stewart McLaurin, said in a statement. “This moment feels truly historic,” Heritage Auctions’ Senior Vice President and Director of American Art Aviva Lehmann said in a press release.

Armin Hansen, Crossing the Bar | Oil on Board | 26 x 38 inches | Sold: $318,000

Records fell like dominos with the sale of the president-themed panels, which were created in 1943 at the height of World War II. It was easily an auction high for a work on paper by Rockwell and the top price paid for a painting by him since 2018, according to the auction house.

Norman Rockwell, A Scout is Friendly | Oil on Canvas | 33 x 22 inches | Sold: $984,375

And the sale saw Rockwell featured early and often, all to good effect and among top sellers. Those included A Scout is Friendly (1943), which went for $984,375; Forward America (1951) at $906,250; Men of Tomorrow (1948), which sold for $812,500; and I Will Do My Best (1945), which fetched $812,500.

Bonhams California and Western Art

November 11
Total: $3.2 million+

Granville Redmond’s California — larger than life, just like the Golden State — topped sales at Bonhams California and Western Art auction in Los Angeles, with the strongly horizontal oil fetching $330,700 with fees. The landscape was expected to bring from $300,000-$500,000.

Crossing the Bar — no, not the poem by Tennyson, the painting by Armin Hansen — brought a tidy $318,000 against estimates of $300,000-$500,000. The sale price with fees was a triumph for the buyer since the small-sized piece so fully represents the oeuvre of the San Francisco-born artist.

Granville Redmond, California | Oil on Canvas | 40.5 x 80.25 inches | Sold: $330,700

In the era in which the wonders of America’s diverse landscapes were celebrated, man is a cast member on a stage in which nature plays the central role. And so it is with Hansen’s depiction of a man in a boat amid wild indigo waves. The poem of the same name, penned in the late 19th century, describes a “crossing” between this world and the one to come with the sea as the central metaphor. Where the writer used words to paint an image, Hansen used images to write words.

Against the Light by Arthur Grover Rider sold for $159,250, landing on the high side of expectations of $100,000-$150,000 and securing the No. 3 slot among best-selling items. That was followed by Frank Tenney Johnson’s A Wyoming Night Herder, a hauntingly beautiful nocturne — Johnson’s signature — which went for $152,900 to a collector who faced estimates of $120,000-$180,000. The painting is a masterpiece of mountain tranquility and suspended action in an angled and shadow-strewn land.

Line Camp Buddies by G. Harvey garnered a happy excess at $102,100 compared to projections of $25,000-$35,000.

Coeur d’Alene Art Auction Live Online

November 8
Total: $1.3 million+

Acrylics by wildlife art giant Bob Kuhn, may he rest in peace, show lasting vitality in the secondary market.

Coeur d’Alene Art Auction’s Live Online sale saw Kuhn’s strength in numbers. African Baroque, Kuhn’s depiction of a muscular and intent male lion clipping through a mixed grass and woodland landscape, realized $266,200 with fees against estimates of $50,000-$75,000. Kuhn’s Elephant in Papyrus climbed to $108,900 while his picture Cape Buffalo fetched $90,750.

Bob Kuhn, African Baroque | Acrylic on Board | 30 x 30 inches | Sold: $266,200

Kuhn, over time, set the standard for wildlife art in America and overseas. He was his own measure — as were artist predecessors such as Carl Rungius — but that sharpened his edge rather than dulling it. In 2025 alone, the Coeur d’Alene Auction led the Kuhn market, with more than $2.5 million in sales of his pieces, auction officials said in a statement.

The online sale was no exception to a recent and resurgent interest in pieces by painters associated with the early 20th-century art style and movement tied to Taos, New Mexico. Pueblo Firelight – Roasting Corn,” by Eanger Irving Couse climbed over estimates of $30,000-$50,000 to bring $66,550. Couse can be compared to Edward Curtis for conjuring intimate and lasting portraits of Native Americans, Couse in paintings, and Curtis in photogravure.

The online sale also saw Indian Woman with Colored Blanket by Edgar S. Paxson sell for $60,500, or roughly four times its low-end expectation, and Iceberg Lake by national parks painter John Fery bring $30,250 over projections of $15,000-$25,000.

Santa Fe Art Auction

November 7-8
Total: $3.3 million+

Santa Fe Art Auction’s 31st Annual Live Sale featured several sessions of more than 350 lots, portioned generally by themes from works on paper and multiples to Native American pieces and European modernist works. The two-day event was driven in part by the third of three sessions, which happened on November 8 and featured the sale of a graphite-on-paper drawing by Pablo Picasso.

Bob Kuhn, Elephant in Papyrus | Acrylic on Board | 25 x 36 inches | Sold: $108,900

Among a series in which the redoubtable Spanish-born artist imprinted his variation on Edouard Manet’s Les Dejeuners sur l’herbe (The Luncheon on the grass), the work entitled Les dejeuners IV led two days of bidding and buying, selling for $184,500 with fees.

Albert Bierstadt, Study for the Great Trees (Mariposa, California), Oil on Paper over Board 27.5 x 18.5 inches | Sold: $135,300

The shock value of Manet’s painting of a naked woman picnicking with fully clothed gentlemen has lessened considerably in the more than 160 years since it was created. Still, Picasso’s 1961 rendition packs the typical Pablo punch. It had expected to bring $70,000-$100,000.

Legendary landscape artist Albert Bierstadt’s Study for the Great Trees (Mariposa, California), an oil on paper over board, became the second best-selling item, fetching $135,300 against estimates of $30,000-$50,000.

Fernand Leger’s Composition, gouache on paper, climbed to $73,800, more than three times its high expectation, while Untitled (#P56-06), an oil by Esteban Vicente, shot to $61,500 compared to the projected $25,000-$35,000.

Fritz Scholder’s striking acrylic on canvas, Taos Canyon Gorge in Winter neared its top estimate of $50,000 by selling for $49,200 with fees.

Other highlights of the Signature Sale included: a woodcut print of Gustave Baumann’s Big Timber Upper Pecos ($22,140); Chugach Aleut artist Denise Wallace’s Hopi Woman Necklace, a masterpiece of links, carved masks and an articulated pendant of a Hopi woman ($22,140); and an Eastern Sioux/Western Great Lakes pipe bowl and stem which sailed above estimates of $2,000-$4,000 to bring $30,750.

Heritage Auctions

November 7
Total: $1.5 million+

Heritage Auctions’ Visions of the Western Frontier Signature Auction saw a world auction record set for a sculpture by the late Dave McGary. Bear’s Nest went for $106,250 with fees to become the bestseller at the sale in Dallas. The auction house does not disclose pre-sale estimates.

Dave McGary, Bear’s Nest | Bronze | 25 x 15 x 10 inches | Sold: $106,250

McGary’s life-size sculpture is bronze with polychrome patina and features a figure with a headdress of bear ears, eyes, and snout and a shield festooned with feathers. The statue, produced in 1994, has been worked with so much fluidity that metal hardly appears to be the medium. The piece is edition No. 9 of 9.

Climbing to the No. 2 spot at $103,250 was G. Harvey’s The Blowout, a large-scale painting dated 1980 and picturing an eruption of so-called black gold from a towering oil derrick.

Ed Mell, Renewal | Oil on Canvas | 22 x 30 inches | Sold: $81,250

Renewal, by the late Ed Mell, became the third highest priced piece at $81,250. Mell’s facility with composition and color was only matched by his extravagant angles “pointing” to the dramatic sweep of the mountains and canyons of the American Southwest. Hats off — particularly pointy ones — to Ed Mell.

William Robinson Leigh’s Rabbit Hunt fetched $75,000, a steal for a smaller-sized oil that shows the one-time illustrator’s genius for action scenes. Leigh was a relatively early advocate of using shades of color as they appeared to the eye, even when the illusion was purely optical. Rabbit Hunt is no exception to Leigh’s “law.”

Pablo Picasso, Les déjeuners IV (d’après Manet) | Graphite on Paper | 12.875 x 19.75 inches | Sold: $184,500

Afternoon in the Aspens by Bert Geer Phillips rounded out the top five by fetching $45,000. The co-founder of the Taos Society of Artists had a penchant for capturing conditions of light and air, a skill strongly associated with French Impressionists.

Lone Star Art Auction

November 1
Total: $4.5 million

G. Harvey’s Wall Street looks very different from today’s frenetic financial center in Manhattan but instead is imbued with nostalgia. Admiration for another era is said to sometimes jumpstart sales of G. Harvey works and perhaps that phenomenon was in play at Lone Star Art Auction. The oil on canvas went for $252,000 with fees, nicely landing between estimates ranging from $200,000-$300,000. The picture depicts rain-slicked streets, gas-lit lamps and horse-drawn carriages in a misty salute to bygone days.

The Blues Man by David Bates easily climbed over expectations of $100,000-$150,000 to achieve $240,000 and land in the No. 2 slot at the sale in Dallas. If the smoking figure in the painting seems larger than life it may be a trick of the canvas, which spans 60 inches by 48 inches.

Frank Tenney Johnson, arguably one of the most modest of historic Western artists, showed admirable skill with action as well as stillness. Johnson’s The Lawless Frontier brought $195,000 to rank as the third highest-selling item. The oil, estimated at $200,000-$300,000, shows a horseman riding hard on the heels of a red-scarfed rider reaching fast into his holster.

In the No. 4 slot was Bert Geer Phillips’ Taos Indian with Pony, which fetched a hefty $156,000 against estimates of $70,000-$90,000. Phil Berkebile, owner of Lone Star Auction, said that was one of several examples at the sale in which works by Taos Society of Artists showed strong price points.

G. Harvey, Wall Street | Oil on Canvas | 42 x 60 inches | Sold: $252,000

In the Land of Spanish Oak by Julian Onderdonk went for $156,000 to tie with Ansel Adams — Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico — for fifth place. Each was estimated at $150,000-$200,000.

Larsen Art Auction

October 18
Total: $2.1 million+

Just the mention of a Fritz Scholder original has been known to attract bidders from around the globe. The Native American painter, whose modernist compositions feature dematerialized figures — a heady mix — forged a path with large-scale acrylics that were arguably unmatched by other artists of his era.

In a sign of Scholder’s lasting appeal, two works led the Larsen Art Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Indians on Horseback achieving $220,000 with fees and Standing Indian realizing $135,000 to take the No. 2 slot. Indians was projected to bring from $150,000-$200,000 and Standing expected to garner $100,000-$150,000.

Ed Mell, Jack Knife | Painted Bronze on Stone Plinth | 26.25 x 21.25 x 10.25 inches | Sold: $40,000

Contemporary Western artist R. Tom Gilleon’s Morning Star, a 4-foot-by-4-foot rendition of a teepee, engaged bidders to push its price to $47,500 or nearly twice its low estimate.

A painted bronze on stone plinth by the late Ed Mell brought a hefty $40,000 against expectations of $30,000-$40,000. Jack Knife is a masterpiece of angles, edges, and action in its sculptural depiction of a cowboy on bucking bronco. Jack Knife was one of several tabletop pieces by the Arizona artist — widely known and admired for his angled landscapes — that fetched tidy sums at the Larsen sale. Each of the additional sculptures, including two editions of Upward, showed versions of an athletic cowboy and energetic horse. The man-and-mount version that garnered the most money after Jack Knife was Sidestepper, the third in an edition of 30, which went for $16,000, above the projected range of $6,000-$9,000.

Fritz Scholder, Indians on Horseback | Acrylic on Canvas | 30 x 40 inches | Sold: $220,000

The whimsy and master craftsmanship of Colorado-born-and-educated artist Jim Budish was front and center for favor at the sale in Scottsdale. A 5-plus-foot bronze of a signature rabbit, Chauncey, realized $26,000. The sculpture, No. 5 in an edition of 99, had been, had been thought to go for $5,000-$7,000.

And a Louisa McElwain landscape, The Silver Lining IV, likewise rose above estimates to sell for $25,000, or roughly $10,000 more than the top price expected.

Bonhams American Art

September 26-October 7
Total: $846,000

A picture by Albert Bierstadt led Bonhams autumn online sale of American Art, going for $48,640 with fees for more than twice its low-end estimate. The late 19th-century landscape painter is so strongly associated with depictions of the grandeur of the mountains, valleys, and cloudscapes of the American West that one forgets he was born in Prussia and studied in an historic and prestigious art academy in Dusseldorf.

Porfirio Salinas, Bluebonnet Meadowland | Oil on Canvas | 23.875 x 36 inches | Sold: $28,160

In the oil that outcompeted other offerings, An Alps Mountain Scene with Figures, a Cabin, and a Cow, Bierstadt shows his mastery of illustrating height and light and his penchant for giving nature an outsized share of the canvas.

A painting by famed Texas landscape artist Porfirio Salinas charmed bidders and easily swept aside its pre-sale estimate to achieve $28,160 with fees and land in the No. 3 slot among top sellers. Bluebonnet Meadowland is a medium-sized painting with enormous appeal. Salinas, from a Mexican-American farm family, was apprenticed to popular painter Robert Wood from an early age and the period of tutelage shows in every brushstroke of a dream-like picture of succeeding pasturelands punctuated by the signature wildflowers of Texas. Pre-sale estimates were $20,000-$40,000.

Taos Society of Artists co-founder Eanger Irving Couse occasionally lent his brush to rural, stream-side scenes. Such is Pastoral: Resting Place, the oil which went for $11,520, roughly twice the high estimate.

A coastal scene by Lockwood de Forest — Point del Pinos, Monterey, California — garnered $10,880, falling within a range of $8,000 to $12,000. And a sculpture by the late Dave McGary, Eye of the Storm, sold for $10,240 against projections of $5,000-$7,000 even as a painting by Michael Coleman, A Rocky Mountain Encampment, brought $7,680 compared to pre-sale estimates of $4,000-$6,000.

Laura Zuckerman is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in magazines such as Cowboys & Indians and Country Living.