Plunder from Sonora by Howard Terpning brought $962,500 to lead Heritage Auctions’ $8.78 million Western & California Art Signature Auction. The November 10 event is Heritage’s largest Western art auction to date and the largest fine arts auction in house history. Top lots include a second work by Terpning, Crow Country, which sold for $662,500. Albert Bierstadt’s Mount Brewer from King’s River Canyon brought $602,500, Kickover of Morning Coffee Pot by Charles Marion Russell sold for $482,500 and The War Bonnet by E. Martin Hennings brought $386,500.
Plunder from Sonora by Howard Terpning
“This auction firmly establishes Heritage as a leader in Western art, showcasing the finest art and drawing established and emerging new buyers,” said Ed Beardsley, Vice President of Fine & Decorative Arts at Heritage. “Not only did we offer some of the most recognizable names in Western art, it was arguably some of their finest work and observant buyers recognized that. It was a standing room only crowd bringing lovers of great Western and California art to Heritage’s world headquarters.”
Numerous works broke the $200,000 mark: William Robinson Leigh’s One Good Turn Deserves Another sold for $290,500; Portrait of Kate by Nicolai Fechin brought $290,500; Taos Valley Reflections by Ernest Leonard Blumenschein sold for $266,500; Tom Lovell’s The Thaw brought $230,500 and a second work by Hennings titled Indian Hunters sold for $218,500.
The auction was highlighted by numerous important collections. Works from The Hogan Family Collection included five of the top 10 lots as well as E. Irving Crouse’s Prayer to the Rain God, which brought $170,500. In addition to the sale’s top lot, artworks from the Weider Health and Fitness Collection featured John Ford Clymer’s The Raiding Party, which sold for $194,500, Caribou on the Tundra by Carl Clemens Mortiz Rungius, which brought $182,500 and Fishing in the Yosemite Valley by Thomas Hill, which sold for $134,500.
Crow Country by Howard Terpning
Mount Brewer from King’s River Canyon by Albert Bierstadt
Kickover of Morning Coffee Pot by Charles Marion Russell
The War Bonnet by E. Martin Hennings
One Good Turn Deserves Another by William Robinson Leigh
Portrait of Kate by Nicolai Fechin
Taos Valley Reflections by Ernest Leonard Blumenschein
The Thaw by Tom Lovell
Indian Hunters by E. Martin Hennings
