kenneth j. stuart sr.

Norman Rockwell’s “Saying Grace” Reached $46 Million at Auction

Norman Rockwell’s painting “Saying Grace” sold for $46 million at Sotheby’s American Art auction. That was a record for works by the late artist and for a single American painting. The 1951 oi which depicts a boy praying with an elderly woman in a crowded restaurant, was originally estimated to go for $20 million before the auction. The other top two Rockwell sales were “The Gossips,” sold for just under $8.5 million, and, “Walking to Church,” fetched a little more than $3.2 million. The three paintings, which had long been displayed in a Massachusetts museum named for the artist, were among 10 Rockwell works sold at auction. Seven of Rockwell’s paintings sold at auction came from the family of Kenneth J. Stuart Sr., a longtime friend of the artist, and art editor at The Saturday Evening Post, and nearly totaled $60 million, according to Sotheby’s. The previous auction record for an American artwork was set in 1999, when George Bellows’ painting “Polo Crowd” sold at Sotheby’s for $27.7 million.

Masterworks by Norman Rockwell at Sotheby’s New York Auction

An extraordinary selection of paintings by Norman Rockwell leading at Sotheby’s American Art Auction in New York on 4 December 2013. Rockwell’s seven works including “Saying Grace” and “The Gossips,” are being offered by the family of Kenneth J. Stuart Sr., the artist’s longtime friend and art editor at the Saturday Evening Post magazine. Highlight of the collection is “Saying Grace,” voted the favorite cover by readers of the Post, estimated at $15 – 20 million and “The Gossips”, estimated at $6 – 9 million, as well as “Walking to Church”, estimated at $3 – 5 million, and a color study for “Breaking Home Ties”, estimated at $200 – 300,000), the final version of which set the artist’s current auction record when it sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2006 for $15.4 million. “To offer any one of these masterworks would be a great privilege. To present two of Norman Rockwell’s most iconic works in one auction is unprecedented,” Elizabeth Goldberg, the head of Sotheby’s American Art department, said in a statement. Sotheby’s estimates the collection could sell for a total of more than $24 million. Select works will be on view in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and New York throughout the fall.