Bonhams & Butterfields to sell California and American works of Art

Wednesday, 03 October 2007 23:22

Los Angeles, CA - As California’s oldest and largest auctioneers, Bonhams & Butterfields has established a reputation as a preeminent source for California and American works of art at auction. “The market for high-quality examples continues to be strong,” said Scot Levitt, Director of California & American Paintings and Sculpture sales for Bonhams & Butterfields. “We continue to see strong prices for established artists and competitive bidding for high-caliber and fresh-to-market works,” continued Levitt.

The upcoming sale of California and American Painting and Sculpture will held on Monday, December 10, 2007. Western scenes, Plein Air, Society of Six, genre painting, land and cityscapes by established California and American artists include those by Maynard Dixon, Frank Tenney Johnson and John Marshall Gamble, among others.

A work entitled Study for 'Destination Unknown', a 1938 Social Realist work by Maynard Dixon, will highlight the upcoming sale. “The market for American master Maynard Dixon remains vibrant. Bonhams & Butterfields sold each Dixon oil painting offered during the August sale above its high estimate,” said Levitt. Considered rare to the market, the highly desirable oil on board study depicts a homeless man with a bedroll on his back walking along the railroad tracks. Typical of Dixon's Depression Era work and a drawing for the final painting which was titled Going Nowhere, the study is expected to bring $80,000 to $120,000.

Guy Rose, considered one of the most important California Impressionist painters, is represented in the December offering. A native Californian, Rose studied at the California School of Design before traveling to France to study in 1888. After a time in New York, he returned to France in 1899 settling in Giverny and working closely with master painter Claude Monet. It is from this period that the oil on canvas Yellow Trees, Giverny (est. $300/500,000) comes. According to Levitt, “Good examples of Rose's work from that period, such as this, are not seen on the market often. The work comes from a private collection in Los Angeles where it has been held for some time.”

Additional highlights from the December sale include: Land's End, San Francisco, 1873, by William Keith (est. $80/120,000); Granville Redmond’s The Passing Storm, 1912 (est. $60/80,000); a colorful oil entitled Under the Open Sky, 1936, by Frank Tenney Johnson (est. $100/150,000); John Marshall Gamble’s Prickly Phlox (est. $60/80,000) and Customs House by Monterey artist M. Evelyn McCormick (est. $20/30,000).

The illustrated auction catalog featuring December lots will be online at www.bonhams.com/us in the weeks preceding the sale and previews.

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America and in August 2003, Goodmans, a leading Australian fine art and antiques auctioneer with salerooms in Sydney, joined the Bonhams Group of Companies. Today, Bonhams is one of the largest and fastest growing auction houses in the world. It offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further seven throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, France, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 50 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com.