PDF - Jackson Hole Art Auction

INSIDE Jackson Hole Art Auction • Kyle Polzin • Quest for the West • Wildlife Art
SEPTEMBER 2015
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AUCTION PREVIEW
Complete Package
A diverse offering of works from major Western artists will be sold
over two sessions at the Jackson Hole Art Auction.
R
eturning for its ninth year, the
prestigious Jackson Hole Art Auction
will once again bring major historic
and contemporary Western artworks to the
auction block in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The sale will take place across two sessions:
the first, a smaller more intimate sale at partner
Trailside Galleries on September 18, and a
second larger sale at the Center for the Arts
on September 19. Both sessions will feature
top-tier Western works from as early as the mid19th century right on through to works created
this year by respected masters such as Z.S.
Liang, Martin Grelle, Ken Carlson and others.
“We are very happy with the diversity
of the works available this year, which are
represented across many genres. Because it’s
Jackson Hole, we’re also quite proud of the
wildlife works, including pieces by Bob Kuhn
and Carl Rungius as well as others,” says
Roxanne Hofmann, managing partner at the
Jackson Hole Art Auction. “We have only one
sale a year so we limit our lot number to the
couple-hundred range, and throughout the
year we vet out what we choose to put in the
sale. In addition to the wildlife works, we’re
also quite excited for the historical works,
which are difficult to find sometimes but are
always being sought out by our clientele.”
Hofmann says one of the top lots, and the
one that’s generating some of the most pre-show
buzz, is Albert Bierstadt’s luminous landscape
Wind River Country Wyoming, which was
painted sometime around 1860. “That painting
was purchased over 50 years ago and has been
in one family since then,” Hofmann says. “And
it was has stayed in Sublette County [Wyoming]
for those 50 years, so it has a chance to stay
right here for another 50 years.”
Additional top lots include Rungius’ wildlife
landscape Grizzly Bear, which is expected to
fetch between $250,000 and $450,000, and
Kuhn’s Cheetah’s on Termite Hill, estimated at
$200,000 to $400,000. Kuhn has a number of
works in the sale, including images depicting
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Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), Menu (Cafe Noir), ca. 1896, watercolor
and pencil on paper, 6 x 4”. Estimate: $40/60,000
AUCTION PREVIEW
Albert Bierstadt
(1830-1902), Wind
River Country
Wyoming, ca. 1860,
oil on canvas
28¼ x 39½”.
Estimate: $1/2 million
Jackson Hole
Howard Terpning,
Good Medicine, oil on
canvas, 18 x 24”.
Estimate:
$100/150,000
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Carl Rungius (1869-1959), Grizzly Bear, oil on canvas, 30 x 40”. Estimate: $250/450,000
rams, King of the Hill (est. $40/60,000); elk, Elk in
Down Timber (est. $35/55,000); moose, Autumn Itch
(est. $25/35,000); and buffalo, A Battle of Titans (est.
$25/35,000).
Other auction highlights are Tom Lovell’s elaborate
winter scene Sundown at Fort Union, estimated at
$150,000 to $250,000; Howard Terpning’s Native
American piece Good Medicine, estimated at
$100,000 to $150,000; Terpning’s winter tracking
scene Empty Handed, set at $75,000 to $100,000;
and a menu designed by Charles M. Russell that’s
expected to sell at $40,000 to $60,000.
G. Harvey has three major works up for grabs: The
Hope of the Confederacy (est. $125/175,000), Jeb
Stuart’s Return (est. $100/150,000) and Another Good
Day (est. $50/75,000). Stanley Meltzoff’s White Marlin
7 - Three White Marlin and Needlefish is expected to
hammer between $25,000 and $35,000—the Jackson
Hole Art Auction holds a Meltzoff world record for a
piece that sold last year for $52,650. Grelle also has
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Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006), White Marlin 7 - Three White Marlin and Needlefish, 2006,
oil on board, 22 x 31¾”. Estimate: $25/35,000
AUCTION PREVIEW
Bob Kuhn (1920-2007),
Cheetahs on a Termite Hill,
acrylic on Masonite, 22 x 40”.
Estimate: $200/400,000
Bob Kuhn (1920-2007),
Summer Range – Pronghorns,
1997, acrylic on board, 9½ x 12”.
Estimate: $30/40,000
Jackson Hole
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Clockwise from above:
Martin Grelle, Courtship,
2014, oil on linen,
42 x 34”. Estimate:
$100/150,000
Frederic Remington
(1861-1909), A
Trooper, 1894,
watercolor and gouache
on paper, 12½ x 7”.
Estimate: $30/50,000
Eanger Irving Couse
(1866-1936), Umatilla
Wickiup with Waiting
Pony, ca. 1897, oil
on canvas, 15 x18”.
Estimate: $30/50,000
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AUCTION PREVIEW
Jenness Cortez, Four American Visionaries, acrylic on mahogany panel, 33 x 39¾”. Estimate: $80/120,000
James Financial; Natasha Khandekar of the
William I. Koch Collection; and Sue Simpson,
owner of Simpson Gallagher Gallery.
The auction falls near the end of the
famous Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival, a
city-wide celebration of arts and culture
that brings out thousands of art enthusiasts,
collectors and tourists. Jill Callahan,
coordinator for the auction, says that with
the one-two punch of the Jackson Hole Fall
Arts Festival and Jackson Hole Art Auction,
Wyoming is the place to be September.
“There is such a great spirit of collaboration
between the Jackson Hole Chamber of
Commerce, the National Museum of Wildlife
Art and all the galleries. Everything is timed
perfectly, too, which is great for collectors
who want to enjoy all the events,” Callahan
says. “This is one of the best times to be in
Jackson Hole.”
Jackson Hole Art Auction
When: September 18-19, 2015;
Sept. 18, noon, Session I at Trailside
Galleries; Sept. 19, noon, Session II at
The Center for the Arts.
Where: The Center for the Arts,
265 S. Cache Street, Jackson, WY 83001
Information: (866) 549-9278,
www.jacksonholeartauction.com
Jackson Hole
several major works, including a still-unfinished
piece depicting Plains Indians that will be
inserted into the catalog as an addendum.
Works by Frank McCarthy, Frederic Remington,
James Reynolds, E. Martin Hennings, Eanger
Irving Couse, and Olaf Wieghorst will also be
crossing the auction block.
In addition to the sale, the Top Tier
Competition is returning for its second year.
The competition will present new work
by William Acheff, John Banovich, Ken
Carlson, Guy Coheleach, Jenness Cortez, Z.S.
Liang, Bonnie Marris, and Mian Situ. A threeperson jury will pick a Top Tier piece for
a $10,000 cash prize, after which all the
pieces will be sold at auction. This year’s jury
features curators of private and corporate
collections: Emily Kapes, from Raymond
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