Auction Preview | Coeur d’Alene Art Auction

Reno, NV
Grand Sierra Resort, July 27-28

Howard Terpning, Dust of Many Pony Soldiers (1981), oil, 38 x 56. Estimate: $800,000-$1,200,000.

Howard Terpning, Dust of Many Pony Soldiers (1981), oil, 38 x 56. Estimate: $800,000-$1,200,000.

This story was featured in the July 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

One of the largest and most illustrious events in the western art world takes place on Saturday, July 28, at the newly renovated Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, now in its 33rd year, has earned an international reputation for its record-setting sales of classic and contemporary western paintings and sculptures. This year’s roundup of 300 exceptional lots continues to impress with historic masterworks by William R. Leigh, Edgar Payne, and Frederic Remington, as well as numerous museum-quality pieces by today’s leading western artists. “If anything, the quality of our consignments might be up from the past few years,” says Mike Overby, head of the auction, “and we have even more higher-dollar pieces than we’ve had in years past.”

The auction house hosts a cocktail party and dinner at the resort on Friday, July 27, at 6 p.m. Collectors can peruse all lots up close at an all-day preview on Friday and during a morning preview on Saturday before the auction gets underway at noon. Moving at a brisk clip of about one lot per minute, the sale progresses “pretty quickly,” says Overby. On average, about 700 collectors attend the event, he adds, but hundreds more participate by phone, online, and through absentee bidding.

With headlining pieces like THE THIRSTY TRAPPER up for sale, the event is sure to keep bidders on their toes. Held in a prominent museum collection for years, the mid-19th-century prairie scene by Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874) is estimated to fetch up to $2,500,000 in its auction debut. The work, notably one of Miller’s quieter scenes of the early American West, depicts a hospitable native woman offering water to an itinerant trapper. An action-packed oil painting by William R. Leigh (1866-1955), titled EMBARRASSED (RANGE PONY IN TOWN), is also expected to dazzle the crowd. With a high estimate of $1,500,000, the piece could potentially set a new record for Leigh’s works.

Showstopping lots in the contemporary western category include DUST OF MANY PONY SOLDIERS by highly lauded artist Howard Terpning. Often called the “storyteller of the Native American,” the artist garnered a gold medal from the Cowboy Artists of America in 1981 for the painting, which is anticipated to sell for $800,000 to $1,200,000. Bidders must also contend for works by sought-after artists like Ken Carlson, Martin Grelle, and Logan Maxwell Hagege.

As always, the sale’s broad offerings also present an ample selection of California landscape paintings, sporting art, and wildlife works by such artists as Bob Kuhn, Carl Rungius, and David Shepherd. “It’s not just cowboys and Indians around here,” as Overby puts it. “We also specialize in Alaskan artworks by Sydney Laurence, and we have high-quality works by other fabulous Alaskan painters that are being sold to benefit the Seattle Art Museum.”

Also crossing the block are multiple oil paintings by Russian-born artist Leon Gaspard (1882-1964), who settled in Taos, NM, in 1918. Well known for his portrayals of indigenous cultures and folk traditions, Gaspard chronicles some of his most exotic global journeys in the works up for bid, including a colorful scene titled A STREET IN PEKING. Valued between $150,000 and $250,000, the oil painting exemplifies the artist’s loose, impressionistic style. “The clickbait are the high-dollar pieces in the sale, but price aside, we try to get the best offerings of any particular artist we can,” says Overby. “I always like seeing when we get the very best examples of an artist’s work.” —Kim Agricola

contact information
208.772.9009
www.cdaartauction.com

This story was featured in the July 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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