The American West, up for auction in Reno

On 23 July 2022, the annual Coeur d’Alene Art Auction -which every summer offers an interesting selection of paintings centred on the life and landscapes of the American West- will be held in Reno, Nevada.

By G. Fernández · theartwolf.com · Image: Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926), “Mexican Vaqueros Roping a Steer”, 1925. Watercolour

Organised annually in late July or early August, the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has for more than 35 years been a kind of “oasis” in a “desert” period in the art market, between the “classic week” in London (early July) and the Asian art auctions in September.

In this year’s edition, the a priori star of the sale will be Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926), one of the great painters of the “Far West”, who already has a long relationship with Coeur d’Alene: in the 2005 edition, his “Piegans” (1918) was sold for $5.6 million, a price almost equalled by “The hold up“, sold for $5.2 million in the 2008 auction. Although they seem unlikely to reach those figures, two works by the artist, “Mexican Vaqueros Roping a Steer” and “Shooting the Buffalo” have the highest pre-sale estimate of the auction (between $400,000 and $600,000).

Image: Philip R. Goodwin (1881-1935), “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Oil on canvas

“Misty Morning” by Gerard Curtis Delano (1890-1972) is a tranquil depiction of an Indian in a canoe that is expected to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000. The painting could form an interesting duo with “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” by Philip R. Goodwin (1881-1935), another painting depicting a canoe, in this case handled by a pair of fishermen/hunters. The painting has a pre-sale estimate of between $150,000 and $250,000.

For those interested in the “great figures” of the American West painting, the auction includes a small view of Yosemite painted by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), perhaps the most important of all painters of the American West. It is certainly not among the artist’s most outstanding works, which explains its valuation of between $40,000 and $60,000. Thomas Moran (1837-1926) -arguably the other great star of American Western painting along with Bierstadt- is represented at the sale by a romantic watercolour depicting a ruined castle (one of the few works in the auction that does not depict a scene or landscape of the American West) which carries an estimate of between $30,000 and 50,000.