By Carter B. Horsley

The American Paintings auction at Christie's May 24, 2007 is highlighted by a superb painting by Asher B. Durand, a fine Tonalist work by George Inness, a very fine snow scene by John Henry Twachtman, a striking landscape by Marsden Hartley, a good European scene by John Singer Sargent, and fine works by Charles Sheeler. Charles Demuth, Jacob Lawrence and Andrew Wyeth. Many of the better works in auction have been consigned by museums.

Lot 62 is a major work by Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), the subject of an exhibition now at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Entitled "Pastoral Landscape," it is an oil on canvas that measures 29 1/2 by 43 1/2 inches and is very similar to a work of the same title at the National Gallery of Art. For a hundred years, it was in the collection of the Spaulding Library in Athens, Pennsylvania. It has a conservative estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It failed to sell and was passed at $420,000.

Lot 65 is a lovely Hudson River School work by David Johnson (1827-1908) entitled "Old Kate's Bridge, Rifton Glen, Ulster County, New York." An oil on canvas, it measures 14 1/4 by 24 1/4 inches and is dated 1872. It has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It sold for $90,000 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

Lot 63 is a classic small work by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900) entitled "Mounts Adam and Eve, Orange County, New York." An oil on canvas, it measures 12 by 20 inches. The painting depicts a view from the artist's summer home, "Aladdin," near Warwick, New York, and it is one of five known versions. The catalogue entry quotes Dr. Kenneth W. Maddox that "The large lake in the foregorund is a complete fabrication on the part of the artist," adding that "The area was kown as the 'drowned lands' and in the distant past was covered with water which has produced the rich black soil that is now ideal for growing onions." It has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $168,000.

Lot 95 is a landscape possibly near Newport, R.I., by Alexander Helwig Wyant (1836-1892). An oil on canvas that measures 15 1/4 by 25 1/4 inches, it is entitled "The Coming Storm." The lot was consigned by the Museum of the City of New York. It has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $78,0000.

Lot 94 is a handsome scene of the Green Mountains in Vermont by Joseph Rusling Meeker (1827-1889), a painter known primarily for his lush bayou paintings. An oil on canvas, it measures 15 by 35 1/4 inches. It has been consigned by the Saint Louis Art Museum. It has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. It sold for $31,200.

Another important work consigned by the Museum of the City of New York is Lot 100, "An Autumn Sunset," by George Inness (1825-1894). An oil on canvas tacked over panel, it measures 30 by 45 inches and was executed in 1892. A very lyrical, poetic and beautiful Tonalist painting, it has a modest estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It failed to sell and was passed at $240,000.

Ferdinand Richardt (1819-1895) painted many scenes of Niagara Falls, mostly in a vertical format and many in a rather pasty style. Lot 61, however, is a large and dramatic horizontal view that is quite accomplished and impressive even if it was painted a decade or so after major Niagara Falls paintings by Frederic Church and Robert W. Weir. It is an oil on canvas that measures 36 1/2 by 62 1/4 inches and was painted in 1865. It has a modest estimate of $70,000 to $100,000. It sold for $288,000.

Lot 87 is a sweet landscape of the Hudson River from West Point by James Edward Buttersworth (1817-1894). Buttersworth is best known as his maritime pictures and this small painting combines a wonderful sky with a slightly primitive landscape. An oil on board, it measures 10 by 14 inches. It has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $72,000.

Lot 129, "Hemlocks" is a superb snow scene by John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902). An oil on canvas, it measures 22 by 18 inches and was painted circa 1889-1902. It has been consigned by the Museum of the City of New York. It has a conservative estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $600,000.

Lot 88 is a view of Gowanus Bay by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) that was probably painted circa 1887. An oil on panel, it measures 10 1/4 by 15 1/4 inches and was once in the collection of Seth Low, the Mayor of Brooklyn. It has an ambitious estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. It sold for $824,000.

Theodore Robinson (1852-1896) is an American Impressionist whose oeuvre is uneven but includes many exquisite works. One such example is Lot 103, "A Normandy Garden, October." An oil on canvas, it measures 18 1/4 by 22 inches and was executed circa 1891. It has a modest estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $1,496,000.

Another Robinson, Lot 102, "Hillside," is a simple but fine and abstract landscape. An oil on canvas, it measures 9 3/4 by 10 inches. It has a very modest estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $38,400.

Lot 106, "A Tyrolese Crucifix," is an interesting and strong composition by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). An oil on canvas, it measures 36 by 28 1/4 inches and was painted in 1915. It was formerly in the collection of S. Morton Vose and Ruth D. Vose of Brookline, Massachusetts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Gloria and Richard Manney. The catalogue states that it is "an intensely personal meditation on family, religion and tradition in a time of conflict." It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. It sold for $1,160,000.

Lot 138 is a very strong and bright New Mexico landscape by Marsden Hartley (1877-1943). An oil on canvas, it measures 25 3/4 by 35 1/2 inches and was painted in 1923. It has been consigned by the Cleveland Museum of Art and has been extensively published. It has a modest estimate of $700,000 to $1,000,000. It sold for $1,272,000.

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) is one of America's great Precisionist paintings. Lot 28, "Stacks in Procession," is, according to the catalogue, "a classic example of Charles Sheeler's unique fusion of art, industry and the Modern American landscape," adding that in it "Sheeler depicts industrial subjects as the temples of urban modernity, eliminating the unattractive side of industry and reducing it to a pristie, Utopian ideal." "The shape and rhythmic intervals of the magisterial smoke stacks evoke the columns of a Greek temple imbusing htem with a prescient permanence which speaks to America's fugure. Indeed, nature is relegae to theperiphery of the composition, subsumed by the industrial elements." A tempera on paper, it measures 18 3/4 by 27 3/4 inches and was painted in 1943. Sheeler's "urban modernity," however, usually has little to do with urbanity as his focus is usually on a factory aesthetic. This is not one of his strongest or more colorful compositions. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $1,048,000.

Lot 29 is a large tempera on panel by Andrew Wyeth (b. 1917) entitled Ericksons. It measures 42 by 38 inches and was executed in 1973. It is described by Christie's as one of the artist's "masterworks" and has an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold for $10,344,000, a world auction record for the artist.

The catalogue entry includes a quotation from the artist's 1995 autobiography concerning this work, noting that the artist had intended to include Siri Erickson, the daughter of George, who is depicted in the painting:

"...but she got mixed up with a French boyfriend and was too tired to pose. I was going to have her stand next to her father - topless, which is the way she always was around the house. I was fascinated by the woodstove behind him and that white cup for his coffee. He's sitting in a strange kind of chair - Victorian - looking out the window where the light is coming in, with the sun shining down that long hall. It's an absolute portrait of Erickson in his house. Portrait of a stove with the shining silver -plated mechanisms. He kept it very polished. He was a very interesting man. He came from Finland as a stonecutter and worked in the Maine quarries and then in the shipyards of Philadelphia. He fell off a roof and broke his back and became an invalid. He married very late in his life and had this beautiful daughter. All of that I wanted to get into this portrait. I believe I did, too."

The catalogue entry for this lot, which is the cover illustration, also remarks on Wyeth's "haunting, plaintive silence."

Despite his occasional outré works, Wyeth's technical prowess as a painter is always remarkable and extremely impressive. While it is interesting to learn about the "absent" Siri and his joy of highlighting "that white cup," a work of art should be able to stand on its own with the personal and emotional associations, however fascinating. The painting does not reveal that George was an invalid, but perhaps more importantly, from an aesthetic viewpoint, is its less than satisfying composition, especially from an artist whose compositions are almost always precise and original. For this viewer, a more tightly cropped composition would have been more appealing, but then Wyeth has never been an artist much concerned with "appealing."

Lot 15 is a superb work by Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) (see The City Review article) entitled "The Builders." A tempera on board, it measures 20 by 24 inches and was executed in 1947. The catalogue notes that Lawrence "skillfully uses angular planes and fractured forms in bright oranges, yellows and blues as the workers cross horizontally, vertically and diagonally to disrupt the composition and change the way we would typically view the subject matter." The lot, which is from the collection of Benard Heineman Jr., has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $2,504,000, a world auction record for the artist.

Another fine work from the Heineman Collection is Lot 13, "Kiss Me Over The Fence," by Charles Demuth (1883-1935). A beautiful watercolor on paper, it measures 12 by 18 inches and was executed in 1929. It was once in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Fleischman of Detroit and has been very widely exhibited and written about. It has a modest estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $656,000.

Lot 89 is a good genre scene by Eastman Johnson, entitled "Play Me a Tune." An oil on board laid down on masonite, it measures 22 by 26 1/2 inches and was painted circa 1875-9. It has been consigned by the Museum of the City of New York and has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $504,000.

The auction has two fabulous and very strong genre paintings. Lot 113, "Afternoon Tea," is a delightful work by William Henry Lippincott (1849-1920). An oil on panel, it measures 14 1/2 by 18 inches and was executed in 1885. It has been consigned by the estate of Henry Luce III. It has a modest estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $264,000.

Lot 128 is an exquisite small jewel by Henry Siddons Mowbray (1858-1928). An oil on canvas, it measures 8 1/2 by 10 3/4 inches and was painted circa 1880-3. The lot was once in the collection of Jo An and Julian Ganz Jr. of Los Angeles. It has a modest estimate of $120,000 to $180,000. It sold for $288,000.

The sale total was $55,405,200, $8 million over its high pre-sale estimate.