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American Indian Art

Sotheby's

10 AM, May 18, 2011

Sale 8752

"Epic Buffalo Hunt" by White

Lot 169, "Epic Buffalo Hunt," by Randy Lee White, handmade paper and mixed media, 64 by 40 inces, 1984

By Carter B. Horsley

In most recent auctions in New York of American Indian Art, the "quality" items have been early examples of war blouses, vests, leggings, papoose carriers, painted hides, masks, pipes, quivers, mocassins, rugs and baskets.  The later date offerings tended to be rather commercial pottery and paintings and jewelry of considerably lesser collecting and artistic quality.

This auction, however, not only has some superb and relatively expensive early clothing and carvings, but also some very powerful and wonderful recent paintings that happen to have very, very low estimates.

Perhaps the most intriguing item is Lot 169, "Epic Buffalo Hunt" by Randy Lee White (b. 1951) that is a large mixed-media work of handmade paper that was created in 1984.  It depicts a decorated man's shirt with tassels and some beards.  It is a marvelous design and beautifully crafted.  Enclosed behind glass, it measures 64 by 40 inches and was acquired from the Windsor Betts Gallery in Santa Fe, NM in 1997.  The lot has a very, very modest estimate of $2,500 to $3,500.  It sold for $1,625 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

Only 60.6 percent of the 170 offered lots sold for $4,809,503.

Collections including Randy Lee White's work are the National Museum of American Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. According to artbrokerage.com, he "depicts images from Native American people with abstractions of decorative pictographs expressing narratives about hunting, war, domestic life and death. Mythical creatures suggest spirits of old, as do Indian symbolic objects and fetishes. Not only does he work in acrylics, oils, enamels and watercolors, but his mixed media includes molded paper shapes on canvas."
 

"Insane Warrior" by Scholder

Lot 144, "Insane Warrior," by Fritz Scholder, 80 by 68 inches, 1972

One of the most striking images in the painting section of this auction is Lot 144, "Insane Warrior," by Fritz Scholder (1937-2005).  An  oil on canvas, it measures 80 by 68 inches and was painted in 1972.  It was acquired at the Riva Yares Gallery in 1998.  It has an estimate of $15,000 to $25,000.  It sold for $34,375.

Scholder was one of the most renowned Native American artists of the 20th century. He was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota and was one-quarter Luiseno, a California Mission tribe.  A teacher at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in the late 1960s, Scholder influenced a generation of students that are prominent Native artists today. He was invited to lecture at numerous art conferences and universities including Princeton and Dartmouth and in 1972 an exhibition of the Dartmouth Portraits opened at Cordier and Ekstrom in New York to favorable reviews. In 1975, a film documentary on his work was shown on PBS and a book of his lithographs was released by New York Graphic Society. 


"Fallen Angel #5" by Scholder

Lot 147, "Fallen Angel #5," by Fritz Scholder, acrylic on paper 40 1/2 by 31 1/4 inches

Less Picassoesque than Lot 144, Lot 147 is an extremely bold , Baconesque acrylic on paper by Scholder entitled "Fallen Angel #5."  It measures 40 1/2 by 31 1/4 inches and has a modest estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.  It is very striking and very painterly.  It was passed at $4,750.

"Harvest Kachina" by Namingha

Lot 132, "Harvest Kachina," by Dan Namingha, acrylic on canvas, 60 by 48 inches,1990

American Indian Kachina dolls are fabulous and original and the equal of much good Tribal Art.  Lot 132 is a large acrylic on canvas of the top of such a doll by Dan Namingha (b. 1950).  Entitled "Harvest Kachina," it measures 60 by 48 inches and was created in 1990.  It is very, very painterly and full of the powerful mystery of the kachina doll tradition  It is being sold to benefit the St. Anne's Belfield School.  It has  a very modest estimate of $5,000 to $7,000 as it would dominate and enlighten any living room or museum wall.  It sold for $3,750.  He was born in Keams Canyon in Arizona and is a member of the Hopi-Tewa tribe.

"Chief Hollow Horn Bear" by Nieto

Lot 133, "Chief Hollow Horn Bear" by John Nieto, acrylic on canvas, 61 1/2 by 49 1/2 inches, 1988

Lot 133 is a very strong and painterly acrylic on canvas of "Chief Hollow Horn Bear" by John Nieto (b. 1936).  It measures 61 1/2 by 49 1/2 inches and was created in 1988.  It has a modest estimate of $5,000 to $7,000.  It sold for $3,000.

Artbrokerage.com provides the following commentary about the artist:

"John Nieto is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and exciting contemporary artists in the United States. An innovative interpreter of his native southwest, Nieto's dramatic compositions and bold use of color translate classic American themes into unmistakably modern images that somehow escape the boundaries of time. While Nieto maintains that his art 'is the result of an emotional involvement with my subject matter rather than a cerebral one,' his powerfully evocative paidiantings reveal a seamless blend of instinct and keen intelligence. His deft handling of Western motifs - including Native American tribal representatives, warriors, and ceremonial dancers, as well as legendary frontiersmen or indigenous wildlife - demonstrates why these icons still loom large in the national consciousness. Wielding his brush with precision and control, Nieto invests each figure with a mesmerizing presence.
 
"Iron Shirt" by Paul Pletka

Lot 165, "Iron Shirt," by Paul Pletka, lithograph 33 by 23 3/4 inches

Lot 165 consists of two excellent lithographs by Paul Pletka (b. 1946).  "Iron Shirt shows an Indian whose face is painted with red and white stripes and who wears a top hat with a feather.  It measures 33 by 23 3/4 inches.  The other lithograph in this lot is untitled and depicts an Indian warrior with two great headdresses and very bold body painting on his jaw and chest.  The pair was acquired in 1998 from the Windsor Betts Gallery in Santa Fe and has a very, very modest estimate of $400 to $600.  It sold for $1,250.

Oglala Sioux beaded and fringed hide war shirt

Lot 16, Oglala Sioux beaded and fringed hide war shirt, 51 1/2 inches long

The star lot of the auction is Lot 16, an Oglala Sioux beaded and fringed hide war shirt that was formerly owned by Chief Black Bird of the Oglala Sioux and Amy Vanderbilt and Ed Vebell, who was the "courtroom artist for the Nuremberg War Crime Trials in 1945.  Chief Black Bird was "a likely participant at the Battle of Little Bighorn," according to the catalogue entry, and also appeared in England in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.  The lot has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $2,658,500, a record for a Native American work at auction.

Blackfoot beaded and fringed hide shirt

Lot 31, Blackfoot beaded and fringed hide shirt, 49 inches

Lot 31 is a good Blackfoot beaded and fringed hide shirt and leggings that was acquired from the descendants of One Star, Blackfoot.  It has an estimate of $80,000 to $100,000.  It sold for $98,500.



Apache puberty dress

Lot 8, Apache beaded hide puberty dress

Lot 8 is a lovely Apache beaded hide puberty dress whose tunic is 34 inches long and whose skirt is 38 inches long.  It has an estimate of $7,000 to $10,000.  It sold for $8,125.


Detail of Apache puberty dress

Detail of Lot 8, Apache puberty dress

Detail of Apache puberty dress

Detail of top of tunic of Apache puberty dress

The puberty dress of finely tanned deerhide has tin cone pendants.


Eastern Shoshone painted hide

Lot 7, Painted hide, Eastern Shoshone, depicting a typical dance scene, attributed to Cadzi Cody, 77 inches wide

Lot 7 is an impressive Eastern Shoshone painted hide that is 77 inches wide and attributed to Cadzi Cody. It has an estimate of $18,000 to $22,000.  It sold for $37,750.

Detail of Lot 7

Detail of Eastern Shoshone painted hide

A comparable example painted 1890-1900 is in the Minneapolis Museum of Art.  


Three Indian dresses

Lot 20, Sioux beaded and fringed hide dress, left; Lot 19, Sioux beaded and fringed hide pictorial dress, center; and Plateau beaded cloth dress, right

Lot 20 is a Sioux beaded and frinted hide dress of tanned deer hide, the yoke sewn in numerous colors against a bright blue glass beadwork ground.  

Detail of Lot 20

Detail of Lot 20

The lot has an estimate of $5,000 to $7,000.  It sold for $3,750.


Lot 19 is a Sioux beaded and fringed hide pictorial dress with American flags.  It has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.  It failed to sell.

Plateau beaded cloth dress

Detail of Lot 21, Plateau beaded cloth dress showing thimbles

Lot 21 is a lovely Plateau beaded cloth dress with tubular glass beads and beaded pendants terminating in cowrie shells and thimbles.  It has an estimate of $5,000 to $7,000.  It failed to sell.

Haida polychrome wood headdress

Lot 51, Haida polychrome wood headdress, 7 1/4 inches high

Lot 51 is a fine Haida polychrome wood headdress that is 7 1/4 inches high and was exhibited in 2004-5 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian at the George Gustave Heye Center at the Alexander Hamilton U. S. Custom House at the foot of Broadway.  It has an estimate of $60,000 to $100,000.  It sold for $134,500.

Bella Coola polychromed wood headdress

Lot 41, Bella Coola polychromed wood headdress, 10 7/8 inches high

Lot 41 is a very nice Bella Coola polychromed wood headdress that is 10 7/8 inches high and was on extended loan to the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco from 1971-1986.  It has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $25,000.

Northwest Coast polychromed wood figure, probably Nootka

Lot 49, Northwest Coast polychromed wood figure, probably Nootka, 38 3/4 inches high

Lot 49 is an impressive Northwest Coast polychromed wood figure, probably Nootka.  It is 38  3/4 inches high was exhibited at the Pinacotheque de Paris 2008-9 in the "Pollock and Shamanism" show.  The lot has an estimate of $175,000 to $225,000.  It sold for $212,500.

Duck bowl

Lot 33, Northwest Coast horn bowl, 8 inches long

Lot 33 is a fine Northwest Coast horn bowl that is 8 inches long and comes from the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford in England.  It has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.  It sold for $146,500.




See The City Review article on the Enrico Donati Collection of American Indian, Oceanic and Tribal Art auction at Sotheby's in the Spring 2010

See The City Review article on the Spring 2009 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on Spring 2006 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 2000 American Indian Art Auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Fall 1999 American Indian Art Auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1999 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1998 American Indian art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1997 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

 



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