Albert Bierstadt, another master of the Hudson Valley School, is represented this season with a View of Nassau, The Bahamas (estimate $700/1,000,000). One of a small series of works inspired by his visits to this tropical paradise – a location also frequented by American artists including Louis Comfort Tiffany and Winslow Homer – in the mid-1870s and through the early 1890s, the work is distinguished by its impressive scale, vivid hues, saturated sunlight and attention to architectural detail.
 
A Showery Day, Grand Canyon by Thomas Moran is another significant landscape by a major 19th century artist presented in the May sale. The painting depicts the terracotta peaks of the canyon shrouded in silvery clouds, capturing the majesty of one of the Unites States’ greatest natural treasures. Offered by a private American collection with a pre-sale estimate of $800/1.2 million, the work last appeared at auction nearly twenty years ago at Sotheby’s New York.

MILTON AVERY’S MODERN MASTERPIECE

American modernism is highlighted by Milton Avery’s spectacular The Seamstress (estimate $2/3 million). The vibrant work from 1944 captures the artist’s embrace of color as his primary expression of emotion. Last offered at auction in 1998, the painting belongs to a group of 17 works from The Collection of Patrick & Carlyn Duffy – Patrick Duffy who unforgettably portrayed Bobby Ewing on the hit show Dallas 40 years ago. Lovingly curated by the couple over 45 years, the works from their collection will be offered at Sotheby’s over three auctions this May and October, the last of which will be led by Andrew Wyeth’s 1964 watercolor The Bachelor.

Watch: Patrick Duffy on The Collection That Dallas Built

REALIST RENDERINGS BY EDWARD HOPPER FROM THE COLLECTION OF STEVE MARTIN

American realism is represented by two Edward Hopper drawings from the collection of Steve Martin. Study for ‘A Woman in the Sun’, a charcoal drawing executed in 1961, was the foundation for the painting of the same name in the collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Estimated at $150/250,000, the work was purchased in 2005 along with Study for ‘Summer Evening’, another preparatory study for a major oil painting of the same title, which carries an estimate of $200/300,000.

Read: An American Realist’s Fresh Take on the Artist and Model

POSTCARDS FROM THE WEST: WESTERN WORKS BY CHARLES MARION RUSSELL & FREDERIC REMINGTON

The Western Art offerings this season are highlighted by works by Charles Marion Russell, Frederic Remington and Olaf Carl Seltzer from the Jack and Bonita Granville Wrather Collection. Russell’s When Guns were the Locks of the Treasure Box is a spectacular watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper that conveys the sense of excitement and adventure that the American West inspired (estimate $150/250,000).

Frederic Remington’s Western Stage Managers is also a noteworthy addition from the Wrather Collection. A striking scene with a pre-sale estimate of $60/80,000, this work has been exhibited extensively across the Midwest, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.