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Curator's Picks: May 19 American Art Signature Auction
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Aviva's Picks
Aviva Lehmann | Deputy Chairman, Fine Art
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I'm drawn to the incredible, almost cinematic story behind this masterful work on paper — Rockwell gifting the drawing to Jane Bennett, a young aspiring artist, and encouraging her future in art. That moment of mentorship feels beautifully aligned with the subject itself — young women navigating identity, expectation, and resilience. As a mother of two daughters, it resonates with me deeply — it's about being seen, encouraged, and given the confidence to become who you're meant to be.
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What I love most about this work is how Willie Gillis emerges as one of the great icons of American visual culture — Rockwell's fictional "everyman," who became, in many ways, America's son. The idea of following a single character across multiple covers, charting his journey through war, is incredibly innovative — almost cinematic in scope — and this drawing captures that perfectly: a complete narrative distilled into a single moment. The masterful rendering in pencil and chalk is truly brilliant and unrivaled, and in nearly three decades in the business, it is one of the finest Rockwell drawings I have ever seen.
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Liz's Picks
Liz Goodridge | Vice President, West Coast Director, American Art
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This exquisite portrait is surely one of most distinguished highlights of this season's American Art auction. The combination of its early exhibition history, refined Impressionist technique, and remarkable freshness to the market, promote it among the finest works by Irving Ramsey Wiles to hit the market in recent years. Originally acquired directly from the artist in the late nineteenth-century by the prominent collector Charles Dietrich Miller, the work has descended through his family to the present day, remaining unpublished and privately held for generations.
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Similarly, the provenance of Wyeth's Doctor Valliant adds a remarkably personal dimension to this significance of this illustration. Believed to have been gifted by N.C. Wyeth to Barbara Pyle Barriner, granddaughter of his teacher and mentor Howard Pyle, the painting represents a continuation of one of the most influential artistic lineages in American illustration. Created for Edna Ferber's Cimarron — the celebrated epic chronicling the hardship, ambition, and transformation of the American frontier — the work further situates Wyeth within the great tradition of narrative illustration that defined early twentieth-century American art.
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Alissa's Picks
Alissa Ford | Vice President, American & Western Art
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W. R. Leigh's Onery Going, 1946, is an incredible discovery — returning to light after approximately sixty years in the same family, following its original presentation as a retirement gift from the Hanes Corporation, it now makes its market debut. Both technically accomplished and emotionally charged, Onery Going
is a significant contribution to Western American art that reaffirms Leigh's legacy as a master storyteller. Set within a rugged canyon, the composition captures cowboys struggling to control a rearing horse on a steep incline beneath the harsh midday sun. A strong vertical structure, punctuated by vivid yellow accents, draws the eye to the illuminated central figure, while a calmer horse in the foreground provides a striking counterpoint to the surrounding tension. Leigh's meticulous, almost cinematic approach, shaped by his background as an illustrator, is evident throughout. As a defining example of his work, Onery Going, 1946, represents an exceptional opportunity and a cornerstone acquisition for any distinguished collection of Western art.
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Having spent the last 15 years traveling to and from Dallas to visit our worldwide headquarters, I have developed a deep appreciation for the city's rich history, often brought to life through the storytelling of artists like G. Harvey. His painting Dallas Remembered
offers a nostalgic vision of the city at the turn of the twentieth century, set on a rain-soaked evening where pedestrians with umbrellas share the street with both a horse-drawn carriage and an electric streetcar, a nod to a moment of transition between past and modern life. The warm glow of streetlamps and shop windows shimmers across the wet pavement, creating a luminous contrast against the cool tones of the stormy sky. In the distance, the Adolphus Hotel emerges through the mist, its Beaux-Arts grandeur symbolizing Dallas's early prosperity and anchoring the scene with a strong sense of place and civic identity.
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Julia's Picks
Julia Matthiesen | Associate Specialist, American Art
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What stands out most to me in this work is how Leyendecker distills the Arrow Collar Man, one of the most revolutionary creations in modern advertising, into a quiet, intimate moment. This iconic figure defined an ideal, shaping American style and identity for decades. Modeled by Charles Beach, Leyendecker's secret lifelong partner, it reads less like an advertisement and more like a portrait of someone deeply loved by the artist.
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Barnes was a master of movement, form, and suspended tension, and this work captures that perfectly. Drawing on his experience as a professional athlete, he transforms motion into something almost spiritual, with his signature elongation heightening both grace and anticipation. Housed in the artist's original frame, the work balances the language of sport with a broader meditation on ambition, effort, and becoming.
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View these and other important works of American Art in our American Art Signature® Auction. This auction's session time is 11:00 AM Central Time, Tuesday, May 19. The auction is available for preview, at our New York office, until 5:00 PM ET Monday, May 18.
Sincerely,
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Aviva Lehmann
Deputy Chairman, Fine Art
AvivaL@HA.com
(212) 486-3530
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Liz Goodridge
VP, West Coast
Director, American Art
LizG@HA.com
(214) 409-3223
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Alissa Ford
Vice President, American & Western Art
AlissaF@HA.com
(415) 548-5920
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Julia Matthiesen
Associate Specialist, American Art
JuliamM@HA.com
(214) 409-3051
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