The sale is led by the collection
of Richard J. Schwartz (1938-2016), who was a public advocate for the
arts and education. He served on and later chaired the New York State
Council for the Arts, in addition to providing leadership to regional
arts councils in Westchester and the Hudson Valley. He served on many
museum boards, as well as the boards of hospitals, schools and
universities, and he also supported several notable restoration projects
for civic monuments in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The top lot of the sale from the Schwartz collection is the early cast of Frederic Remington’s most daring and complex sculptural undertaking, Coming Through the Rye, modelled in 1902 and cast by 1906, which captures the spirit of the artist’s iconic depictions of the American West. Collected by the nation’s leading institutions from the moment it was created, the work is not only remarkable for its artistic and technical virtuosity, but has truly become an archetype of the American West and of the cowboys that inhabited it. Of the located life-time casts of the sculpture, only two are known to be in private collections, and this is the first time this work is being offered at auction.
Other highlights among the 33 lots included in the Schwartz collection are
Saint-Gaudens’
celebrated Victory
and a famed portrait relief of Robert Louis Stevenson,
as well as Albert Bierstadt’s epic Lake Tahoe,
Childe Hassam’s early street scene with flags, Just Off the Avenue, Fifty-Third Street, May 1916
and Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) by William Merritt Chase.
Frederic Remington (1861–1909)
Coming Through the Rye
Bronze with brown patina; 30 ¼ in. (76.8 cm.) high
Modeled in 1902; cast by 1906.
Estimate: $7-10 million
Coming Through the Rye
Bronze with brown patina; 30 ¼ in. (76.8 cm.) high
Modeled in 1902; cast by 1906.
Estimate: $7-10 million
The top lot of the sale from the Schwartz collection is the early cast of Frederic Remington’s most daring and complex sculptural undertaking, Coming Through the Rye, modelled in 1902 and cast by 1906, which captures the spirit of the artist’s iconic depictions of the American West. Collected by the nation’s leading institutions from the moment it was created, the work is not only remarkable for its artistic and technical virtuosity, but has truly become an archetype of the American West and of the cowboys that inhabited it. Of the located life-time casts of the sculpture, only two are known to be in private collections, and this is the first time this work is being offered at auction.
Other highlights among the 33 lots included in the Schwartz collection are
Saint-Gaudens’
celebrated Victory
and a famed portrait relief of Robert Louis Stevenson,
as well as Albert Bierstadt’s epic Lake Tahoe,
Childe Hassam’s early street scene with flags, Just Off the Avenue, Fifty-Third Street, May 1916
and Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) by William Merritt Chase.
