Masterworks by Ernie Barnes, Norman Rockwell, Maurice Sendak, Frederic Edwin Church and More Celebrate the Imagination and Storytelling of a Nation
One of the hallmarks of Heritage's approach to and definition of American Art, which anchors its abundant relationship with all Art and Design, is that American Art for Heritage is the work that has illustrated not only our nation's history, but also its character — its hopes, fears, strengths, flaws and evolution. The disposition of the United States, still a young country after all, is defined by its stories and storytelling about who we are and how we've arrived here, and its May 16 American Art Auction is nothing if not packed with works that tell stories and paint a picture, as it were, of a people's shared disposition defined by optimism, ambition, community and imagination. The tightly curated auction is shaped by a full suite of works by the inimitable Ernie Barnes along with a trove of significant Golden Age and Modern Illustration by Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker and Maurice Sendak, a stunning landscape by Frederic Church and a venture into the American West by William Robinson Leigh. The auction is itself a turning point in Heritage's tale of love for classic American Art as a category. "American Art has always been the beating heart of our nation's story, and it's an extraordinary privilege to bring together such a dynamic, narrative-rich collection for this auction," says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage's Senior Vice President of American Art. "This auction is a tribute to the artists who have captured our collective dreams, struggles, and triumphs with honesty and beauty. We're honored to present a selection that feels both timeless and urgently alive."  Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Hold the Pocket, 1982 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.4 x 152.4 cm) Signed lower right: Ernie Barnes Barnes, the former pro footballer who the Denver Broncos' head coach once fined for sketching during team meetings, is one of the 20th century's most distinctive painters and in the 1980s was befriended by John Mecom Jr., at the time the seasoned owner of the NFL's New Orleans Saints. Mecom Jr. commissioned Barnes — known for his incisive and expressionist take on bodies working in unison and in tension — to produce a handful of sports-themed paintings during Barnes' runup to create official works for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The resulting Barnes paintings for Mecom Jr.'s collection anchor the May 16 auction and are a tour de force of the artist's fluid neo-mannerist depiction of the physicality of his world — the way bodies merge, move, interact and dissolve into one another. They are slices of a warm and thriving community life of movement:  Sandlot Saints (1983) with its depiction of an informal and joyous football game that's broken out in an abandoned city lot; Anchor Leg (1983) which captures the climactic moment of a group of relay-race sprinters' last explosive burst across the line; Hold the Pocket (1982) which invites the viewer into the heart of the frenzied immediacy of the football scrum; and Opening Ceremonies (1984), with its triumphant panorama of communal elation at the start of a Olympic Summer Games. "Here, with near-Bruegelian density, Barnes renders a vibrant crowd bursting with energy that draws the viewer in not as an observer but as a participant," says Lehmann. Fittingly, the narrative prowess of Barnes' vision is joined in this auction by that of America's most significant artist-illustrators. For decades the magazine The Saturday Evening Post defined the greatest of American Illustration on and between its covers — Norman Rockwell and J.C. Leyendecker were its leading lights and their work for the Post made them household names.  The two Norman Rockwell paintings in this auction are iconic Post works: the cover painting Marionettes (1932) in which the artist masterfully engages with the themes of performance and control, offering a poignant meditation on the interrelationship between creator and creation and exemplifies Rockwell's ability to marry technical precision with emotional nuance; and his magazine interior work Waiting Room (1937), a quietly powerful painting which distills the universal experience of anxious anticipation into an emotionally charged vignette, transforming a mundane doctor's office into a compelling scene of human drama. Leyendecker's three Post cover paintings in the auction exemplify his mastery of the form — the playful and graphic perfection of  Diving In (1935), which comes to Heritage from the collection of master illustrator Michael Dolas, distills a fleeting moment of youthful exuberance into a scene of balletic grace.  Maurice Sendak's name is synonymous with his crowning achievement, Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963, and this auction offers a piece of astonishing Wild Things history: Sendak's very first illustration for his landmark book marks is not only a critical turning point in the artist's celebrated career but also a monumental event in the history of children's literature. "Never before has a Maurice Sendak drawing of this historical and artistic magnitude been offered publicly," says Lehmann. "This pivotal watercolor directly inspired the final, award-winning illustrations published in the seminal book, revealing Sendak's meticulous visual development from initial concept to finished masterpiece." The 1963 work depicts the now-iconic moment when Max, the young protagonist, arrives by boat at the fantastical island inhabited by the "Wild Things," and here the monsters appear leaner, somewhat gentler, yet still vibrant, reflecting Sendak's early conception of characters who would become enduring symbols of imagination and childhood adventure.  Another work in the auction that captures a seemingly fantastic land is Frederic Edwin Church's Valley of Lebanon (1869), a painting with an inception and exhibition history as expansive as its subject. As Dr. Gerald L. Carr writes for the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's oil paintings, "Church painted Valley of the Lebanon during his only transatlantic sojourn, with his principle overseas destination being Ottoman Syria. Church's Mediterranean studio paintings of the late 1860s onward harken Old Masters as well as recent painters J. M. W. Turner, David Roberts and Thomas Cole, and are generally meditative in mood: Valley of Lebanon depicts an inland desert ambience with nearby upright and fallen ruins, a distant castle and incipient moonrise." |
