Under the Hammer

The American, California and Western Art departments offer several sales per year in Los Angeles and New York, making Bonhams the only auction house to sell the rich collecting category of American Art bi-coastally.

Our 3 August California Art auction features a marvelous array of paintings, sculpture and works on paper from the Gold Rush era to present day. Exceptional works by California Impressionist and Hawaiian artists including Guy Rose, Edgar Payne, William Wendt, Granville Redmond, Thomas Hill, David Howard Hitchcock and Lloyd Sexton Jr. lead the sale.

Here, our specialists highlight their personal favorite lots from the upcoming auction.

Lot 57
Granville Redmond, A Day at the Beach

This is one of the nicest Granville Redmond paintings that I have seen.  Not only because it is a departure from his landscape work, but also because Redmond captures the bathers in such an elegant balance of color and light.  The woman in the center has a beautiful shawl, or towel around her shoulders.  The umbrellas balance the scene while the boat give the composition’s center weight.  All in all, as perfect a California plein air scene as we have been fortunate enough to offer.

-Scot Levitt, Director of Fine Arts, Los Angeles

Lot 49
Brents Carlton, Untitled (Figure on Girder)

This carved bas-relief by Brents Carlton is a treasure - it captures the spirit of San Francisco in the time of the Golden Gate International Exposition. I love its juxtaposition of soft and hard elements. The worker is perfectly balanced on the girder, conveying mastery over the machinery. This piece strikes a chord with Lewis Hine’s photography which identified a new kind of sublime experience in the built environment.  It is a wonderful articulation and celebration of the American worker.

- Kathy Wong, Specialist, Fine Arts

Lot 54
Jessie Arms Botke, White Peacocks and Iris

White Peacocks and Iris is one of my favorites for its visually arresting qualities. Here, Botke truly demonstrates her mastered abilities to paint the delicate and intricate plumages of peacocks and her interest in creating unique wonder filled worlds inspired by her interest in Japanese screens. The white peacocks rest in splendid beauty among vibrantly painted flowers and fauna, giving them an imperial quality that I admire. Aside from its splendid beauty, this work is a superb example in the artist's body of work.

-Aaron Anderson, Cataloguer, American Art

Lot 85
Paul Grimm, Clouds Gathering above Pasadena

The word virtuosity comes to mind when I look at Paul Grimm’s Clouds Gathering Above Pasadena. It is such an impressive display of skill and the spectacle of nature. The cloud confections that dominate the scene are elegantly painted with a sense of lightness that reminds me of a Rococo painting’s exuberant curving forms.

-Katherine Halligan, Specialist, Western Art

Lot 114
John Marshall Gamble, Sunset Glow

I really enjoy seeing an artist known for one kind of painting shift gears and do something completely different. Gamble, who is justifiably held in high regard for his California wildflowers, is here painting an understated tonalist view of a sunset in the high desert. The whole mid and foreground are so restrained which only accentuates the blue light on the mountains beyond.

-Aaron Bastian, Director of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Lot 71
Granville Redmond, The Mighty Deep

Painted the year after he returned to Southern California, The Mighty Deep is a fleeting moment of nature encapsulated on canvas. Though deaf since childhood, Redmond has captured the wave crashing against the rocks in such a way, that upon looking at it, you can almost hear that explosive sound of water meeting stone. The darkness of the foreground and contrasting white waves, indicate the sun has just set and the golden hour is fleeting, much like the waves as they recede before pummeling the coast again.

-Morgan Martin, Specialist, American Art