Roughly 200 lots will be in Bonhams’ Modern Native American Art and Jewelry sale on April 30 at the auction house’s Los Angeles location. With a primary focus on two-dimensional fine art with jewelry a close second, the auction will also include a strong selection of late 20th-century pottery and weavings by notable makers.
Jesse Monongya (Navajo (Diné)/Hopi), pueblo-style gold and coral necklace, ca. 1998, gold dragonfly crosses interspersed with red coral beads and a few lapis lazuli, angel coral, and turquoise bead accents, 25”, signed with maker’s mark on the closure: ‘Monongya’. Estimate: $12/18,000
Top highlights in the painting category include Dartmouth Portrait #3, a 1973 example from the series Fritz Scholder painted while an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College. The series was exhibited in the famed Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery the following year, and is credited with bringing the artist to the attention of the establishment art world. The painting which has a high estimate of $150,000, has been in a private collection since it was acquired from the gallery.
Ingmārs I. Lindbergs, director of Native American Art at Bonhams, is equally enthusiastic about a piece by Oscar Howe titled Sioux Bear Dancer, which is expected to fetch anywhere between $80,000 and $120,000. This example was painted around 1954, the last year that Scholder studied art under Howe while a high school student in Pierre, South Dakota.
Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota, 1915-1983), Sioux Bear Dancer, ca. 1954, casein on paper under glass, 17¼ x 12½”; signed lower right: ‘Oscar Howe’; inscribed in blue ink verso: #218 / ‘Sioux Bear Dancer’ / by / Oscar Howe / of / Mitchell, So. Dak / $ [crossed out]. Estimate: $80/120,000
“Both works are important examples from key moments in the creative development of these Indigenous artists,” says Lindbergs. “For Oscar Howe, Sioux Bear Dancer comes from the period when Howe was transitioning from the representational tradition of the Santa Fe Indian School easel painting of his early education, developing the abstracted modernist style derived from Yanktonai Dakota culture and philosophy for which he would become best known…Nearly two decades later, in a career trajectory parallel yet vastly different to that of his early mentor, Fritz Scholder would paint the Dartmouth Portrait Series while the first Native American artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College in 1973…While Scholder had begun his Indian Series of paintings, prints and drawings in 1967, it can be argued that it was the Dartmouth Portraits exhibition that finally brought Scholder’s work to the attention of the broader contemporary art world.”
Fritz Scholder (Luiseño, 1937-2005), Dartmouth Portrait #3, 1973, oil on canvas, 40 x 30”; signed upper right; titled, dated and inscribed on reverse. Estimate: $100/150,000
Lindbergs has ample reason to be excited about Dartmouth Portrait #3. In 2017, Bonhams sold Dartmouth Portrait #2 for just over $52,000, which at the time was the world record price at auction for any painting by Scholder. Then, just a year and a half ago, Bonhams sold Dartmouth Portrait #8 for just under $380,000, which remains the highest price paid at auction for a painting from that series, and the second-highest price at auction for any work by Scholder, which was also set in 2022.
Other stand-out lots include John Nieto’s 1998 painting Touches the Sky, a pueblo-style gold and coral necklace from around 1998 by Jesse Monongya (Navajo (Diné)/Hopi); and a mosaic cuff bracelet froma around 1985 by Hopi jeweler Charles Loloma.
The sale will also feature additional original works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Gerald Nailor, Rick Bartow, Rose B. Simpson, Rhonda Holy Bear, Tony Abeyta, Preston Singletary, Dan Namingha, Thomas Red Owl Haukaas, Linda Haukaas, David P. Bradley, Harry Fonseca and many other notable Indigenous artists.
Charles Loloma (Hopi, 1921-1991), mosaic cuff bracelet, ca. 1985, 18k gold with variegated selection of turquoise plaques interspersed with lapis lazuli, ironwood, red coral and gold spacer accents, inner circumference: 63/8”. Estimate: $50/80,000
“The growing strength at auction for works by modern and contemporary Indigenous North American artists is long overdue,” says Lindbergs. “The dramatic rise in prices for select artists would seem to be an acknowledgement of the necessary recalibration required to appropriately reflect the importance of these artists and their place within the broader realm of the modern and contemporary art market. With that in mind, we believe that the market in these areas will continue to grow, drawing in new and diverse collectors who previously may not have been aware of the breadth of talent represented.”
April 30, 2024, noon
Modern Native American Art and Jewelry
Bonhams, 7601 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 850-7500, www.bonhams.com
Powered by Froala Editor
