Auction Highlights: 19th & 20th Century Art — March 6, 2025

At Auction Thursday, March 6 at 12:00 PM ET

An eclectic and engaging dialogue between several European, American, and Latin American artistic traditions and movements, this auction will include original artwork, prints, and sculpture.

José Clemente Orozco, *Man in Chains (Prometheus)*, oil on masonite, circa 1930. Estimate $200,000 to $300,000.

Latin American Selections

Latin American art leads the auction with José Clemente Orozco’s Man in Chains (Prometheus), a powerful, anguished image and the same subject of Orozco’s important 1930 Prometheus mural at Pomona College. Other highlights in this section include original works by Wifredo Lam and Pablo Esteban O’Higgins.

Pablo Esteban O’Higgins, *Arriba de Milpa Alta*, oil on canvas. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000.

Early American Masterpieces

An early American highlight is a New England Tonalist landscape by George Inness, Thunderstorm, Medfield, Massachusetts, circa 1877. In this painting, men load a hay wagon in preparation for a storm about to roll in. In contrast to Thunderstorm’s brooding tumult, we will offer a tranquil painting with crisp details portraying Dollar Island, Lake George, 1873 by David Johnson, a Luminist artist, part of the movement which is characterized by the absence of visible brushstrokes and the interplay between light and reflection in natural landscapes.

David Johnson, *Dollar Island, Lake George*, oil on panel, 1873. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000.

George Inness, *Thunder Storm in Medfield, Massachusetts*, oil on canvas, circa 1877. Estimate $12,000 to $18,000.

European Animal Studies

More early highlights include a beautiful watercolor by Rosa Bonheur of a cow and her calf. Another expressive animal artwork is a small bronze by Renée Sintenis, a German sculptor who not only specialized in these small-scale animal sculptures, but also in sculpting nudes and athletes.

Rosa Bonheur, *Cow and her Calf*, watercolor with charcoal on paper, 1863. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000.

Renée Sintenis, *Springendes Pferd (Aufsteigendes Fohlen)*, bronze with brown patina, 1915. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000.

Modern Art Highlights

Among Modern highlights is a lovely ceramic by Pablo Picasso, Bright Dove, 1953; and Lyonel Feininger’s watercolor Locomotive, 1942, a highly sought-after subject for the artist. We are also privileged to offer an intriguing selection of artworks formerly in the collection of the important artist, teacher, and art historian Gerald Ferguson, who lived and worked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, edited the book Marsden Hartley and Nova Scotia (1987), and passionately collected works by Hartley and Rockwell Kent, who explored this region. We look forward to offering original works on paper from Hartley’s time in Europe, as well.