Hindman May 6-7 sale features winning Western art

Ed Mell, ‘Red Rock,’ estimated at $15,000-$25,000

DENVER, Colo. –  Hindman celebrates the legend of the American frontier with its two-day Western Paintings and Sculpture sale, scheduled for May 6-7. More than 400 lots will feature in the auction, which includes oils on canvas, bronzes, and a variety of Native American works of art. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Top lots include Indians on Horseback, a signed, undated acrylic on canvas by Fritz Scholder. The late artist, who was a member of the La Jolla band of Luiseno Indians, initially promised himself he would not depict Native Americans in his art because he was largely unhappy with the way they had been portrayed by others. He broke his promise in 1967 and gained fame for his more realistic, less romanticized approach to the subject. Indians on Horseback pictures a pair of Native Americans riding horses facing away from the viewer and rendered in powerful, almost Fauvist-like colors. It carries an estimate of $10,000-$15,000.

Harry Jackson, ‘Flag Bearer-Study,’ estimated at $12,000-$18,000

The late Harry Jackson explored several artistic styles during his career, but his sculptural work took off in 1969 after he created a bronze of John Wayne as his True Grit character, Rooster Cogburn, for Time magazine. His 1983 signed bronze study for The Flag Bearer displays his masterful ability to convey the sensation of breakneck speed as well as his ability to push the limits of bronze casting by balancing the whole on one leg of a galloping horse. Jackson’s study for The Flag Bearer bears an estimate of $12,000-$18,000.

Fritz Scholder, ‘Indians on Horseback,’ estimated at $10,000-$15,000

Ed Mell’s 1980 oil on canvas, Red Rock, demands attention in the best possible way. The boldly colored painting features strong shadows and reduces the strata of the Southwestern mesa to thick horizontal stripes against a pale gray sky. Red Rock measures 48 by 60in and carries an estimate of $15,000-$25,000.

View top auction results on LiveAuctioneers here: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/